Truth in Advertising
Advertising is all about managing expectations
We all live in a consumerist society that is founded on the principle of constant consumption. It would be a rare day when we buy absolutely nothing at all, given that just by living in modern, Western housing, we are consuming utilities such as electricity, water and computer data every single day, even if this is paid for only intermittently.
Competition for our money is fierce in any society built on the accumulation of capital; even businesses that promote altruism are only in business to provide shareholder/owner profits as a bottom-line requirement.
It is important to understand that many countries, including the USA do not have health care systems, they have health care businesses.
Why does this matter?
Profits, financial incentives and (lack of) any ethical standards
The pursuit of profits can lead to decisions that prioritize cost-cutting measures over patient care, potentially impacting service quality and access. It is also a driver that propels putting an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, rather than a fence at the top because it is more profitable to treat than to prevent.
Add in a competitive market, which can drive innovation and efficiency, but can also create an environment where hospitals and providers are incentivized to attract patients, sometimes through aggressive marketing practices and/or dubious claims around potential outcomes. Bonuses or other rewards based on patient volumes lead to practices that prioritize quantity over quality.
Transgenderism: the ultimate flim flam racket
A belief in transgenderism is founded on a faith that posits that we all have some sort of a “gendered soul” or a “gender angel” that may differ from our biologically sexed reality. That some people are “born in the wrong body” and they need to have their bodies “fixed” to match this ineffable and unseeable entity because this is our true and “authentic” self and is of much greater import than who we “appear” to be.
(I do exclude autogynephilic men in this definition as they are usually just straight men with sexual fetishes, looking for an excuse to display these publicly. For them, “being trans” is just an excuse to behave badly and get away with it.)
Transgender allies make a big deal about “gender” the meaning of which has changed over time. Once just a polite word to replace “sex”, this has morphed into a juggernaut that appears to be unstoppable and quite frankly, it is ridiculous as it includes categories that only exist in the minds of its adherents, (furries, anyone?).
Gender (at least in its modern definition) is most assuredly a social construct that governs the ‘rules’ around sexual stereotypes. The cult that is transgenderism mandates that the only way to “do trans” is to take these stereotypes to the furthest possible limits, which gives us men who look like this one:
And women like this one:
These pictures of real people tell me that the narrative of sex as a social construct is clearly incorrect, as both of these individuals have poured so much time, money and sheer willpower into appearing as their binarily sexed opposites, rather than just remaining as an effeminate looking man and a butch presenting woman. Why can’t the definition of sex as a social construct be widened to include these two within the framework of their actual sex? Or as a dad plaintively asked on a Substack account, “if gender is a social construct, why does my son need to cut off his dick to “be” a woman?”
Despite all the resources now going into treatments and procedures designed for those poor misaligned “gender angels”, with the purpose of “changing sex” so their bodies and their fantasies match, nothing actually gets fixed at all. These people just become more profitable to “care” for.
It’s the same old story: just follow the money
This article is a great backgrounder if you are unaware of just who is funding this extremely powerful lobby group.
With literally billions of dollars (and every other currency) at stake, it is no wonder that science, facts and ethics are deemed immaterial and irrelevant when talking about “gender affirming care”.
Those promoting the transgender life by providing the goods and services needed for the radical cosmetic surgeries used in “sex change” operations are not selling anyone a real product as mammals can’t change sex. They are selling an illusion, a simulacrum (or as Jennifer Bilek phrases this), a “synthetic sex identity”.
The video talked about in this article explains the quiet part out loud. Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s (VUMC) Clinic for Transgender Health had a Grand Rounds lecture where one of their leading “gender affirming” physicians laid it all out by stating, “These surgeries make a lot of money.”
Referring specifically to phalloplasties, this doctor can be heard stating,
“These surgeries are labor intensive, there are a lot of follow-ups, they require a lot of our time, and they make money,” she emphasized. “They make money for the hospital.”
At another Medicine Grand Rounds lecture, staffers were threatened by a Vanderbilt health law expert that:
“any conscientious objection” will be met with “consequences,” and are told they probably shouldn’t be working at VUMC if they don’t want to participate in the trans surgeries, which include minor patients… “if you don’t want to do this kind of work, don’t work at Vanderbilt”
“There is gold to be mined transitioning people with gender dysphoria.”
Mammalian sexual dimorphism begins at the fetal stage of development, but may not become apparent until puberty hits, when it is both accelerated and cemented in. No amount of puberty blockers or cross sex hormones can totally alter everything that tells others which sex we are, hence, girls or boys, women or men will never be the “other” they so desire; they may be something in the middle, “neither fish nor fowl” as that old saying goes. (I am deliberately not dignifying the sheer stupidity of those who claim to be “nonbinary”.)
This comprehensive report lays out what those who attempt these unhealthy body modifications get for their money and how much it costs to achieve these dubious ends.
Some patients don’t even survive as I wrote about here:
It costs us all because health care in general is a limited resource. Time, money and effort put into “gender affirming care” is not being put into helping people come to terms with the reality of their sexed bodies, nor is it promoting any course of action that leads to psychological peace of mind.
These costs to individuals and society in general are now generating around $200 billion from the “sex reassignment market”. That’s a lot of money to walk away from.
Let’s recap
Some people are being encouraged to think that they were “born in the wrong body” but are assured they can be “fixed” by a combination of surgeries and the administration of medications that are known by the prescribers to cause permanent and irreversible harms to both their bodies and their minds. They will be consenting to becoming lifelong medical patients because even if they realize they were born in the right body after all, harms previously created will need to be medically mitigated until they die.
So called “gender affirming care” is very expensive and has to be paid for by oneself, crowd funding, insurance or by some other means and it is ongoing. There really is no way to jump off the gender woo train without any consequences.
As mammals, we can’t change our sex, so any procedures or treatments are only cosmetic; they apply to our appearance only. And some things such as bone structure are pre-ordained and unchangeable, so most people will know which sex we were born as anyway, demonstrating the futility and waste of this ideology.
Hm, sounds like those receiving these treatments are being promised a rocket-ship but are only getting a bicycle with a broken chain. Where is the truth being advertised here?
Note from Lucy: this post was written before the Federal Trade Commission held a workshop on July 9, 2025, on The Dangers of “Gender-Affirming Care” for Minors. The list of speakers can be found here, and a video of the day can be found here. One of the purposes of this workshop was to explore if “gender affirming care” constitutes unfair or deceptive trade practices. Hm, let’s think about this…. yup, I think that telling minor children that their sexed bodies are “wrong” but can be fixed to match some pie in the sky ideas dreamed up by adults with mental health conditions is the very opposite of truth in advertising.
This packs the same "wallop" as *all* your articles do Lucy Leader! So happy to hear about the Federal Trade Commission, we can only hope common sense prevails...
Thank you