Professor Lord Robert Winston has received “very unpleasant” online abuse for speaking about the “horrendous” results of ‘sex-change’ surgery.
Lord Winston, Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College London, warned of the dangers of a “blunderbuss” approach by doctors who are promoting radical surgery.
He made his comments on on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
In a tweet, Lord Winston hit back at his online critics for ignoring the evidence.
I have nothing against transgender. But I object when I have cited independent peer reviewed papers with full evidence for what I said
— Robert Winston (@ProfRWinston) November 2, 2017
He told The Sunday Times that he was “surprised by the amount of vituperation” he received online.
Lord Winston added that the medical literature “shows very clearly there are high complication rates” for genital reconstruction surgery.
And in an article for the Mail on Sunday titled ‘Trolls called me homophobic…but we have to be more cautious’, he said that he has been “virulently criticised” by some transsexual activists.
“It is disturbing to be called bigoted and homophobic.”
He also warned against “embarking on complex and, mostly, irreversible treatments involving young patients.”
“Should we treat young children, perhaps by the age of nine before the onset of puberty, or adolescents who are increasingly unhappy about their gender?
“A nine-year-old who is too young to think in an adult way is at risk. Committing them to hormone therapy which will delay puberty may have undesirable and irreversible long-term effects.”
The issue of transsexualism – wanting to change physical sex because you feel you are ‘in the wrong body’ – has become increasingly high profile.
Download The Christian Institute’s briefing with key information and theology on the subject.
Transsexualism – wanting to change physical sex because you feel you are ‘in the wrong body’ – has become an increasingly high-profile issue. People in the public eye have ‘changed their sex’, and the media normalises transsexualism. There has been a corresponding push for greater transsexual rights. This briefing introduces some of the issues at stake.