I've been thinking about yesterday's two stories about transgenderism - Ellen Page announcing that she is, in fact, a man; the Tavistock ruling - has got me thinking that our current treatment of transgenderism gives it a uniquely dangerous social transmissability.

Adolescence is, frankly, horrible. You have to find out who you are. Nobody understands you. You have the joys of sexual development. You have to navigate the intricacies of teenage social life. Worst of all, you have the growing realisation that you aren't actually special.

To deal with the first problem - who am I? - you run scripts: you play various social parts, to greater or lesser success. You're a jock or a nerd, or what have you. These roles might suit you, they might not. If they don't, that's a problem: you don't know who you are.

Pop culture, fortunately, gives new scripts to run, along with behaviour that announces that you're running this script. So, if you're a rebel, you might grow long hair and start smoking. Society might disapprove, but you get this recognition.

Sometimes this behaviour can be positive, sometimes negative. Werther or Hegesias are classic, and extreme, be examples of the latter; more contemporary examples might be Kurt Cobain or Richey Manic.

So, Richey Manic was famous for self-destructive behaviours, most notably including self-harm. He was therefore fated as a tortured genius.

Now, you, as an impressionable adolescent, have a new script to run. If you self-harm, you're running the script of tortured genius too.

That's a great script to run, because it solves lots of other problems. Nobody understands you, nobody recognises your pain: well, *now* they do. Before, you were awkward and ungainly; now, you have Serious Depths that others don't understand.

Lots more reasons why this is great. Are you bullied, or whatever? Well, those morons don't understand: but Kurt, *he* understands my pain. And you get to be part of the elect: you're part of this new sub-culture, who are Deep, and Know Pain, etc.

So you get to put on the mantle of the Sacred Victim. If anyone gives you grief about this, this doesn't confirm your inferiority, but your superiority: they bully you because they Just Don't Get It.

So it's easy to see why self-harm, e.g., or even suicide, becomes a contagious behaviour. It's how you make sense to others; how you make sense to yourself.

Transgenderism, similarly, has this contagious attribute. You're not just awkward and sexually-confused: you're part of this community of the Elect! You don't just have an identity, you have a group of peers who can affirm you in this identity.

So transgenderism not only solves the problems of self-harm, but also helps you to understand why you're suddenly confused about sex etc.

But it's an even better script to run, because it appeals to another fact of adolescence: idealism, and that you know more than the adults. If you're a grunge fan, e.g., you're better than your teacher because he doesn't know who Nirvana are; but he just doesn't care.

But be part of the transsexual community, and this knowledge becomes power. Your teacher doesn't know the latest etiquette about pronouns? Oh well, that's him out a job.

There's transphobia, of course, and that's horrible, but the private prejudice you face is met with public affirmation. Someone on Twitter might deny your identity, but when Ellen Page is now Elliott Page, her old name isn't even *mentionable*.

You get the mantle of Sacred Victim, while your new identity is feted and affirmed.

Now, I'm sceptical about the ontologial claims the trans ideology makes: I simply don't think it's possible to change sex. But supposing that claims about transgenderism are legitimate, then this leads to a serious public policy dilemma.

IF you are transgender, then seeing Ellen Page's announcement is lovely: you are affirmed! But if you're just a standard confused adolescent, then this presents a risk to you: that you'd think that this might be the solution to your woes.

Now, if you're an old goth with a Sisters of Mercy tattoo, that's embarrasing, but you can live with it. But if you rush into transitioning, you'll pay a very heavy price indeed.

So *if* transgenderism is to be accepted, it really needs the most stringent safeguarding checks, and needs to be checked for behavioural contagion in institutions.

Given yesterday's revelations, however, I don't think we're there yet.