Łukasz Sakowski: “As a biologist, I assure you that there is no ‘brain gender.’”

How does modern medicine classify transsexualism and gender dysphoria?

In the public space, this topic is controversial because different international classifications of diseases define and even label transsexualism in different ways. Until 2019, according to ICD-10, that is, the tenth International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems published by the World Health Organisation, transsexualism belonged to the category of mental and behavioral disorders. However, since 2022 the ICD-11 – approved in 2019 – has been in force, according to which there is no longer a disease entity such as “transsexualism”, being replaced with “gender incongruence”. In addition, it was transferred to the section of sexual health-related diseases. However, this change is semantic rather than objective. And this is hardly surprising, as people diagnosed as transsexual require either psychotherapy or – as they often declare themselves – very radical therapy, including taking hormones of the opposite sex and blockers of their own sex hormones, irreversibly changing their metabolism, hormonal balance and appearance. To this we should also add surgical and plastic surgery.

When it comes to DSM-5, that is the classification of mental disorders of the American Psychiatric Association, neither transsexualism nor gender incongruence appear in it. Gender dysphoria itself is interpreted more as a symptom than a disorder because it is a sign of suffering and a sense of non-belongingness to one’s sex and not accepting it. It can be said that gender dysphoria is objectively possible to diagnose, while transsexualism seems to be an artificial medical-social construct, as no biochemical, hematological, genetic, psychological or hormonal studies have been published to confirm objectively verifiable, permanent, innate transgenderism. Whereas in the case of intersexualism, i.e. a set of disorders of sexual development, where gonadal dysgenesis, chromosomal or gene mutations occur, this type of phenomenon can be successfully verified. In such cases, it is possible to recognize, for example, Klinefelter syndrome or androgen insensitivity syndrome. I know these types of people who are used in the narrative of transgender activist circles as an example of the fact that gender is non-binary. And this is not true, because both women with gender disorders and men with gender disorders are still women and men. For example, the so-called hermaphroditism in mammals is not the personification of another sex, but a disorder of the male or female, and in some fish or snails it occurs as the presence of two sexes in one individual, not as a third sex or sex spectrum.

I will add that the Polish textbook on sexology published by the PZWL National Medical Publishing Company edited by the head of the Polish Sexological Society, Prof. Zbigniew Lew-Starowicz, transsexualism is defined as the most severe type of gender identity disorder. It is therefore a myth that transsexualism, gender incongruence, or gender dysphoria are not disorders. This myth is based on the fact that in the new ICD classification, semantic corrections have been made – transsexualism has been simply moved from the category of mental disorders to gender-sexual disorders and its name has been changed to gender incongruence. In my opinion, this change most likely took place under the influence of pressure from political and activist circles on the World Health Organisation, because there is no well-established scientific research which would justify a change in the perception of transsexuality.

The term “gender reassignment”, used by the proponents of transition, sounds like a visit to a barber, a hairdresser or a manicurist… and yet it’s years of preparation, medical examinations, surgery, many years of taking blockers, hormones…

Exactly. This shows the absurdity of the situation. Until the ovaries or testicles are removed, one needs to take sex hormone blockers, which – apart from the mentioned gonad operations – have the most negative impact on health. This creates a stalemate situation in which the person taking the blockers feels an unusual pressure – and so it was in my case – to remove these organs as soon as possible so that they can stop taking these blockers.

In my opinion, the popularity of the term “gender reassignment” has a twofold justification. Firstly, it sounds less serious than it looks, so in the narrative of transition activists, this phenomenon is something normal. In addition, trans activists are trying to convince children to this, and, after all, minors do not have a fully developed brain, so they cannot be intellectually and emotionally developed enough to make such serious and far-reaching decisions consciously. 

Secondly, you can’t change gender, because it’s just not possible. This phenomenon occurs in some snails and fish, but not among mammals, let alone in humans. Thus, biologically speaking, “sex change” is a substantively incorrect concept. It is a kind of mental shortcut or colloquial term.

In addition, “gender reassignment” refers to intersex people whose intersexualism can be verified by genetic testing, and who have disorders of sexual development, such as penis underdevelopment, gonadal dysgenesis, etc. In such cases, a procedure is carried out that falls within the term “gender reassignment”. However, when it comes to transsexualism, talking about the procedure of gender correction is wrong, because hormone therapy and these operations have the effect of making the person’s external appearance and endocrine system similar to the opposite sex. There is no correction – there is a deformation of the body and a disturbance of the hormonal balance.

Some proponents of transition among minors claim that it is the brain that determines gender. However, it often happens that these teenagers were not sexually active in any way. What is your opinion on this?

As a biologist, I assure you that there is no “brain gender”. However, there is sexual dimorphism of the brain, which is the difference between women and men in certain brain structures, such as the hippocampus and the amygdala. In the case of people, these discrepancies are small, because humans for approx. 1.4 million years has been predominantly monogamous. I will emphasize that the brain does not determine sex because it is determined at conception before the brain is formed. It is known from genetics that if a sperm cell with the X chromosome fertilizes an egg, the embryo develops in the female direction. If a sperm with a Y chromosome connects to a female gamete, the embryo develops in the male direction. There may be mutations in genes in the Y chromosome, e.g. of the SRY gene, then such an embryo will have the Y chromosome and develop into a man with sexual development disorders, and it even happens that in the complete absence of this gene, an embryo with the Y chromosome may develop into a woman with Swyer syndrome.

To sum up: the claim that the brain determines sex is a myth that has no confirmation in scientific research, and it contradicts their results.

A public policy research institute based at the University of California (UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute) has recently published research showing that the number of teens and young adults identifying themselves as trans people has doubled in the past five years. The statistics of minors who start taking puberty blockers at the age of 6-17 are similar. Is the popularity of underage transitions increasing? Maybe this is the effect of a kind of fashion trend?

Partly yes. This is confirmed by people working in institutions dealing with sex change. For example, in the UK, over the past ten years a dramatic increase in minors wanting to change sex has been observed, rocketing upwards by 4,400%. Ghent University Hospital has seen a 42-fold increase over 15 years, and in Australia, statistics in this area have also jumped very clearly. Professor Celso Arango, Director of the Gregorio Marañón Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, admits that currently, around 15-20% of underage patients in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón identify themselves as trans or non-binary. As you can see, the growth is gigantic. However, instead of the word “fashion”, I would use the scientific term “social contagion”. The idea of adopting a transsexual gender identity and having gender dysphoria has brought the youth under its control. And mainly it is probably the aforementioned “social contagion” that leads to gender dysphoria among today’s teenage girls who are much more susceptible than boys to the judgment of other people in the environment. So if there is a charismatic person among girls who wants to stand out and declares their transsexualism or non-binary identity, then other teenagers will imitate them. And this is not my observation, but it is described by scientific studies which confirm this type of phenomenon among the female part of the youth. There is a hypothesis of social gender dysphoria, otherwise known as rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD), that involves children suddenly identifying themselves as trans or non-binary. The French Academy of Medicine has confirmed the existence of this phenomenon and warned against gender change among minors.

There are associations of parents of children affected by ROGD, but it seems that few people think about the reasons for such a status quo…

Each generation has its fashions and subcultures. It used to be punk, emo, hippie, and so on. Current phenomena differ from earlier ones in that they are increasingly detached from reality. This results from the fact that we spend more and more time on the internet, in computer games and in front of the screens of smartphones, tablets and laptops. In this way, we separate our mind from the body, making it easier to fall into a kind of social quasi-psychosis and negate reality. Another reason is that social contagion works more strongly through supporting media and social media. This is the case, among others, thanks to celebrities and influencers announcing their transsexualism or non-binary identity, who strengthen these trends. I am the best example – my sex change did not come to my mind by itself, but it came from television, where on TVN I saw a show by Ewa Drzyzga showing transsexuals. Thus, teenagers observing such phenomena, trans celebrities and influencers, having problems at school or in the family, may try to escape into something like this. It was similar in the case of anorexia once. Internet forums of that time advised how to starve yourself, how to avoid a meal and hide from parents the fact of not eating it. Now it works in the context of gender change. Trans activists advise on how to change gender, how to manipulate parents or hide from them the fact that puberty blockers and hormones of the opposite sex are taken. 

Among parents of minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria, there is a belief that transition is often a necessity. They think that “it is necessary to save the child”. How to polemize with such an argument?

It may happen in one case out of several hundred, but until there is evidence for it, I will not believe it. It is certainly not the case that sex change helps these types of children. This is demonstrated by research, not only from two or three years ago, but also from this year, as well as older studies, from 2008 or 2013. They say that sex change is not a cure. The rate of depression and suicide after sex change is either the same, certainly not lower, and sometimes even higher – depending on the study – but overall there is no improvement. These statistics also apply to societies with high levels of tolerance – this is à propos of the thesis that intolerance is responsible for the misfortune of trans people.

In April this year, two cumulative scientific papers were published in the journals “Acta Pediatrica” of the Karolinska Institute and in “Current Sexual Health Reports”, in which a large number of children were examined. The results of one of them were clear: there is no evidence that sex change, especially in its first year – taking puberty blockers – is beneficial for health. While in the summary of the second, one could read that the effects of gender change ranged from ambiguous to unfavorable. There was no mention of the positive effects of gender change. Interestingly, there are also studies from the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s and the first two decades of the 21st century, as well as from the years 2021-2023, which prove that sexual dysphoria passes with age because the temporary reluctance of minors to their sex during puberty is a phenomenon that may not be common, but also not particularly rare.

Unfortunately, nowadays such children are being urged to change their sex, which is an unnecessary mutilation, whereas in the past – colloquially speaking – they escaped unscathed out of it. Some of these people were gay or lesbian, and mentally and physically they were entirely normal, healthy people. That is why more and more specialists are pointing out that gender change is a new conversion therapy for homosexuality, but instead of destroying the psyche of gays and lesbians by trying to convince them that they are hetero – as was the case with traditional conversion therapy – their organs and bodies are mutilated so that they function socially as heterosexuals, because a gay person is a “hetero-trans woman” after changing sex, and a lesbian is a “hetero-trans man”. In Iran, gender change in gay men is mandatory if they want to avoid punishment for homosexuality. In the West, so far, there is no such duty, but activist, political and media persuasion is trying to force gays and lesbians to change their sex. It affected me too. Many heterosexual teenage girls, less often teenage boys, are currently hit by a ricochet from this practice under the influence of social gender dysphoria.

I can refer to the slogan of activists – parents of trans children, which is emotional blackmail and reads: “better a living son than a dead daughter” or vice versa “better a living daughter than a dead son.” This argument may only make sense for some psychiatric drugs used by people with deep depression who make repeated suicide attempts. Then you can talk about protecting such a person from suicide when they are given an antidepressant, anxiolytic, mood stabilising, antipsychotic drug. However, in the case of gender dysphoria and puberty blockers and hormones of the opposite sex, there is no evidence that changing sex will protect against suicide, and there is increasing evidence that it even increases its risk in the long run. The initial, temporary improvement after sex change is due to the feeling that “life has started over”, and for women who become similar to men, the mood is also improved by the testosterone injected into them. However, over time, old social, family, and mental problems or lack of self-acceptance come back, because the primary reason for all this is not “transsexualism”, but rejection of one’s gender, sexual orientation, family situation, denial of gender-related traumas such as rape and sexual harassment, as well as mental disorders such as borderline issues, narcissism, bipolar affective disorder, or psycho-neurological diseases such as schizophrenia and autism.

Among the parents you mentioned, that is, parents of “trans” children, there are, in my opinion, three subgroups: the least numerous and the loudest are activist parents who are enthusiastic about gender change. These types of people not only accept, and perhaps even welcome, the gender change of their child, but also encourage others to do so, convincing them that it is a good thing. In Poland, Piotr Jacoń or Ewelina Negowetti seem to be such enthusiastic activists about gender change, while in Great Britain, for example, it is Susie Green, the former head of Mermaids, the organization supporting young people with gender identity disorders. At one time, Green was very popular in the UK, she even appeared on TEDx – by the way, this video was recently removed from the network. This happened because of Mermaids’ structural involvement with a pedophile, as was reported, among others, in The Times and The Guardian. In addition, Green sent the girls without their parents’ knowledge so-called binders, that is, breast-flattening underwear. She changed her son’s sex when he was around 12. It was illegal even in the UK, so she took him to Thailand for surgery. Her own words show that the pressure to change his gender also came from her husband, who did not like the fact that his son was playing with girls’ toys. They were probably afraid that the son would be gay, so they preferred to change his gender. To paraphrase this statement about the “dead son and living daughter”, to make it better correspond to reality, it rather works like this: “better a mutilated ‘trans daughter’ after a sex change, functioning as a heterosexual than a healthy gay son.” 

It is perhaps worth mentioning here the existence of a mental disorder – a substitutive Münchhausen syndrome, consisting in the fact that the mother, usually, who has a son, makes the child believe in various diseases or poisons him to be able to fulfill herself in caring for him and arouse pity and compassion of the environment, as a mother devoting herself to a sick child. This syndrome can also sometimes be observed in women choosing to couple up with permanently and severely physically disabled husbands. 

The second group of parents of “trans children” – the most numerous – does not know what to do with the fact that their child is experiencing gender dysphoria. They do not opt for changing the sex of the child, and they see the crossing of certain boundaries – especially in the face of the side effects of the child’s intake of puberty blockers and hormones of the opposite sex and self-harm, to which gender change leads.

The third subgroup certainly includes very few caregivers who are against gender change, and who are not even able to accept that the child has taken such an idea from somewhere. These are those rare but sometimes hyped stories that parents threw their child out of the house. 

Trans activists and sympathizers believe that binary appeared only when monotheistic religions became widespread. It is hard to believe such a narrative…

I don’t see any connection between monotheistic religion and the gender binary, especially since sex evolved more than a billion years ago, and religions are the brainchildren of representatives of the Homo genus, whose existence is estimated at 2.8-3 million years. 

Do you think that the book “Irreversible Damage” by The Wall Street Journal journalist Abigail Shrier can warn unformed and emotionally immature teenagers and their parents against the hasty decision to change their sex?

First of all, this book can convince parents that changing their child’s gender is not a good idea, but at the same time, I do not believe that “Irreversible Damage” can influence children or teenagers not to go in this direction. I wouldn’t give this book to a child.

What kind of role should be played by domestic organizations associating parents of non-heteronormative and transgender children?

I am against the use of the term “non-heteronormative” and prefer the term “gays and lesbians” or “homosexual people” because the word “non-heteronormative” has a propagandist character and is a kind of umbrella – an extended definition under which gays and lesbians can be attached with various fancy “sexual orientations” and “gender identities” that do not exist. As a result of the use of the word “non-heteronormative”, various mental and sexual disorders are attached to gays and lesbians. So let’s talk about gays and lesbians. 

In the effort to remove gender dysphoria from the mind of the child and also the adult, I would, first of all, avoid visits to psychologists, psychiatrists, sexologists and endocrinologists recommended on websites and groups related to the trans movement. The experts that are recommended there are verified by activists. It is obvious that from the first visit, such doctors will convince the child or adult about the need to change gender. Of course, after the first visit, the child is not immediately directed to appropriate therapy, but methods of persuasion towards gender change are used. It was described recently by the Polish weekly Wprost, and I experienced it directly myself when I was also persuaded to change my gender when I was a dozen-or-so years old. 

Unfortunately, it often happens that such doctors and psychologists, recommended by trans activists, diagnose gender dysphoria online or prescribe hormones and puberty blockers during the first visit. You have to stay away from them as far as possible. It is not without reason that Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish medical institutions have considered in the last two years the practice of gender change as experimental. 

Secondly, I would advise focusing on real life, rest from the internet, social media and computer games – so that the child feels the connection of consciousness and mind with their body, including gender. In addition, I would encourage the child to play sports, contact nature, and meet with peers, but in real life, not only online. I do not want to say that the mentioned factors, such as computer games, are bad, on the contrary, it’s all about dosing and balance, so playing games takes up an hour a day, not half a day.

The next step I would recommend is to cut off the child from the environment of transsexual identification supporters which acts on the principles of a sect. Trans activists convince children that gender change will answer all their problems, and they also turn children against parents or teachers, telling them that if a parent does not want to speak to them according to the language forms of the opposite sex, they are transphobic. And in addition to this brainwashing, they also induce them to sincere, intimate confessions, so that later, when they grow up and want to leave the trans group, they can be blackmailed by revealing personal details of their lives. Trans activists specialize in such activities. 

Finally, it is worth trying to wait out this often temporary condition of the child, and if you go to psychotherapy, then let it be exploratory – one that is focused on diagnostics and understanding the reasons why the child feels sexual incongruence. I would not recommend psychotherapy aimed at telling a child that they are trans, or forcing them to give up transsexual or non-binary identification, because such action by force can bring the opposite effect within the framework of rebellion, as probably every reasonable psychotherapist knows perfectly well. 

Do you think that Poland will soon follow the countries that opt for allowing the gender change of minors, or rather join countries which are skeptical of gender change among children?

At the time when I was in the process of changing my sex, that was about ten years ago, the same law was in force in Poland as it is now. But its interpretation has changed: it was said then that gender could be changed only after the age of 18. Currently, for example, the administration of puberty blockers and breast removal procedures to girls are carried out from the age of 16, and I know cases that are even earlier. In individual cases, personal data is also changed by the courts. This shows that despite the unchanged law, the legal interpretation under the influence of activism, media and social attitudes is changing. Thus, the pushing of the mentioned boundary can advance and we soon can face situations such as, for example, in Spain, where the government recently passed a law according to which a child can change sex from the age of 12 with the consent of the court, from the age of 14 with the consent of the parents, and from the age of 16 without any restrictions, on demand. 

Poland may also follow the example of Scandinavian countries, such as Sweden and Finland, where sex change in minors has been almost banned. Such measures are only taken in the case of experimental procedures. The UK and Norway are also planning to introduce such restrictions. On the other hand, in some of these countries a law was introduced guaranteeing gender change without restrictions, i.e. the so-called self-diagnosis, in relation to adults. Here we have a strange contrast: we protect children and allow adults to do everything. It is as if the politicians there have forgotten that there is such a thing as a ban on driving under the influence of alcohol. I believe that these were political decisions, not resulting from research or advisory activities of scientific bodies – the law facilitating gender change for adults was based on ideological, not scientific and ethical arguments. 

According to documents published by the Daily Wire, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer sponsored an organization that encourages children to change their sex, while also profiting from puberty blockers and hormones that support their transition…

I have not seen this document, although I can point out two main reasons why big companies support not only these types of organizations but also the broadly understood woke ideology. The first is unethical marketing, so-called washing… After all, we all know the slogans “We help poor children”, and “We support the disabled”. It is under such labels that notorious violations of workers’ rights or excessive exploitation of the environment are hidden. And by applying appropriate marketing measures, such companies present themselves as open, tolerant, and positive about everything. So one or another corporation gives money to a non-governmental organization operating in the current of the woke ideology, for example, concerning LGBT, then this organization does marketing to this corporation and presents it as “open”, “tolerant”, etc. and as a result, the average citizen does not think about the fact that the same corporation has hunger wages in Asia, that it shamefully exploits Africans, that it closes important research, e.g. on new antibiotics, or does business with Muslim politicians who make laws according to which homosexuality is punishable. Currently, most “LGBT” organizations function this way, and the example of the pride parade in Poland and its sponsors is only one of many. 

Secondly, all the woke ideology movements, especially the trans movement, completely destroy the left, antagonizing it. This can be seen clearly in Germany, the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom – literally everywhere. Left-wing groupings, instead of dealing with basic issues such as environmental protection, workers’ rights, the fight against monopolies of large corporations, and recently the regulation of artificial intelligence, debate whether children should change their sex or whether black people should be paid gigantic compensation for the slavery of their ancestors – by the way, Poles or Slavs in general were captured much longer than Africans, but it is the black woke activists in the USA who demand such absurd compensation.

Examples of this type of festering for the left wing activities can be multiplied, and all of them are in the current of woke ideology. As a result, it is much easier for huge corporations, including pharmaceutical companies, to lobby politicians and officials, because the left is weak and incapable of action due to such internal divisions. These phenomena were described very well by Vivek Ramaswamy in his book “Woke, Inc.”

Not only the idea of woke is becoming more popular, but also cancel culture. After your coming out, you were thrown out of conferences, even refused to publish ordered articles on topics unrelated to sexuality… It looks like a flagship example of cancel culture or even being blacklisted…

Yes. What you mentioned is just a fraction of the situations that happen to me. Some of the examples of treating me this way I have described, but they occurred on a number of occasions. I did not publicize most of them because I was obliged by contracts, so I would have to bear financial consequences if I disclosed the details of the aforementioned events. I do not have written evidence in all these cases, because sometimes I know about it from some employee, for example, of a publishing house, who gave me information by word of mouth. 

In my opinion, cancel culture is a tool of the woke ideology, which is an umbrella spread over the phenomena we are talking about. I would venture to say that woke is becoming a religion – its followers have their liturgical calendar, which includes holidays such as the day of racial awareness, the day of uterus owners, the day of repentance for color blindness, the day of visibility of non-binaries, and so on. The representatives of woke invent new non-existent orientations and identities, such as demisexuality or genderfluid, and have their orders, e.g. Stonewell, Black Lives Matter, etc., priests, i.e. prominent woke activists, politicians and businessmen. They also have processions in the form of parades of equality, disability pride, etc. Activists of this movement must not be criticized, because you will immediately be accused of racism and transphobia, even if they are criticized by black or homosexual people. Is it like an offense against religious feelings? Rightly so. It’s like a religion, but instead of gods, it has power, money, and narcissistically understood identities.