Campaigners warn the ‘inescapable’ videos of trans men celebrating double mastectomies, show an ‘urgent’ need to ‘reconnect with reality’
Doctors are promoting trans “top surgery” on social media, it has emerged amid concerns about the impact on young people.
Clinics have been posting videos on TikTok showing young trans men celebrating that they are having double mastectomies or reacting to their “amazing” surgery “reveals”.
Campaigners warned on Saturday night that the messages on social media are “compelling and addictive” for and show the “urgent” need to “help young people reconnect with reality”.
One doctor, Sidhbh Gallagher, who dubs herself “Dr Teetus Deletus” and whose videos are available in the UK, is now the subject of complaint in the US, where she practices.
Last month she told Medscape she used “gimmicky” terms because they are “the words of the community I serve” and this helped put patients at ease.
She said she followed standards that required mental health evaluations so the risk of regret in her patients “is incredibly low”. She also defended operating on patients under 18 years of age.
In the UK, clinic Cosmedicare has been identified as sharing videos promoting double mastectomies and offering a “streamlined” service for patients trying to get hold of sex-change surgeons.
In one video, they show their surgery dates while a backing soundtrack plays, “I wish that I could be like the cool kids”.
On Saturday night, the clinic said these are dates for all surgeries, not just trans patients.
There is no suggestion that Cosmedicare’s post on their social page breaches advertising guidelines.
The videos were uncovered as part of an analysis by the LGB Alliance into the influence of social media.
The findings, which will be presented at the charity’s conference on Friday, warn that “young people are being radicalised into online subcultures” and that the online space is the “canary in the coalmine” for wider culture.
Shannon Woulahan and Hannah Berrelli will say: “For young LGB people, watching and interacting with a few gay friendly videos” will quickly send them into the rabbit hole of “queer TikTok”.
They say it is “populated by gender surgeons promoting cosmetic double mastectomies” and videos from activists promoting messages such as “all lesbians are non-binary”.
One video from Cosmedicare, which has clinics in Edinburgh and Glasgow, shows a trans man in a consulting room who tells viewers that they “always talking about surgery and a lot of your concerns are the fact that you just want your hormones”.
He says that they have discussed the issue with medical professionals at the clinic and “they finally put a thing in place to streamline you getting hormones”.
A staff member, dressed in hospital scrubs, says they provide a free referral to a psychiatrist who can then refer on to a doctor who “if appropriate” would prescribe hormones.
In another video, two people imitate a sketch from The Simpsons cartoon in which they suggest the character playing the daughter wants oestrogen.
In another, the clinic’s founder and director Gill Baird notes that the operations are going to be “absolutely life-changing” for patients from all over the UK, some of whom “have been waiting to turn 18 to access the service privately”.
When approached by The Telegraph, Ms Baird said that they “take any accusation of promoting surgery to young people extremely seriously” and they are just trying to ensure “information and care is accessible”.
The clinic follows NHS pathways and only operates on over 18s who have gone through a strict vetting process, including psychiatric assessment, she said.
Ms Baird added that the transgender community faces barriers to treatment, and they use the platform to allow them to access the right information and support
She said: “The risks of not being able to access gender-affirming care and information are higher than any question over whether there are risks over younger people being able to view online content.”
Adverts for cosmetic surgeries are governed by strict rules that prevent them from being targeted at under 18s, which were introduced earlier this year.
The Advertising Standards Agency said that it is “aware that social media, including TikTok, has the ability to effectively reach young audiences” and its rules are “designed to protect vulnerable audiences, including young people, from any potential advertising harms”.
They said that they are “working closely” with social media platforms to have “problem” ads removed and are “clamping down on social posts that are not clearly signposting when they’re ads”.
Ms Woulahan said: “Early social media platforms like Tumblr helped incubate and grow entire subcultures based on hatred of, or harm towards one’s own body.
“This laid the ground for activists – including surgeons, doctors and other caregivers – to promote mastectomies and other life-changing medical interventions for those who feel disconnected from their sex.
“New platforms like TikTok are powered by advanced algorithms that make this content even more addictive, compelling and inescapable. It’s never been more urgent for parents, educators and other carers to help young people reconnect with reality.”
Neither account runs paid-for advertising and or violates TikTok’s community guidelines. The site has strict rules around advertising of cosmetic surgery.
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