nuggets

That perhaps indicates that these are distinct phenomena and shouldn't be lumped into the same category.

It's interesting how much protest there is to even the suggestion there may be a social contagion aspect.

I think some people have backed themselves into an ideological corner on this one.

You don't have to suggest an explanation for this demographic change if you don't want to.

If that is the cause, how does it explain both the sex ratio shift and the rapid increase in referrals starting from around 2011-2012 onwards? There were gender clinics across Europe reporting similar demographic changes in pediatric referrals. This precedes the political developments in the US that you mentioned.

Could you elaborate on what you're alluding to, please?

But the adult demographic of left-handers doesn't have, and didn't have, a sex ratio skewed in the opposite direction to the youth demographic. So how is this a relevant comparison?

Then why were there more boys who want to be girls referred prior to a decade ago, compared to girls who want to be boys?

The radical feminist movement in the UK has existed much longer than this, since around the late 1960s to early 1970s.

There are other papers showing the same sort of pattern elsewhere. For example, you can see one cited in that paper within the introductory paragraphs.

As the commenter upthread noted, the adult demographic is more weighted towards men who want to be women. Why would childhood referrals have become shifted in the opposite direction, much more towards girls who want to be boys?

What is your alternative explanation for why referrals have so sharply skewed towards girls who want to be boys, within the past decade or so?

It is doctors who first drew attention to this phenomenon. See for example Tavistock whistleblower David Bell.

Regarding the change in sex ratio for childhood referrals, this is well documented. See for example this paper:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324768316_Sex_Ratio...

"Social contagion" is social science terminology. It's meant as an analogy not a pejorative.

There's not really any plausible explanation as to why referrals to pediatric gender clinics became so skewed towards girls who want to be boys, other than social contagion.

The sticking point is that it's politically controversial to point this out because of progressive beliefs about gender identity as an unquestionable facet of someone's being.