Podcast Summary: The Peter McCormack Show #132
Guest: James Esses
Title: Is Gender Ideology Harming Children?
Date: November 28, 2025
Host: Peter McCormack
Theme: A critical examination of gender ideology, especially as it impacts children, exploring psychotherapy perspectives, medicalization, activism, and the wider sociopolitical landscape.
Episode Overview
This episode delves deeply into the controversies, cultural shifts, and therapeutic dilemmas surrounding gender ideology, with a particular focus on children. Psychotherapist and activist James Esses joins Peter McCormack to discuss the increasing prevalence of gender dysphoria diagnoses, the impact of medical interventions, the role of societal pressures—and what he perceives as the normalization (and monetization) of what should be considered a mental health issue.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Defining the Problem: Gender Identity vs. Mental Health
- James’s Position: Asserts that gender dysphoria is fundamentally a mental health condition, not an identity or choice.
- Quote [00:00]: “Children have been taught in schools that we've all got this innate gender identity within us and you can pick whatever you like... Actually, it is classified as a mental health condition and we don't treat mental health conditions by affirming the delusion.”
- Critique of Affirmation Model: Comparing gender affirmation to “affirming delusions” in other mental health scenarios.
- Quote [00:56]: “Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. And affirming people's delusions is not kind at all.”
2. Societal Trends: Normalization, Fads, and Numbers
- Spike in Trans Identification: James attributes the rise to social contagion, media, schools, and trendiness—rather than “hidden” prevalence.
- Quote [06:18]: “It's actually a bit of a trend and a fad.”
- Safe Spaces in Subcultures: Noted observation by Peter that music subcultures (e.g., emo, heavy metal) have become havens for trans-identifying youth.
3. Medicalization & Therapy Approaches
- Lack of NHS Consensus: The approach to treating gender dysphoria is not centrally agreed upon, leading to controversial practices like puberty blockers and surgery for minors.
- James’s approach: "Watchful waiting" and explorative therapy are favored, arguing most youth grow out of dysphoria with time.
- Quote [09:51]: “I view transitioning as a form of self harm.”
- Financial Incentives: Significant profit motives in private clinics for gender-affirming services.
- Quote [14:06]: “A little cheek enhancement there. Just £9,000... Penile scrotal... £31,000 to have that removed."
4. Adult Transition & Legal Implications
- James’s Stance: Even for adults, seeking medical transitioning should be criminalized—compared to bans on female genital mutilation or extreme body mods.
- Quote [15:11]: “I'm against it... proposing criminalization of all sex reassignment surgery, including for adults.”
5. Safeguarding Children: Puberty Blockers & Medical Ethics
- Minimum Ages for Intervention: Concerns about children as young as 8 being offered puberty blockers.
- Quote [17:11]: “An 8 year old can't even open a bank account... yet they can put themselves on a pathway towards sterilization.”
- Risks of Early Medicalization: Emphasis on irreversible harm and the lack of reversibility of these interventions.
6. Societal and Institutional Cowardice
- Cowardice & Profit: Both cowardice and profiteering among professionals are blamed for the perpetuation and normalization of these practices.
- Quote [13:20]: “There are a lot of cowards out there who don't want to put their head above the parapet. But equally, there's a big profit to be spun on this.”
7. The Role of Schools & Indoctrination
- Teacher and Curriculum Influence: Allegations of teachers and curriculum pushing gender ideology, causing parents to lose trust in schools and increasingly turn to homeschooling.
- Quote [33:12]: “Parents... do not trust that they're not gonna be fed ideology every day.”
- James’s Prescription: Teachers promoting gender ideology should be struck off; doctors enabling medical intervention punished.
8. Cancel Culture, Censorship, and the Cost of Speaking Out
- James’s Experience: Fired from psychotherapy program and ostracized professionally for opposing conversion therapy bans and gender affirmation mandates.
- Quote [24:10]: “I took them to the employment Tribunal... They settled out, of course, quite rightly, because... they would have gotten spanked very badly if we'd gone all the way.”
9. Stereotypes, Gender Roles, and Harm
- Stereotypes Fuel Dysphoria: Explains how rigid societal expectations of masculinity and femininity underpin much dysphoria, especially in autistic youth.
- Quote [62:00]: “Children being irreversibly harmed because of stereotypes.”
10. Media Complicity & Cultural Capture
- Critique of BBC and Mainstream Outlets: Accusations of complicit media, citing examples of reporting male sex offenders as women and normalizing radical views.
- Quote [73:50]: “Completely complicit actually have ensured that this stuff spreads across society.”
11. Mental Health, Victimhood, and a Cultural Crisis
- “Victim Virus”: James’s broader diagnosis of society indulging cognitive distortions, victimhood, and over-pathologizing normal behavior.
- Quote [83:10]: “We are indulging victimhood and we are enabling... cognitive distortions...”
12. Detransitioners & the Limits of Reversibility
- Regret & Lack of Safeguards: Many detransitioners regret the ease with which they were put on the medical path, with irreparable consequences.
- Quote [80:34]: “We've learned just how easy it was for them to go down that path in the first place... very little roadblocks.”
- Psychiatric Classification Debate: Future direction should pathologize dysphoria in line with other body image disorders—not as a unique form of identity.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- On the profit motive:
- James: “These people are salesmen.” [15:02]
- On gender stereotypes:
- James: “I want to do away with this narrative that men or women have to be a certain thing. I want to stop vilifying forms of femininity or masculinity.” [64:51]
- On resilience and mental health:
- James: “I think we've done children a great disservice by coddling them rather than trying to instil a sense of resilience in them.” [54:09]
- On school experience:
- Host: “I kind of wanted them to teach them about dinosaurs and weather systems and fractions, not gender ideology.” [34:00]
- On detransitioners:
- James: “Detransitioning is a bit of a misnomer... the only person who can ever truly detransition is someone who’s only socially transitioned.” [78:02]
- On institutional failures:
- James: “Our medical profession exists to do no harm and they've been actively propagating harm.” [32:20]
- On personal costs:
- James: “I've certainly made a lot of enemies and lost a lot of friends because we live in this world of kind of hashtag, be kind...” [24:49]
- On activism and opposition:
- James: “I'm getting death threats, death wishes all the time. It's part of the reason I currently only see clients online.” [91:14]
Timestamps for Major Themes
| Segment | Topic | Time | |---|---|---| | Opening framing; gender as mental health vs. identity | [00:00–04:48] | | Schools, trendiness, and the social contagion thesis | [06:18–07:10] | | Medicalization & therapy models (NHS, Tavistock, Watchful Waiting) | [07:45–11:16] | | Transition as self-harm, success in therapy defined | [09:51–11:59] | | Profit incentives in private transgender clinics | [13:20–15:07] | | Banning adult surgeries; legal consistency | [15:11–16:31] | | Puberty blockers, age concerns, physiological risks | [17:11–20:08] | | Cancel culture & professional repercussions | [22:17–24:49] | | Government & political cowardice | [26:35–28:08] | | Media complicity (BBC, language, normalization) | [72:15–76:23] | | Detransitioners & lack of follow-up | [76:30–80:25] | | Broader diagnosis: “Victim Virus,” cultural crisis | [83:10–85:47] | | Endgame, hope, legal and societal challenges | [89:04–94:40] |
Tone and Language
- Tone: Direct, uncompromising, sometimes forceful; often polemical, peppered with dark humor and exasperation.
- Language: Frank, clinical at times, interspersed with colloquial swearing, strong metaphors, and analogies (e.g., comparing affirmation to treating psychosis by “affirming the delusion”).
- Dialogue: Host and guest often agree, occasionally challenge, and engage in some back-and-forth for clarification—especially on complex issues like stereotypes and harm.
Conclusion—Key Takeaways
- James Esses maintains: Gender ideology has been normalized at the peril of children’s mental and physical health, with damages exacerbated by institutions, profit motives, cowardice among professionals, and a wider cultural shift favoring identity and victimhood over resilience.
- Medical interventions for trans-identifying children are presented as reckless and driven by ideology and commerce rather than evidence.
- Calls for radical measures: Legal bans on all gender-transition surgery, professional censure or criminalization for involved teachers/doctors, and eradicating all “gender ideology” from public institutions and discourse.
- Wider context: The episode situates the trans debate within a broader cultural critique of over-pathologization, victimhood, declining parental authority, and “coddling” of children.
- Cautious optimism: While recognizing recent progress (e.g., legal decisions, public debate), James and Peter remain wary of the scale and depth of cultural and institutional capture but see growing transparency and open debate as hopeful signs.