Social media influencers causing ‘great harm’ by persuading thousands of young people to change genders, claims charity
- Some influencers have said that gender identity is more important than sex
- The LGB Alliance they also have told teens that puberty blockers are reversible
- It also said they were promoting double mastectomies for girls who do not feel they have been born in the right body
Social media influencers are causing ‘great harm’ by persuading thousands of young people they need to change their gender to be happy, MPs have been told.
Some spread the idea that ‘gender identity’ should take precedence over biological sex in the NHS, prisons and sport, LGB Alliance said.
The charity, which defends the rights of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals, accused influencers of falsely telling children that puberty blockers were not permanent.
Social media influencers are causing ‘great harm’ by persuading thousands of young people they need to change their gender
It also said they were promoting double mastectomies for girls who do not feel they have been born in the right body.
MPs were told: ‘Something is badly wrong with a media system in which influencers are able to disseminate harmful disinformation to impressionable and troubled teenagers and to create an atmosphere in which even professionals working in the field fear to challenge this narrative.’
The claims were made in a submission to an inquiry into influencers by the Commons culture committee.
In it, LGB Alliance stated: ‘We have serious concerns about the role that influencers in the media, especially social media, are playing in promoting a culture based on certain beliefs.
‘These beliefs, which are linked to queer theory, teach that everyone has a “gender identity”, separate from their biological sex, and that this “gender identity” should take priority in all areas of life.
‘These beliefs are being promoted to children and young people as if they were facts. We believe this is causing great harm.
‘Since young people tend to be more tech-savvy, they have taken control of social media.
‘This has led to a troubling reversal, in which older generations are expected to defer to the young. Refusing leads to abuse, threats and boycotts.’
The group told MPs that high-profile influencers use social media accounts with vast followings to promote the normalisation of gender identity treatment.
This drives ‘the extreme and harmful medicalisation of children (many likely to grow up lesbian and gay if not medicalised)’ and has become ‘immune to challenge’ or the need for scientific evidence.
LGB Alliance said: ‘We often see influencers make statements that are demonstrably false, with puberty blockers wrongly referred to as “fully reversible and harmless”.’ It cited Jameela Jamil, an actress with more than one million Twitter followers, who claimed ‘puberty blockers are not permanent. Girls at my school were on them for heavy periods’.
The charity said much activism takes place on TikTok, Tumblr and Facebook, giving the example of a 17-year-old who was distressed about her female body and wished she had a flat chest. Dozens of replies urged her to get a ‘binder’, which flattens the chest often in preparation for transitioning.
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