May 24, 2023
ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP via Getty Images Springer's Archives of Sexual Behavior is retracting a major academic paper that explores the "socially contagious" aspect of youth transgenderism following threats from transgender activists, according to documents reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The paper, titled "Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: Parent Reports on 1655 Possible Cases," found that children who suddenly adopted transgender identities in adolescence skewed heavily female and frequently had preexisting mental health issues. The journal has claimed the retraction is due to researchers' failure to obtain written informed consent from survey participants, but Dr. Michael Bailey, one of the study's authors, disputes this explanation and believes the journal is caving to pressure from activists. "These were parents concerned about their children, concerned enough to take a not-brief survey about the issues. Why would they do this if they didn