Freedom of Information Requests
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request is a powerful tool for individuals and organizations to access information held by government and public authorities. You have a legal right to obtain information on public policies related to sex and gender. You can make naysayers face facts and help topple the current "no debate" culture.
What's the situation in your country?
Find out with a freedom of information request
How many gender-questioning adolescents in your country have had their healthy breasts or penises surgically removed? Has there been a massive spike in the number of minors being treated with puberty blockers and hormones? How many biological men are now being housed in female prisons?
You have a right to know. Start asking questions. Start making the naysayers face the facts. Okay, we won't lie to you - making a freedom of information request can be a long and cumbersome process. But the answers to these kinds of questions provide a starting point for research, analysis and the kind of open and respectful debate that we need to start having on questions related to biological sex and gender identity.
To help you get started, we have put together this handy list of links to national websites where you can make freedom of information requests.
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Spotlight on Switzerland
It is a common refrain to hear that "gender affirmative" surgeries are not being carried out on minors.
In May 2022 a spokesperson for an influential Swiss"trans kids" organisation, Le Refuge, claimed that "There are no children who undergo surgery, nor teenagers and pre-teens. Sexual reassignments or torsoplasties are done when they come of age, or even after. It is quite rare that they are done before." However, a freedom of information request made by the Swiss Organisation AMQG blew the lid off this claim.
The AMQG is an organisation which advocates for a measured approach to gender issues among young people. Its enquiries revealed that not only has "gender affirmative" surgery skyrocketed in the under-25 age group, but that children as young as ten are being affected.
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The data obtained data covers a six-year period between 2016 -2021 and did not include private hospitals or outpatient care in public hospitals. This suggests that the alarming figures obtained are only the tip of the iceberg.
In the under-25 age group, "gender-affirming" double mastectomies increased by more than 11,000%.
At least ten girls aged between 10 and 14 have gone under the knife in Switzerland to have their healthy breasts surgically removed.
Three under age boys under went penile amputations which along with emasculations, and neo-vaginal constructions - have increased dramatically in those under age 25
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Sources:
"Switzerland: Minors, Including under 14s Have Undergone Sex-Change Operations"
by Dana Vitalosova at 4W
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