Welcome to the Dollhouse Episode 49: The Cass Review with Kit Kowalski and Edie Wyatt.
Cass & It’s Critics
The Cass Review
Dr Hilary Cass is a UK pediatrician. She was commissioned in 2020 to chair a review into the National Health Service (NHS) children’s gender medicine.
The interim report, issued in February 2022, led to the closure of the NHS’s central children’s gender clinic (The Tavistock) being closed down.
The Final Report is 388 pages and is comprehensive.
In her forward, Dr Cass says:
This is an area of remarkably weak evidence, and yet results of studies are exaggerated or misrepresented by people on all sides of the debate to support their viewpoint. The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender- related distress.
This echoes Dr Stephen Stathis’ admission that “the evidence is weak” but we forging ahead anyway attitude that we covered this in episode 20.
Crib Sheets
Sex Matters has produced a 6 page crib sheet to help you navigate the report.
Some kind soul has produced an audio version of the report.
Does The Cass Review Apply in Australia?
If you ask “The Experts”, no it does not. Coverage from the ABC makes it clear:
'Australia is not the UK': Major reviews into gender affirming care (Radio National)
Cass Reviewed Evidence & Standards From Australia
The UK has a centralised treatment pathway, putting pressure on a single clinic (The Tavistock) where Australia has multiple government-funded clinics in each state, private providers, and many advocacy groups providing support all linked under the AusPATH umbrella.
However, the Cass Review reviewed the global evidence base, calling out Australia as a key contributor:
In total, 131 papers met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review. These covered a wide international base but were primarily from North America, Europe and Australia. [my emphasis] (page 84)
So the evidence considered is actually the evidence generated in our country, relied upon by our gender practitioners.
Australian Standards
The review includes a table that evaluates the various “standards” documents from around the world. The “Australian Standards of Care” developed by Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Melbourne, along were scored on 6 dimensions. Most of these standards scored highly on having a well-defined “scope and purpose” but the wheels came off when we move into looking at the rigour of development and editorial independence.
The standards were also scored for the assessments they recommend when treating children with gender distress. Note that the RCH Melbourne (and how few others) few recommend assessing children for body image, neuro-divergence, sexual orientation, sexual health, or even physical health.
These standards are NOT capable of assessing the whole child. They aren’t taking a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach. They are assessing only feelings related to gender affirmation.
When “The Experts” tell you that we have a multi-disciplinary approach, they mean that they have a psychiatrist and an endocrinologist on staff ready to affirm.
Australian Studies
A number of Australian studies were included in the Cass Review.
The “Westmead Study” was accepted (we talked about in Episode 19): Developmental Pathway Choices of Young People Presenting to a Gender Service with Gender Distress: A Prospective Follow-Up Study
Are the Australian Trans Activists Happy?
No.
They are complaining about “uncritical reporting” on Reddit, they are “debunking the Cass Review” on their government-funded charity websites. AusPATH are yet to release a statement, but have made their thoughts clear on the Interim Report.
Equality Australia offers a round-up of TRA complains in this press release: Cass Review out-of-line with medical consensus and lacks relevance in Australian context.
Criticisms that Cass “Ignored Evidence”
Cass has been demonised for “ignoring evidence”.
She did this by evaluating the quality of studies, and determining that only 2 out of 105 studies were evaluated as “High Quality”, but included all of the studies as supporting evidence.
The issue is discussed and explained here: Investigating claims that the Cass Review ignored valuable evidence (BBC Radio)
“The biggest weakeness [of the studies] … was that they didn’t follow up young people” - Dr Hilary Cass
Reviews have a responsibility to evaluate the qualities of primary research and give appropriate weight to the evidence.
News
The Scold’s Bridal Comes to Queensland
29 April 2024 - Hate speech laws will be enacted in Queensland.
eSafety Commissioner is At It Again
The eSafety commissioner and X are due back in court today
Equality Bill Hearings Next Week
If you are in Sydney, come along to see and support those giving evidence in regards to the Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill 2023
Details here (1st May is the key date to attend).
West Australian Libs to Ban Kid Transing
WA Liberal Party Leader Libby Mettam MLA has made a statement that the Libs will ban gender medicine for children and commission an inquiry.
A Western Australian Liberal Government will ban the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone treatments and surgical intervention for children under the age of 16 for the purpose of gender transition.
Well done to the WA Liberal Party.
Desexing Society Released
Make sure you check out Desexing Society Podcast by our good friend Stassja Frei. She has produced an 8-part podcast designed to explain the issues around gender medicine and gender ideology in Australia.
Send it to your MP, share it with your family.
Watch Episode 1 here …
Watch this episode on YouTube
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Twitter: DollHouseInOz
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Intro song: Intro song: Bad Girls by MIA
Episode 49: The Cass Review