Evangelical Writer Thinks Top Surgery is Like Candy

in the Christian Post, an evangelical news and opinion website, an op-ed by Jarrett Stepman.

In reaction to a New York Times article on transmasc adolescents who access top surgery we found this opinion piece by and for evangelical Christians. Writer Jarrett Stepman is harshly critical of the Times, believing its story to be biased and untrustworthy because it includes information about the current medical evidence, which overhwelmingly supports the benefits of top surgery for transmasculine adolescents diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

The writer goes on to make an analogy between doctors who perform top surgery and strangers offering candy to small children. Presumably, this is because the author believes teen girls desire breast removal in much the same way as small children desire sugary treats. In truth, however, the analogy may be more apt than the writer knows. Warnings of stranger danger in the 1980s and 90s are now widely considered (yes, even in conservative media) to have been a classic moral panic.