Charity Commission complaint regarding Young Minds
28th March 2025
Dear Charity Commission,
Complaint regarding Young Minds – 1016968
I would like to raise a complaint that Young Minds is not following charity law to provide information that is accurate, evidence based and balanced regarding matters of cross-sex identification.
I previously complained to Young Minds regarding this topic in 2024. I was told by Young Minds that they would be “reviewing [their] content on gender identity” (paragraph 131), however in 2025, Young Mind’s remains inaccurate and not based in evidence.
Lucy Taylor-Mitchinson, Head of Communications, and Young Minds have arguably decided to completely ignore the problems with their content regarding cross-sex identification that I have brought to their attention in 2024.
I have attempted to follow up this issue with Young Minds in 2025, however my complaint appears to have been similarly ignored.
I have raised the issue of misleading content regarding cross-sex identification with the Charity Commission before beginning in 2022 (CRM:0467599) and the risk that this content is posing to the mental health of children and young people, particularly adolescent girls and young women, as this content encourages self-misdiagnoses of what the DSM-5 calls “gender dysphoria”.
The Charity Commission has arguably never followed its Regulatory and Risk Framework regarding this matter (I have included discussion of this on page 9 of this complaint) nor does the Commission appear to require charities that are making claims regarding the nature of cross-sex identification and “gender dysphoria” follow charity law, which requires the content of education charities to be accurate, evidence based, and balanced.
All the risks that the Charity Commission have ignored, are now turning into harms, in great number:
“Father's letter begging top surgeon to cancel trans operation on ‘depressive’ 20-year-old: ‘Please don't remove my daughter's breasts ...in just one day you'll ruin her life for ever’” (Daily Mail, 27th July 2024).
“Revealed: More than 1,000 patients a year have trans chest surgery on the NHS” (Telegraph, 10th February 2025).
“The mothers left distraught after the NHS removed their daughters’ healthy breasts because the girls said they were transgender” (Daily Mail, 27th February 2025).
Ray Blanchard, who served on the gender identity disorder subcommittee of the DSM-4 (the diagnostic manual that is used by clinicians) cautioned in 2017 against what is now happening today:
“To us, the most tragic group, along with their families, includes those who have acquired rapid-onset gender dysphoria. That condition appears to be the tragic interaction of the current transgender zeitgeist (“It’s everywhere, and it’s great!”) and social media with the vulnerability of troubled adolescents, especially adolescent girls. They are at risk for unnecessary, disfiguring, and unhealthy medical interventions.”
I would consider a successful outcome of my complaint for Young Mind’s to remove its content on “Gender identity”, as it is misleading, and it is not in the public benefit for children and young people, girls and young women in particular, to misdiagnose themselves with gender dysphoria, putting themselves at observable risk of receiving unnecessary supposed medical treatments.
Background
Historically, only a very small percentage of the population, who were mostly men, were compelled to modify their body to resemble the opposite sex, like Lili Elbe (1882 – 1931) (below).
In 1989, a Canadian psychiatrist, Ray Blanchard, building on decades of previous observations, posited that there were two causes behind male-to-female cross-sex identification, connected to atypical sexual orientation/sexuality, namely homosexuality or “autogynephilia”:
“Gender identity disturbance in males is always accompanied by one of two erotic anomalies. All gender dysphoric males who are not sexually oriented toward men are instead sexually oriented toward the thought or image of themselves as women. … the writer would prefer to replace it with the term autogynephilia (“love of oneself as a woman”).”
I have previously mentioned this to the Charity Commission in 2022 (CRM:0467599) and talked about my experience of autogynephilia. Elbe appears typical of a man with autogynephilia.
The compulsion of some men with autogynephilia to modify their bodies to resemble the opposite sex is similar to another paraphilia, apotemnophilia, which is when men seek out supposed medical treatments to resemble amputees.
I am aware of this research, as I personally have autogynephilia, and found clinical descriptions of autogynephilia when trying to research what I felt as an adolescent. I have written about this in the newsletter of the medical charity HealthSense.
Two-types of male “gender dysphoria”
The “two types” of cross-sex identification can be recognised in the DSM-5’s definition of “gender dysphoria”, a persistent discomfort with one’s sex, which has two pathways: “early-onset” and “late-onset”.
The first pathway, “early-onset”, is characterised as when a particularly masculine girl or feminine boy may identify as the opposite sex. This will in most cases will desist at the onset of puberty, when they are likely to find that they are homosexual (DSM-5 p. 455).
The second pathway, “late-onset” (adolescence and adulthood) is characterised in males by “frequently engag[ing] in transvestic behavior with sexual excitement”. The DSM-5 notes that the aforementioned concept of autogynephilia (the “Sexual arousal of a natal male associated with the idea or image of being a woman”) (DSM-5 p. 818). “increases the likelihood of gender dysphoria” amongst this cohort (DSM-5 p. 703).
It is easy to observe “late-onset gender dysphoria” and autogynephilia today, for example in the following article:
“‘In the game, I knew myself as Hannah’: the trans gamers finding freedom on Roblox” Faber, T. The Guardian 24th April 2021.
“She [sic] vividly remembers the first time she explored that wardrobe, at the age of nine. Her mother was at work, her father asleep downstairs in his chair. Hannah crept into their bedroom and tentatively opened a drawer. She took out a silky nightgown and shrugged it on, feeling the instant, giddy rush of something she would later learn to call “gender euphoria”, though it was tempered by fear that someone would walk in. As if on cue, her mother returned from work unexpectedly and caught Hannah in the act… At secondary school, she would wear tights under her school trousers, enjoying how they felt against her skin.”
In this case, “Transvestic behavior with sexual excitement” is euphemistically referred to as “gender euphoria”.
It is further easy to recognise autogynephilia, when one understands that it correlates with specific other paraphilia, namely masochism and “stuff fetishism”, as Blanchard observes:
“Some paraphilias definitely cluster: autogynephilia and masochism, for example, and autogynephilia, masochism and what we might call “stuff fetishism”: fetishism for particular materials, like leather, silk, rubber… it’s not completely at random…”
The correlation between “stuff fetishism” and autogynephilia can be observed in the article above as the fascination with the “silky nightgown” and “wear[ing] tights under her [sic] school trousers, enjoying how they felt against her skin”.
The correlation between autogynephilia and “stuff fetishism” can again be observed below. In in this case, Abigail Thorn’s apparent autogynephilia correlates with a preference for wearing rubber:
“Abigail Thorn: ‘I came out as trans and made headlines’”. BBC 3rd April 2021.
“Transhumanism: ‘The World's Most Dangerous Idea’” Philosophy Tube (Youtube channel).
While Blanchard found that autogynephilic gender dysphoria was connected to a paraphilia, Blanchard emphasised that it is not solely a sexual phenomenon:
“…the concept of autogynephilia does not imply that autogynephilic males are always sexually aroused by the thought of themselves as women, or by dressing in women’s clothes, or by contemplating themselves cross-dressed in the mirror - any more than a man in love always obtains an erection at the sight of his sweetheart, or pair-bonded geese copulate continuously.”
It is arguable that autogynephilia accounts for the majority of male cross-sex identification that can be seen in public life today, and evidently autogynephilia can have a great effect on personal identity development.
Many male detransitioners now report autogynephilia as being causal or relevant to their gender dysphoria: “The source of your dysphoria is almost certainly a paraphilia called autogynephilia. This is not a value judgement. It’s why I transitioned…”, “Once I finally did accept my sexuality, which didn’t occur until after transition in my mid thirties, I found even more turmoil with the notion that I wasn't gay, but instead had an erotic target location error.”1
The “feminine essence narrative” construed as a “mismatched gender identity”.
The DSM-5 shows that male gender dysphoria is a case of atypical sexuality/sexual orientation: being connected with either autogynephilia or homosexuality respectively.
“Early-onset” gender dysphoria in most cases resolves at puberty, and is connected to homosexuality.
“Late-onset” gender dysphoria begins at puberty, and in males, is connected to autogynephilia.
However Young Mind’s page on “Gender identity” omits all of this information, and presents cross-sex identification supposedly as a matter of having a “gender identity” that has somehow become mismatched with one’s sex:
“Your gender identity might match up with the sex you were given at birth, or it might not” and says “Gender identity is about how you understand yourself when it comes to being male, female, both, neither or anywhere in between”.
This description is not based in evidence (which I have covered above), but rather construes cross-sex identification in terms of the well-known, and false, “feminine essence narrative”, which suggests transsexuals are “in some literal sense and not just in a figurative sense, women inside men’s bodies” (transsexualism being historically mostly connected to men who want to become women).
I have previously covered with the Charity Commission (CRM:0467599) the problem of such misleading and vague content, which omits relevant context from the DSM-5, and is encouraging children and young people, primary adolescent girls and young women, to misdiagnose themselves with gender dysphoria (below).
If Young Minds were to provide accurate, evidence-based and balanced content regarding cross-sex identification, namely that in most cases “early-onset” gender dysphoria will desist, and most cases of “late-onset” (adolescents and adults) will be related to an unusual male paraphilia, autogynephilia, fewer children and young people would likely see “being trans” as something that would apply to themselves.
Furthermore, when one understands the truth behind matters of cross-sex identification, it becomes apparent that children do not need to be taught anything about this issue as a matter of course. This issue is simply not an issue that charities need to be discussing with children. This is my same opinion as points 3 and 4 of my 2022 complaint to the Charity Commission (CRM:0467599).
The “feminine essence narrative”.
There are arguably two reasons for the persistence of the “feminine essence narrative”, now under the guise of having a “mismatched” “gender identity”.
The first, is a psychological reason, which is connected to the wish of some autogynephilic males for the “feminine essence narrative” to be true: that they literally are in some way women inside men’s bodies, or have a female “gender identity”. As Anne Lawrence, an autogynephilic transsexual, writes:
“The theory of autogynephilic transsexualism forces us to confront the fact that both our essential natures and our motives seem to directly contradict our desired ends. We autogynephilic transsexuals want to be women; but the theory tells us that we are not women and that we don’t even resemble women—not in the least. We would like to believe that our desire to be women springs from our need to express some internal feminine essence; but the theory tells us that we have no internal feminine essence and that our desire to be women actually springs from our paraphilic male sexuality”.
The second, is a political reason, in that activists have concluded, perhaps correctly, that the conversation about “trans” being a connected to atypical sexuality is going to be much a more difficult one to have with the public, as Alice Dreger writes:
“The shame and derision accorded trans women like Juanita and Cher [two male-to-female transsexuals described in the book] doesn’t disappear just because a few scientists may be personally fine with the idea that men might become women primarily because of reasons of sexuality, not “trapped” gender identity… They wanted the whole business of Blanchard’s taxonomic division shot down. Transsexuality should appear only as the public could stomach it, as one simple story of gender, a tale of “true” females tragically born into male bodies, rescued by medical and surgical reassignment. And there should be absolutely no mention of autogynephilia...”2
As I have raised before with the Charity Commission, I have noticed that there are now entire charities, such as the Gendered Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES),3 Stonewall,4 and Gendered Intelligence,5 who are arguably devoted to targeting the false “mismatched gender identity” “feminine essence narrative” to children, young people and the public.
Complaint to Young Minds
Young Minds says that “Our own research, consultation and verification processes have led us to a different position to the one you express” (paragraph 96). However, Young Minds does not provide any research to substantiate this view. Nor do Young Minds explain why they do not provide even basic coverage of the pathways of gender dysphoria in the DSM-5, as I have done so above.
Young Minds says “From what you have said below, your view on “social contagion” and the view that there are “no innately trans young people” misalign with our views and values as an organisation” (paragraph 130), however Young Minds offer no response however to why there has been a drastic increase of adolescent girls being referred to “gender identity” services.
I asked Young Minds that if they believe that there are “innately trans young people”, do they then whole-heartedly support a report of an apparently distressed young woman undergoing a double mastectomy (paragraph 144). Young Minds did not reply, yet whole-hearted support of double mastectomies is what their belief implies.
Young Minds offer no reason why their belief that there are “innately trans young people” is different to the basic information provided in the DSM-5, that “early-onset gender dysphoria” is something that most children will grow out of (paragraph 138).
Young Minds falsely frame my complaints within the context of emotion, that I “feel strongly” about an issue (paragraph 129), when it is more accurate to say, that I am covering the research into matters of cross-sex identification, and showing how the material Young Minds is providing children and young people is not accurate, nor evidence-based, nor balanced, and is harming children and young people, particularly adolescent girls and young women.
Young Minds do not appear to realise that the content that they are targeting at children and young people, namely that they could have a “gender identity” that “mismatches” from their sex is highly contested, and is rightly cautioned against by various authorities.
The UK Department of Education, in its interim guidance for “Gender questioning children”, says that the ideology that one can have a “gender identity” that is different from one’s sex, is a contested belief, and should not be taught as a fact.
The US Federal Government would likely, and rightly, ban Young Mind’s content from forming any part of its government material.
Young Minds present themselves as caring for children and young people. However I rather see that they are creating children who need to be cared for, by targeting them with identities such as “non-binary” “transgender” “genderqueer”. These identities are not coming from children themselves, but rather have been created and targeted at children by adults, largely over the last decade. Young Minds and its staff are earning a lot of money, and building careers upon claiming that they are caring for children and young people who supposedly have these identities.6 The total income of Young Minds in 2024 was around £7.7 million, and they spent around £9.150 million.
I do not see how any of this is for the public benefit. However I can see how whole charities have been formed around these identities, and how they receive a great amount of revenue for the benefit of adults in the charity industry.
It would be for the immediate public benefit, if the content that Young Minds is teaching children regarding this topic is removed completely. It is not based in evidence, and, as I argue, is causing grievous observable harm, particularly to adolescent girls and young women.
Yours,
Orlando Woolf
The Charity Commission has arguably never followed its Regulatory and Risk Framework.
The Charity Commission ignored the risk posed by not differentiating the different types of gender dysphoria.7 “It should be clear by now that “gender dysphoria” is not a precise enough term. Parents of gender dysphoric children should know which type of gender dysphoria their child has….If knowledge is power, then lack of knowledge is malpractice”.
The Charity Commission ignored the risk posed by charities teaching a loose definition of “gender dysphoria” under the misleading narrative of a “mismatched gender identity”, encouraging misdiagnoses.8
The Charity Commission allows charities to make un-evidenced medical claims regarding puberty blockers, and falsely interprets this as “political campaigning”.9
The Charity Commission does not enforce its requirement that “where the charity provides information relating to medical interventions (including puberty blockers) they make clear whether this information is based on factual evidence or alternatively is the charity’s view/standpoint”.
The Charity Commission ignored that Fumble silently deleted its signpost to GenderGP, which allows members of the public to access supposed treatments that pose a high risk of harm to children, without warning children and parents that they should desist using the service.10
The Charity Commission takes no action at all regarding charities, like the Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES) who promoted puberty blockers to a tomboy who had seen “transgender” on YouTube, or regarding Gendered Intelligence, who encourage children not to worry if they did not feel “trans enough”,11 encouraged children to take puberty blockers, then silently deleted their content regarding puberty blockers, after receiving a complaint.
Rather than following its Regulatory and Risk Framework, the Charity Commission has enabled a Wild-west of pseudo-scientific theories and identities targeted at children and young people, social contagion, and unproven, dangerous and irreversible medical treatments, which are promoted to children and young people with no underlying medical indication of “gender dysphoria”.
The original supposed underlying medical indication, namely autogynephilia, arguably remains at the bottom of this all.
6th January 2024
Dear Laura Blunt CEO,
I am contacting you as I saw that you signed the "Stand with Trans" pledge. I had gender dysphoria as a teenage boy. As a teenager, I also read research that has led me to be concerned about the trans issue today. I've put together a referenced memo of my concerns, and published it on Substack, and would like to share it with you:
https://transpolicy.substack.com/p/trans-memo
I hope it is useful information, I hope it is useful to YoungMinds policy formation around this topic, as I can see that young people are coming to harm over this issue.
Yours,
Orlando
17th January 2024
Dear Orlando,
I am Laura’s EA and am replying to you on her behalf. Firstly, please accept my apologies for the delay in coming back to you last week.
I wanted to thank you for getting in touch, and for sharing your work and let you know that I have passed this on for Laura to have a read of.
Best wishes,
[...] (She/Her/Hers)
Executive Assistant
YoungMinds
29th January 2024
Dear [..],
This issue is recently hitting the media, with Debbie Hayton talking about autogynephilia, which I mention in the memo
Has Laura had a chance to read the memo: https://transpolicy.substack.com/p/trans-memo
Yours,
Orlando
30th January 2024
Thanks Orlando. Yes I believe she has read it.
Best wishes,
[...]
30th January 2024
Dear [...],
Did Laura Bunt have any feedback regarding the memo?
Yours,
Orlando
20th February 2024
Dear [...],
It has been several weeks since I contacted you regarding my memo.
Your website still contains material directed at children that some children might have a "gender" that is apparently trapped in the wrong body. [1]
Please could I ask for a response from Laura Bunt, CEO, regarding my memo, [2] which shows this narrative is not the truth behind matters of cross-sex identification, and is causing a socially contagious mental health issue amongst girls.
[2] https://transpolicy.substack.com/p/trans-memo
Yours,
Orlando
22nd February 2024
Hi Orlando,
Apologies I missed your last email. There are a whole range of views, insights and perspectives on this issue and we have a process for how we come to our organisational positions on such things. I’m not sure when we’ll next be revisiting this one but I’ll make sure the relevant people have access to your substack.
Best wishes,
[...]
22nd February 2024
Dear [...],
In order to trigger a review of your content, please could you consider my feedback as now a complaint and escalate it to your complaints team. I am now following the advice from the Charity Commission to complain to you first.
I would like to complain that your material on the subject of cross-sex identification is not based on research:
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/parents-a-z-mental-health-guide/gender-identity/
Cross-sex identification is not a matter of "Someone whose gender is different from their sex at birth." but rather connected to atypical sexual orientation: being either autogynephilia or homosexuality.
Furthermore, I argue that teaching the idea that cross-sex identification is a matter of a "gender" that is different from ones "sex" to children, is causing a mental health social contagion amongst girls.
I cover both of these points in my memo: https://transpolicy.substack.com/p/trans-memo
In providing content that is not based on research, Young Minds is failing in its charitable objects for "the advancement of education of the public, in particular bodies and agencies, about the emotional and psychological disturbances and mental distress experienced by children".
Furthermore, Young Minds is acting counter to its objectives, by contributing to a social mental health contagion amongst girls, who have come to believe they have a mismatch between their sex and "gender."
Yours,
Orlando
22nd February 2024
Hi Orlando,
This is to acknowledge your email, I have passed it on to my relevant colleagues.
Best wishes,
[...]
15th March 2024
Dear Orlando,
Please see below the reply I have been asked to pass onto you.
[...]
Dear Orlando,
Thanks for your emails and we apologise that we took longer than intended to reply. We’ve had some key staff on sickness leave.
We appreciate that there are a range of views around issues relating to gender and are grateful that you’ve taken the time to express your own perspective and research that supports it.
We take great pride in our online content and it goes through a number of steps before it is published. Our own research, consultation and verification processes have led us to a different position to the one you express. We appreciate that this answer is unlikely to feel satisfactory to you, given your strength of feeling, but it is the position we have reached.
Thanks for getting in touch and apologies again for the delayed response.
With best wishes,
YoungMinds Team
16th March 2024
Dear [...],
Thank you for your email.
When given the opportunity, Young Minds have provided no research nor references as evidence to how it has reached the position that for some children, "their gender may be different to the sex they have been assigned." [1] I remain of the view that this is a belief, and one that I can see is harming children, particularly girls.
Therefore, I don't see that Young Minds is fulfilling its charitable object for "the advancement of education of the public, in particular bodies and agencies, about the emotional and psychological disturbances and mental distress experienced by children, young people and families, and about the alleviation and prevention thereof".
I have opened up a complaint with the Charity Commission (attached), that there is a "risk of serious harm to beneficiaries and, in particular, vulnerable beneficiaries", as my memo covers, there is a social contagion occurring amongst girls who have been taught the belief that a "gender" or “gender identity” can be different to your sex.
Yours,
Orlando
18th March 2024
Hi Orlando,
I acknowledge your email and have passed this on to my relevant colleagues.
Best wishes,
[...]
13th May 2024
I would like to make a complaint regarding your inclusion of Gendered Intelligence in your page https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/parents-a-z-mental-health-guide/gender-identity/
The Cass Review found that regarding puberty blockers: “The rationale for early puberty suppression remains unclear, with weak evidence regarding the impact on gender dysphoria, mental or psychosocial health. The effect on cognitive and psychosexual development remains unknown.” [1]
Despite this, Gendered Intelligence stand by their content directed at young people that: “PDTs [puberty delaying treatments] are used to delay the onset of the changes associated with puberty to allow time for exploration of gender identity”. [2] You are linking to an organisation that, according to the NHS, are promoting life-changing treatment to young people without evidence.
[1] Cass Review Final
Yours,
Orlando
13th May 2024
Dear Orlando,
Thank you for your email.
We are sorry that you have reason to complain.
Please accept this email as confirmation that your complaint has been received today, 13 May 2024, and passed on to the relevant department who will investigate the matter fully and will reply to you within the next 10 working days.
Please note: working days do not include Saturdays, Sundays or bank holidays.
Kindest regards
YoungMinds Team
28th May 2024
Dear Orlando,
Thank you for getting in touch and for sharing your feedback regarding our gender identity page on the website.
We understand your concerns around puberty blockers, and acknowledge that findings from the recent Cass report question the use of puberty blockers, since there is limited empirical evidence and research that has been conducted to explore the impact of the treatment on young people’s health and emotional wellbeing. Therefore, we understand why there is much concern and conversation around how to best support trans young people as they engage with Gender Identity services and various interventions that are provided.
We regard young people's safety with the utmost importance, and it is a priority for us that our digital content on the website is accurate, up to date and of high quality. As part of this, we regularly review our page content and have it verified by clinical advisors, and this includes a rigorous vetting process to determine which signposts we include on our pages. I can assure you that your feedback will be taken on board, and we will review our list of signposting that we feature on our gender identity page as a priority to ensure we are directing young people and their families to appropriate information and support. However, the signposting we recommend is a suggestion to our service users and ultimately, we cannot be held responsible for the information that other organisations, like Gendered Intelligence, feature on their websites.
We know from our work with young people that at present, it’s a very difficult time for trans young people, and therefore it is more important than ever that there are services who can offer advice and emotional support at this time. This is something Gendered Intelligence are able to provide, and therefore we must also take this into account when making any decisions around our signposts.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to raise your concerns with us. We appreciate the feedback to help us improve our pages for young people.
Kind regards,
Zoe
Digital Communications Manager
28th May 2024
Dear Zoe,
Please could you escalate my complaint. My response is below:
"We know from our work with young people that at present, it's a very difficult time for trans young people, and therefore it is more important than ever that there are services who can offer advice and emotional support at this time. This is something Gendered Intelligence are able to provide, and therefore we must also take this into account when making any decisions around our signposts. "
Arguably the world authorities on gender identity disorders, Prof. J. Michael Bailey and Dr. Ray Blanchard recognise that there is currently a social contagion amongst girls who have come to believe they have the "gender identity" of the opposite sex.
https://4thwavenow.com/2017/12/07/gender-dysphoria-is-not-one-thing/
This is also observable looking at referral statistics:
https://transpolicy.substack.com/p/trans-memo
Furthermore, the two resources above cover the fact that the narrative of “trans” being a matter of a "gender identity" that has somehow “mismatched” with one's sex is not the truth.
There are no innately "trans young people", there are rather children who have a range of mental health issues, and research suggests that this cohort of girls have nothing in common with the cohorts who were likely to have difficulties regarding cross-sex identification in the past. The Cass Review specifically cautions against this "diagnostic overshadowing".
I raised the research above with Gendered Intelligence, which suggests that the dramatic increase of girls may not have the "gender identity" of the opposite sex. They replied "we have no obligation to reference additional material", (paragraph 85 https://transpolicy.substack.com/p/charity-commission-complaint-regarding-bba)
Gendered Intelligence have not just been "offering emotional support", they tell children not to worry if that "are not trans enough".
Gendered Intelligence have been promoting puberty blockers to children without medical evidence. When I complained to Gendered Intelligence regarding this, they said that citing the Cass Review was "unjustified" but deleted their content from public for a "redesign".
Gendered Intelligence are an organisation that is telling children that they have the "gender identity" of the opposite sex. Gendered Intelligence will not consider any research that suggests this belief is untrue. This is contributing to a mental health contagion, primarily amongst girls. Gendered Intelligence have encouraged children to take hormone blockers without medical evidence.
It is difficult to understand why organisations would want to keep partnering with Gendered Intelligence, given the harm they are causing to children.
You can read the harm this is causing on social media: “But it was allowed to be taught in the first place…and now my daughter is stuck in the belief that she should be a boy after being exposed to this”
Yours,
Orlando
21st June 2024
Dear Orlando,
Thanks for reaching out to us again.
My colleague Zoe escalated your complaint to me upon your request. Your previous email and our response were reviewed by a member of our Senior Leadership Team so it had already been escalated.
I appreciate you feel strongly about this issue, however our response remains the same. We regard young people's safety with the utmost importance, and it is a priority for us that our digital content on the website is accurate, up to date and of high quality. As part of this, we regularly review our page content and have it verified by clinical advisors, and this includes a rigorous vetting process to determine which signposts we include on our pages. And most importantly, we speak to young people with lived experience who tell us what life is like for them and what they need to support them with their mental health.
From what you have said below, your view on “social contagion” and the view that there are “no innately trans young people” misalign with our views and values as an organisation.
As mentioned before by Zoe, we are reviewing our content on gender identity this year, and we will look to young people with lived experience to check that the information and support we provide is up to date and representative of their views and needs.
Thanks again for contacting us.
Regards,
Lucy
22nd July 2024
Dear YoungMinds,
My concerns regarding this issue have since been published by HealthSense, a charity comprised of medical professionals that have been "promoting science and integrity in healthcare since 1991".
Please could you read this article:
https://www.healthsense-uk.org/publications/newsletter/newsletter-127/420-127-orlando.html
I remain of the view that you are harming children, particularly girls.
Yours,
Orlando
25th July 2024
Dear YoungMinds,
Following on from my previous email, you say:
“Your view on “social contagion” and the view that there are “no innately trans young people” misalign with our views and values as an organisation.”
How do you explain the drastic increase of girls being referred to "gender identity" clinics? Illustrated here: https://transpolicy.substack.com/p/trans-memo ?
You believe that there are "innately trans young people", do you mean children?
The idea of being “innately trans” does not appear in the pathway of the DSM-5, where “gender identity” and “gender dysphoria” are defined. Most cases of early-onset (amongst children) cross-sex identification will desist, when they will also likely find they are homosexual.
The DSM says early-onset gender dysphoria “starts in childhood and continues into adolescence and adulthood; or, there is an intermittent period in which the gender dysphoria desists and these individuals self-identify as gay or homosexual”. [1]
The DSM-5 describes male late-onset gender dysphoria, what one can identify as autogynephilic, as “Adolescents and adults with late-onset gender dysphoria frequently engage in transvestic behavior with sexual excitement. The majority of these individuals are gynephilic or sexually attracted to other posttransition natal males with late-onset gender dysphoria. A substantial percentage of adult males with late-onset gender dysphoria cohabit with or are married to natal females. After gender transition, many self-identify as lesbian.” [1]
Some adults may decide to take medical steps to alter their bodies. However this is not due to a knowable "essence" or being "innately trans" , it is rather due to homosexuality, or autogynephilia.
[1] DSM-5 p. 685
Yours,
Orlando
1st August 2024
Dear Young Minds,
I would like to ask whether you have had the chance to read the questions that I sent to you in the previous email.
I think this is a serious issue. If you believe that there are innately "trans" people, then it means you are full-heartedly supporting this as the right thing to do (27th July 2024):
As I have had personal experience of gender dysphoria, and I know the research around this issue, I do not think that this is the right thing to do. Neither does Ray Blanchard, who worked on the gender identity disorder subcommittee of the DSM-5:
"To us, the most tragic group, along with their families, includes those who have acquired rapid-onset gender dysphoria. That condition appears to be the tragic interaction of the current transgender zeitgeist (“It’s everywhere, and it’s great!”) and social media with the vulnerability of troubled adolescents, especially adolescent girls. They are at risk for unnecessary, disfiguring, and unhealthy medical interventions."
https://4thwavenow.com/2017/12/07/gender-dysphoria-is-not-one-thing/
Yours,
Orlando
[No response]
10th March 2025
I have previously complained that your content regarding cross-sex identification is misleading.
I have seen that since my previous complaint, you have updated your content, and it is still misleading. You construe matters of cross-sex identification as a somehow "mismatched" "gender identity", which is known in research as the "feminine essence narrative", which suggests that transsexuals are in some way literally the opposite sex; [1] something that research shows is a false narrative.
Your content also suggests that children can have the "gender identity" of something else entirely, e.g. "non-binary", which is something that is not present in the DSM-5, related to gender dysphoria or otherwise. I cover the pathways to what the DSM-5 calls "gender dysphoria" below. These show that gender dysphoria is related to atypical sexuality, namely homosexuality (in the case of early-onset gender dysphoria) or autogynephilia (in the case of late-onset gender dysphoria), not a “mismatched” “gender identity”.
In the DSM-5, gender dysphoria amongst pre-pubertal children, both in boys and girls, is associated with later being attracted to the same sex: “For both natal male and female children showing persistence, almost all are sexually attracted to individuals of their natal sex.” The DSM-5 calls this pathway “early-onset” gender dysphoria. In most cases, this pathway of gender dysphoria will cease at the onset of puberty. There is another pathway, which the DSM-5 calls “late-onset” gender dysphoria, which in males “occurs around puberty or in later life". Like early-onset gender dysphoria, this is also connected to sexuality, as individuals, “frequently engage in transvestic behavior with sexual excitement”, however unlike the early-onset group, are otherwise heterosexual, “A substantial percentage of adult males with late-onset gender dysphoria cohabit with or are married to natal females. After gender transition, many self-identify as lesbian”. Furthermore, the DSM-5 says in men with transvestic disorder a phenomenon called “autogynephilia”, which the DSM-5 defines as the “Sexual arousal of a natal male associated with the idea or image of being a woman”, increases the likelihood of of gender dysphoria. I personally have "late-onset gender dysphoria".
As your content does not reflect the description of gender dysphoria in the DSM-5, you are encouraging children and parents to misdiagnose unrelated phenomena, e.g. body dysmorphia, which is common amongst teenage girls, as gender dysphoria. [2] This is causing a social contagion, which I document here: https://transpolicy.substack.com/p/trans-memo
This is resulting in medical harm, e.g.: "The mothers left distraught after the NHS removed their daughters' healthy breasts because the girls said they were transgender" (Daily Mail, 27th February 2025). Evidently, like Young Minds, many clinicians have to believe in the "feminine essence narrative", which is now causing clinical malpractice. The ideas that you are promoting, which are not based in research, have grave consequences for children and young people, adolescent girls, and young women in particular.
[1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5420507_Deconstructing_the_Feminine_Essence_Narrative
[2] “That involved binding my breasts, first with sports bras, layering them up, then with bandages and baggy clothes, to try and cover what evidence was left after that, starving myself, trying to stop my body from developing more than it had… the whole experience for me was encapsulated for me in an instance when a man wolf-whistled at me. I must have been 11 or 12, and by then I had the smallest rumouring of female body developing… I didn’t understand that my developing would change my relationship to society… that was the most distressing thing about it.”
Yours,
Orlando Woolf
[No response]
29th March 2025
Dear Caroline Hope,
I would like to contact you in your capacity of the Chair of the Board of Trustees at Young Minds.
I have personal experience of what today is called "gender dysphoria", and know the research well.
Accordingly, I can see that the content Young Minds is targeting at children and young people regarding this matter is misleading. I can see that this is harming children and young people, in particular adolescent girls and young women.
I have attached my complaint to the Charity Commission regarding Young Minds to this email, for your information.
Yours,
Orlando Woolf
1st April 2025
Dear Orlando, I can confirm receipt.
Regards,
Caroline
Caroline Hope (pronounced ka-ru-line)
Pronouns: she / her / hers
Partner | Deloitte LLP
6th May 2025
Dear Caroline Hope,
It has been a month since I first contacted you with my complaint regarding Young Minds to the Charity Commission.
Please could I ask you again as a trustee, to ensure that Young Minds is following charity law, which requires that "the information provided by education charities, or those with an object to advance education, is accurate, evidence based and balanced." [1]
My complaint regarding Young Minds to the Charity Commission demonstrates that you are not doing this regarding matters of cross-sex identification.
This is causing harm, primarily to adolescent girls and young women, who are misdiagnosing themselves as having a "mismatched gender identity", a narrative that bears no resemblance to the causes of "gender dysphoria" as described in the DSM-5, which I have covered with you.
This is rather clear to me, as I am a man with what the DSM-5 calls "late-onset gender dysphoria", connected to autogynephilia.
If Young Minds is not able to ensure that its content is "accurate, evidence based and balanced", I again, suggest that you remove your inaccurate content and signpost people to the NHS instead.
Indeed, this is advisable, given that children do not need to be taught about "gender dysphoria" as a matter of course, given that "early-onset gender dysphoria" is something that most children will grow out of, and "late-onset gender dysphoria" is mostly connected to men with autogynephilia.
Please could you let me know a target date for resolving the issues that I have raised.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-mermaids/charity-inquiry-mermaids
Here is a summary of the issues I have raised with you:
29th March 2025
I sent to you my complaint to the Charity Commission regarding Young Minds. My complaint highlighted that what Young Minds is teaching to children regarding matters of cross sex identification is not evidence-based nor accurate, and is causing a mental health social contagion, primarily amongst adolescent girls and young women, who are misdiagnosing themselves as having a "mismatched gender identity".
14th April 2025
You replied that you had briefed Young Minds regarding the issues I have raised. I replied that the Charity Commission does not follow its regulatory and risk framework, and will not investigate this issue (paragraph 60 onwards of my complaint).
I asked that Young Minds remove its content regarding "gender identity" and signpost people to the NHS instead.
17th April 2025
I sent a further message, noting that Young Minds makes claims regarding puberty blockers that are unsupported by evidence and contradicts the Cass Review. I noted that Young Minds does not follow the Charity Commission's advice that "where the charity provides information relating to medical interventions (including puberty blockers) they make clear whether this information is based on factual evidence or alternatively is the charity’s view/standpoint".
23rd April 2025
I raised the demonstrable risk of children obtaining puberty blockers through unregulated means. You confirmed that you received my messages.
Yours,
Orlando Woolf
6th May 2025
Thank you for your email. I can confirm I have received it.
Regards,
Caroline
Caroline Hope (pronounced ka-ru-line)
Pronouns: she / her / hers
Partner | Deloitte LLP
15th May 2025
Dear Orlando,
Thank you for your email and apologies for my delay responding. As we now have an interim chief executive officer in post, I have asked them to look into this matter. The CEO will be reviewing your emails (as per the chain below) and will revert to you within 10 working days.
Regards,
Caroline
Caroline Hope (pronounced ka-ru-line)
Pronouns: she / her / hers
Partner | Deloitte LLP
30th May 2025
Dear Young Minds,
Thank you for letting me know that you have removed your content regarding puberty blockers that is unsupported by evidence "They [puberty blockers] give you more time to explore your gender identity without the added stress of physical changes that might not match your gender.".
Has Young Minds treated this as a safeguarding incident?
who advised you to say that "[puberty blockers] give you more time to explore your gender identity without the added stress of physical changes that might not match your gender", a statement added after the Cass Review?
will you also be warning the children/parents who have read your content, that it was incorrect? e.g. by posting an update on your news feed, rather than just silently editing it?
Yours,
Orlando Woolf
30th May 2025
Dear Young Minds,
In addition to my previous questions, please could I appeal your response to my complaint.
YoungMinds page on gender identity does not include the areas you have mentioned. The purpose of our page is to provide young people and their parents/carers with easily digestible information on gender identity and signposting to relevant expertise. YoungMinds web content provides information for young people who are seeking support with their mental health (and their parents/carers); to that end, YoungMinds’ information on gender identity is not dissimilar to the explanation of gender identity published on the NHS Website. Whilst as individuals we understand there are differing perspectives of gender as a construct, our content is informed by what young people have told us they need to support their mental health around this topic.
Young Minds is relying on inaccurate information from the NHS website, which has not yet been updated in light of the Cass Review. [1] The NHS's content on "gender dysphoria" suffers from the same problems that I raise regarding Young Mind's content, namely it does not properly cover the basic, and very specific, pathways in the DSM-5.
This is creating and encouraging a social contagion amongst children and young people, who have come to believe they have a "mismatched gender identity". I have also made a complaint regarding this to NHS England. Given the void of information, the DSM-5 should be relied upon instead. You can also rely on my complaint for accurate, evidence-based and balanced information, as it is fully referenced.
DSM-5 is a diagnostic and statistical manual aimed at clinicians and psychiatrists. Our content is aimed at young people and their parents/carers. It would not be appropriate to replicate DSM-5 pathways in our content.
Young Minds takes the concept of "gender dysphoria" out of its context in the DSM-5 and presents it to children using a vague misleading description, [2] who are then misdiagnosing themselves with the condition. This is especially a problem amongst adolescent girls and young women, who historically have been susceptible to self-misdiagnoses and suffering from mental health social contagions.
Young Minds also introduce concepts that are not part of the DSM-5 connected to gender dysphoria, or otherwise, such as "non-binary". If Young Minds cannot replicate the DSM-5 pathways of "gender dysphoria" accurately, it should remove its content completely.
Young Minds continues to provide information that does not follow charity law, which requires it to be "accurate, evidence based and balanced". A parent, child, or adolescent, will be left with a completely different impression regarding the nature of "gender dysphoria" reading my content, than they will after reading Young Mind's content.
Whereas the information that I convey is accurate and evidence-based; the information that Young Minds provides is neither. Young Minds misses the topic of autogynephilia completely, although it describes most instances of male cross-sex identification.
Furthermore, children in general should not necessarily read my content. My recommendation has always been for Young Minds to remove its content completely. It is not necessary that children or adolescents in general need to know about such a niche mental issue; this issue can be handled on a case-by-case basis as it arises. As my complaint covers, most children, who were historically mostly boys, grow out of "early-onset gender dysphoria" at the onset of puberty, when they usually find that they are homosexual. "Late-onset gender dysphoria (adolescence and adulthood)" is related to an unusual male paraphilia, namely autogynephilia.
[1] "NHS England will update the NHS.uk webpages on ‘gender dysphoria’ to reflect the findings of the Cass Review, and the National Provider Collaborative will coordinate development of evidence-based information and resources for young people, parents and carers." https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/children-and-young-peoples-gender-services-implementing-the-cass-review-recommendations/
[2] "This is when you feel uneasy or distressed because your body doesn’t match your gender identity, or when someone uses the wrong pronouns."
Yours,
Orlando Woolf
1st July 2025
Dear Young Minds,
Thank you for your response, however it is incorrect.
I did not make my appeal on the 28th March; this was my original Charity Commission complaint.
I made my appeal on the 30th May 2025, this is what you should have been responding to. Please can you correct the timeline, as your response does not address any of the points I raised in my appeal.
Furthermore, Mems Ayinla's statement that "At the time, the language used reflected what was commonly in use across the sector" is either misleading, or Ayinla has been misled as to when this content was added.
This can be seen by comparing Young Mind's webpage on the Web Archive. In Feburary 2025, the statement regarding puberty blockers did not exist: [1] it was added some point afterwards, first appearing in the archive in April 2025. [2]
Young Minds had therefore added content making un-evidenced claims regarding puberty blockers, despite the following:
My contacting Young Minds in 2024, with concerns regarding its content,
the Cass Review finding in April 2024, that there was no clear rationale and also weak evidence for prescribing puberty blockers in this manner,
the Charity Commission inquiry into Mermaids which specifically cautioned charities making misleading claims regarding puberty blockers in October 2024. [3]
the UK government having subsequently banned puberty blockers indefinitely under the Medicines Act 1968 in December 2024. [4]
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20250207084857/https://www.youngminds.org.uk/young-person/coping-with-life/gender-and-mental-health
[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20250417175518/https://www.youngminds.org.uk/young-person/coping-with-life/gender-and-mental-health/
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-mermaids/charity-inquiry-mermaids
[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ban-on-puberty-blockers-to-be-made-indefinite-on-experts-advice
Yours,
Orlando Woolf
3rd July 2025
Dear Orlando,
Thanks for your email.
Please find attached an updated letter amending the timeline of your complaint reflecting the appeal was received 30th May. We apologies for the incorrect date.
Please note that the remainder of the response still stands and your appeal is no [sic] considered concluded.
Kindest regards,
YoungMinds Team
Autogynephilia has been theorised as an “erotic target location error”: “This term reflected their [Blanchard and Freund’s] theory that the mental dysfunction underlying these paraphilias involved an error in accurately locating the “target” of one’s erotic interest: specifically, erroneously locating that target in or on one’s own body, rather than in or on the body of another individual.” Men Trapped in Men’s Bodies: narratives of autoynephilic transsexualism Anne Lawrence (Springer, 2013) p. 24
Galileo’s Middle Finger (Penguin, 2015) pp. 65-66
I have similarly remarked on Gendered Intelligence telling children to not worry if they even do not feel “trans enough” in order to attend their supposed youth groups in CRM:0049630.
CRM:0467599 paragraph 203
Mentioned in all of my complaints, beginning in 2022 CRM:0467599
CRM:0467599 paragraph 26