“It seemed that most of the students who were suddenly transitioning were biological females who were smart but socially awkward. They revealed their identities as trans men, usually through a haircut and new wardrobe, followed by a Facebook post alerting associates to a name and pronoun change. They would soon take to social media, student forums, and classroom discussions to rant about “cis privilege,” how oppressed they are because they get stared at by strangers, how they want to assault people who misgender them, and how in love with their “queer” identities they are.
A few weeks ago, a research paper was published suggesting that the recent increase in transgender identification among young people is the result of social contagion. This seems obvious to me. Yet officials at Brown University censored this paper.
I shouldn’t be surprised. This is a
topic that we can’t discuss on my college campus, either.There is no doubt in my mind that there is a social contagion among
college students. At my school, it is trendy to be transgender, and to
people who feel like they don’t fit in, particularly with other people
of their biological sex, choosing to transition to the opposite sex, and
become a member of the opposite sex, may certainly seem like a more
viable option than continuing to feel rejected while trying to fit in. “
