This narrative has been common in the media, including the ITV drama Butterfly (for which Green was the adviser), The Guardian, New York Times and National Geographic. Exaggerated risk of suicide is used as a rhetorical threat to promote gender ideology in political debate, by activists, in workplaces and in guidance given to schools.
It is often backed with the “statistic” that 48% of young people with a transgender identity attempt suicide. For example, the House of Commons Transgender Equality report refers to Mermaids, the trans charity for children, saying: “There was a significant risk of self-harm or suicide where hormone treatment is not yet being given; they drew attention to evidence that the attempted suicide rate among young trans people is 48%.” Transgender Trend debunked this claim in 2016, but it is still being used.
The Cass Review looks at the medical evidence on suicide risk and concludes:
“It has been suggested that hormone treatment reduces the elevated risk of death by suicide in this population but the evidence found did not support this conclusion.” Sex Matters has published a factsheet which brings the evidence together.
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