Conservative commentators Katie Pavlich and Bethany Mandel raised concerns about the science behind gender affirming care and its potential impact on mental health and violence during a recent discussion.

Pavlich began by questioning whether powerful hormone treatments associated with gender affirming care are being sufficiently scrutinized.

“Bethany, there are big questions about the science behind some of the treatments that are given for what we’ve been told to call gender affirming care. There’s been a lot of pushback of even asking questions about powerful hormones that people are taking whether they change someone’s psyche or make them more violent. There are plenty of drugs on the market that that give side effects of danger to self, suicidal, violent tendencies that we’ve seen, we’re allowed to ask questions about other kinds of drugs, but it seems like when it comes to gender affirming care, we’re not supposed to ask whether it’s making people more violent,” Pavlich said.

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Mandel responded by arguing that the issue extends beyond medication alone.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s not just the drugs that are making people who already have pre existing mental illness more violent. I think it certainly doesn’t help, but we’re also sending them a message that they are under siege, that this they are a marginalized group and a marginalized community, and they have to batten down the hatches to protect themselves, because they are under threat constantly. And when you send that message to people who are amped up on hormones, who already have pre existing mental illness, that is a recipe for disaster,” Mandel said.

Mandel cited recent mass shootings involving transgender individuals.

“And yes, there’s only quote, unquote, been seven mass shooters who have been transgender in the last year. That’s that’s not a great number. That’s not a small number,” she said.

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She also referenced the killing of Charlie Kirk.

“But we’re but we’re also thinking about the fact that our friend Charlie Kirk was murdered by someone who believed in the same ideology,” Mandel said.

Mandel described the broader cultural issue as part of a larger societal breakdown.

“This is part of a mass psychosis where we believe that this is possible, that you can put on a dress and become a different gender, and it’s wrong, and it has consequences, and we’re seeing these consequences play out in the last month, week after week after week, and it’s not going to stop.”

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