From the article:
Last week, the author of the Cass Review, a “review” of evidence on transgender care being used to ban it in England, made her American debut. In a rather softball interview on NPR, Dr. Hillary Cass was remarkably open about her relatively unscientific views and theories on transgender people. When Meghna Chakrabarti asked her about the cause for the increase in transgender people coming out, she gave one of the most baffling answers I have ever encountered in covering transgender care: that porn may be making youth transgender.
“And that may also be driven by social media, by early exposure to pornography and a whole series of other factors that are happening for girls,” Cass stated, using pornography as a potential explanation for being transgender in the interview. Pornography is mentioned over 13 times in her review for the National Health Services of England, which some media outlets are calling a “landmark” analysis. It lists pornography as one of the potential reasons why an increasing number of trans youths are coming out, according to the Cass Review itself, where she states, “Research commentators recommend more investigation into the consumption of online pornography is needed,” citing an article by Karin Nadrowski, a member of “Therapy First,” a “gender exploratory therapy” lobbying group whose members engage in conversion therapy of transgender youth.
These claims are nothing new. Pornography and “perversion” have been blamed for transgender identity for some time now by those opposed to gender affirming care for transgender people. Stella O’Malley, director of the anti-trans lobbying group Genspect and often cited in anti-trans media, was taped stating, “It’s porn induced… it seems to be porn induced. Is it porn induced? I don’t know,” closing off with, “I don’t think you should have any empathy” for transgender teenagers. Anti-trans researcher Ray Blanchard has a long history of promoting theories about transgender identity that have their roots in fetishism. As early as 1982, researchers were openly calling transgender people perverted in scholarly articles.
This has also been levied against gay people, and gay porn was (and still sometimes is) targeted with restrictions as a result. In 2009, then-Senator Tom Coburn’s chief of staff famously proclaimed that porn will turn you gay: “All pornography is homosexual pornography, because all pornography turns your sexual drive inwards.” President Spencer W. Kimball of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stated that “Every form of homosexuality is sin. Pornography is one of the approaches to that transgression.”
This claim is without evidence; no reliable study has ever been published with evidence that viewing pornography can “turn you gay” or “turn you trans.” If it did, we would find many more transgender conservative Republicans. According to a study from Lawsuit, conservatives are notably large consumers of transgender porn, concluding, “the more Republican they are, the more they seem to like it.” Looking at search data, searches related to transgender porn are heavily correlated with more conservative counties. The top five states searching for transgender porn? Texas, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, and Kansas.
Despite this, many of the same groups pushing anti-trans laws are also advocating for anti-porn legislation. In 2024, several states passed “age verification” laws that require identification to view pornography. The Family Policy Alliance, which advocates for both age verification legislation and anti-trans legislation, stated that states “protecting children online” with porn restrictions was part of the fight against transgender rights. And of course, the Heritage Foundation, whose Project 2025 would declare transgender people pornographic, wrote that “big tech turns kids trans” through pornography.
Instead, a much likelier explanation for the increase in transgender people coming out in recent years is public acceptance. In the early 1900s, for example, the percentage of left-handed people in society hovered around 3%. That number shot up to 12% by the 1950s, where it has stayed ever since. This occurred during a period where societal acceptance of left-handed people gradually increased. Cass claims in a recent New York Times interview that social acceptance “just doesn’t happen that way, so dramatically,” and indeed, acceptance of transgender people moved much faster than that of left-handed people. However, she overlooks another major social movement in recent history: gay marriage.
In 2004, during the height of the gay marriage debate, polls showed a majority of Americans opposed to gay marriage. For example, a Gallup Poll in 2004 indicated that 64% of people believed gay marriage should not be recognized. By 2011, just seven years later, a majority supported recognition, and by 2018, that number reached 67%, a major and rapid swing in acceptance over a relatively short amount of time. Cass attempts to distinguish trans acceptance from this explanation by pointing out that the “gender ratio” of people transitioning has changed, with trans boys more likely to come out than they used to be. However, this explanation is wholly uncompelling: it is not difficult to imagine how public acceptance may differ for transgender boys and transgender girls over time, especially given the history of pathologization of feminine people who were assigned male at birth.
Dr. Cass’s adoption of the idea that being transgender is caused by pornography undercuts the premise of her review: that she is an independent, non-biased assessor of the science around transgender care. It also contradicts the central premise that there is not enough evidence around transgender care. There is far more evidence that transition improves gender dysphoria and mental health for transgender youth than there is that being transgender is caused by porn. The former has been supported by reviews of over 50 studies and every major American medical association. The latter is absolute speculation deeply rooted in historical bigotry. Cass and her review’s promotion of this idea will cast a dark shadow in countries that adopt her findings.
^ There are links in the original article, of course.