Media

A mainstream news story here appears in a somewhat different context abroad

I have not selected these examples with any particular agenda. Below is only a small sample of mostly right-wing online media from the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, Italy, Australia, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.

Here are examples of websites that sit another level below these in terms of quality: more hate speech, more disinformation, including around issues such as climate change and vaccines.

The original source for most of the articles below is largely either Helsingin Sanomat's interview with Kaltiala or the essay published by The Free Press, "Gender-Affirming Care Is Dangerous. I Know Because I Helped Pioneer It.".

Ruuska, Tusku, Holttinen, Kaltiala 2026 registry study

A Catalan fact-checking site discusses disinformation around the study, interviewing experts in transgender medicine and also asking Kaltiala for comment. Similar fact-checking has apparently been considered necessary in:

• Norway
• Denmark
• Denmark again
• Australia

I have not yet added Finnish articles here, but given the relative amount of work put into them, they would also fit here.

• National Review - The transgender house of cards just came crashing down - This article from a prominent conservative publication with a long history is behind a paywall, but the visible section already talks about "pumping children full of chemicals".

• Postoj - Breakthrough study from Finland: transition does not improve mental health - A Polish source that has used the Heritage Foundation as a source in other stories writes about the study.

• Spiked - The dangers of gender-affirming care are now undeniable - A British gender-critical publication connects the study to puberty blockers, quotes the study, and the writer also finds room to attack the Good Law Project, which exposed an anti-trans speaking tour at British universities backed by Putin.

• Washington Stand - Finnish Study Links Transgender Procedures to Decline in Youth Mental Health - A fundamentalist Christian site reports on the Finnish study, which received considerable media attention, largely based on Tampere University's press release. The original contribution is a comment from an "expert" at the Discovery Institute, known for rebranding "intelligent design" creationism. In other words, a person whose scientific worldview includes supernatural phenomena.

• The Other Cheek - Finnish study shows increased psychiatric morbidity after trans treatment - An Australian Christian publication also reports on the study based on Tampere University's press release.

• Family First NZ - New Finnish research challenges “lifesaving” claim for youth gender treatment - A New Zealand "pro-family, pro-life watchdog" publication also joins in advancing Finnish science.

• WSJ - Finland’s Lessons on Transgender Children

• WSJ - Will Doctors Follow the Science on Gender-Confused Kids? - The Wall Street Journal's opinion section wrote about the study twice, calling it a "scientific tour-de-force". The WSJ opinion section has long been criticized even by its own newsroom, and topics such as climate-change skepticism and the lab leak hypothesis are among the causes promoted by anti-woke WSJ Opinion. Here too, a member of the Koch dynasty appeared in the accompanying video speaking about faith and patriotism at their event.

• LGB Alliance Australia - A New Finnish Study on Mental Health Outcomes Among Adolescents Referred for Gender Identity Assessment - The anti-trans LGB Alliance repeats the same claims as Tampere University and Gender Clinic News, which reported on it.

• Vabasduset - Study: youth "sex change" worsens mental-health problems among young people - The anti-trans LGB Alliance repeats the same claims as Tampere University and Gender Clinic News, which reported on it.

• Marianne - "Gender dysphoria may in some adolescents be a sign of serious psychiatric problems" - The major French publication Marianne writes about the study, interviewing a representative of a partner organization of the SEGM conference in Paris. The editorial line is reflected in other recommended articles, such as "We do not cut off breasts because of feelings". At the same time, the article complains about polarization and politicization, and about how fear should not guide the debate.

• La Fionda - "Gender affirmation" is dangerous - here is the final proof - An Italian site whose "principles" section contains, in addition to predictable anti-gender material, a fair amount of manosphere rhetoric.

• Veja - a new study raises questions about early intervention in gender dysphoria - The Brazilian article is behind a paywall.

• Transteens Sorge Berechtigt - Gender dysphoria in teenagers and preteens worsens mental health, especially after transition - A German parent-oriented site promoting ROGD theory summarizes English-language sources, all of which want to present the study's findings in a particular way that I would argue conflicts with scientific caution, even though Kaltiala participates in this through Benjamin Ryan.

• Bijbels Beraad M/V - Finnish study reports negative effects of transition - According to the Dutch site, the study is in a class of its own compared with studies that have found benefits; it talks about surgery even though the study does not address surgery.

• Tennessee Star - Mental Health Worsens After Medicalized Gender Transitions, Three-Decade Youth Study Finds - The article also covers other topics that have recently circulated in X's anti-trans network, which is not unfamiliar to several Finns, some of whom get to discuss the subject in mainstream Finnish media without the hate-group connections being acknowledged.

• PJ Media - Finnish data blows up the narrative that gender reassignment improves mental health - A Finnish study involving very few transgender children is used as a basis for questioning the entire idea of transgender children. A U.S. Trumpist media outlet.

• Hrvatski Fokus - New study shows that lying to trans teens is dangerous - An ultranationalist Croatian publication copies the Binary article on the subject more or less directly.

• The Post Millennial - A U.S. far-right publication covers the topic as part of broader anti-trans reporting.

• Rebel News - Finland just blew a hole in the biggest lie in youth gender medicine - A Canadian alternative-media outlet uses "affirm or suicide" rhetoric.

• Epoch Times Bulgaria - A Bulgarian far-right publication reports on the study as part of broader anti-gender content.

• Tichys Einblick - Finnland-Studie - A German conservative publication treats the study as part of a broader European anti-trans debate.

• Spectator - This study shatters the trans myth about mental health - A British conservative publication uses the study as an argument against transgender medicine.

• Christian Daily - New study questions the effectiveness of transgender treatments - International Christian media reports on the study.

• CatholicVote - Landmark Finnish Study Finds Youths’ Mental Health Problems Increase After Gender Transitions - A Catholic conservative media outlet treats the study as part of an anti-trans narrative.

• Harbingers Daily - Yet Another Study Finds That Rejecting God’s Design for Gender Harms Children - A Christian publication interprets the study through a religious worldview.

• Le Syndicat de la Famille - New study confirms that transition is harmful to young people - The short text contains little information and barely addresses existing scientific disagreement; instead, it sets researchers against "trans activists".

• Zukunft CH - Study: young people's mental health worsens after transgender treatments - A Swiss publication whose mission also includes opposing the spread of Sharia law admires the Nordic approach to treating transgender youth.

2023 Helsingin Sanomat interview world tour and The Free Press essay

• Finland Takes Another Look at Youth Gender Medicine - Tablet Magazine is a Jewish cultural magazine and website that, together with City Journal, was among the first to bring the HS article outside Finland. Leor Sapir thanked an unnamed translator on social media, presumably one of the Finnish anti-trans accounts in contact with him.

• Finland’s Top Expert on Pediatric Gender Medicine Dismantles Child ‘Transition’ Obsession - Breitbart, which Helsingin Sanomat has twice called "Trump's mouthpiece" and has written about research describing Breitbart's central role in changing the U.S. media environment into one that made Trump's first victory possible, uses Helsingin Sanomat as a source here. The Free Press was also one of the new media outlets Trump made room for at his press conferences.

• Finland's Leading Gender Dysphoria Expert Says 4 Out of 5 Children Grow Out of Gender Confusion - Daily Wire is a conservative news site and media platform known for media figures such as Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro. Michael Knowles, who gave the infamous "transgenderism must be eradicated entirely from public life" speech at the U.S. conservative mega-conference CPAC, also produces a lot of content for Daily Wire.

• Gender Identity Doctor Warns Dangerous Kids Sex Changes - Daily Caller is a conservative American media outlet.

• Finland's top transgender treatment expert slams spread of 'disinformation' on children with gender confusion - and says 'four out of five' kids who question their gender grow out of it

• Finnish psychiatrist who pioneered 'gender-affirming care' but now shuns it slams US policy of pumping kids with hormones, says child DIED after surgery - and believes around a third may end up detransitioning - Daily Mail is a British right-wing tabloid newspaper offering news and entertainment.

• Top Medic: 'Dangerous Groupthink' on Gender Transition Harming Kids - Christian.org.uk is a website offering news and perspectives from a Christian viewpoint.

• Gaslighting the public on pronouns in schools - Denver Gazette opinion piece: "Tampere University’s Dr. Riittakerttu Kaltiala, Finland’s foremost expert on pediatric gender medicine, warns against the wholesale acceptance of a child’s chosen name — emphasizing a supportive but cautious approach as parents across the globe grow increasingly concerned."

• Doctor Who Pioneered Transgender Treatments for Children Speaks Out - MSN is a news site and portal maintained by Microsoft.

• A Finnish Study Is Changing How We Approach Trans Kids

• 4 out of 5 kids who question gender ‘grow out of it’: Transgender expert - New York Post is a right-wing American newspaper and website.

• Leading expert on gender dysphoria says that most children outgrow confusion in sex - A Russian-language Christian news site quotes the same parts of Helsingin Sanomat, as usual.

• Finland: Socialists prefer ideology to science and respect for children

• En Finlandia, los socialistas prefieren la ideología a la ciencia

• In Finlandia i Socialsiti preferiscono ideologia alla scienza e al rispetto dei bambini

• Finnlands führende Expertin für pädiatrische Gender-Medizin: Gender-Transition ist „Zwangsvorstellung“ - The same story, in which reporting on Finland's trans law is combined with allegedly dissenting science in this framing, according to fundamentalist media.

• Something Has Gone Very Wrong - Finnish Psychiatrist Speaks Out Against Trans Mutilation of Kids - LifeSiteNews is a conservative Christian, anti-abortion news site that Wikipedia describes as a fake-news site. Links to it have been restricted on several social media platforms because of its central role in spreading COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Wikipedia also includes sources on how the site has spread anti-LGBT and anti-abortion misinformation for years.

• Finland as a global frontrunner against trans healthcare; Riittakerttu Kaltiala speaks bluntly about child trans mutilation: "Gender-affirming care is dangerous" - Oikea Media is a Finnish far-right alternative media outlet.

• Taxpayer-Funded Trans Procedures Lead Even Pioneers to Say Things Have Gotten Out of Hand

• The Tooth Fairy and Gender Dysphoria - Washington Stand is a conservative news site and media platform.

• Once a Gender Pioneer, Now a Fighter Against Gender Reassignment - CNE News is a Spanish news site.

• O mito do suicídio trans e a política de chantagem - "The myth of trans suicide and the politics of blackmail". Familia Conservadora is a Portuguese conservative website.

• Los países europeos dan marcha atrás en las «reasignaciones de género» en menores - "European countries roll back gender reassignment for minors". Gaceta is a Spanish conservative news site.

• A Finnish Psychiatrist's Fight for Safe Treatment for Gender Confused Youth - National Review is a conservative American online magazine.

• Acceptance, Not Surgery, Solution to Teen Trans Anxiety - The Australian is an Australian newspaper.

• Finnish Expert Opposes Transgender Treatments for Children

• Finnish Doctor Reveals the Dangers of Affirmation Pathways - Binary is an Australian organization that promotes traditional family values.

• Leading Gender Dysphoria Expert Says Majority of Children Outgrow Sex Confusion - Faithwire is a conservative Christian website.

• Dr Kaltiala: pionier „tranzycji płciowej”, dziś zagorzały przeciwnik tej procedury - "Dr. Kaltiala: pioneer of 'gender transition', today a fierce opponent of the procedure". Opoka is a Polish Christian news site.

• America's Trans Surgeons Could Learn from European Whistleblowers - UnHerd is a British news and opinion site known for so-called gender-critical content.

• The White House's Specious Gender Manifesto - Quillette is an Australian news and opinion site that calls itself libertarian, but publishes a great deal of anti-trans material that, in my opinion, runs against the libertarian principle of self-determination.