When The Scientific Experts Abandon Science For Politics

This week, the American Psychological Association proved that it is a political body rather than a scientific one. This isn’t the first time a major mental health organization has favored politics over science — in 2013, the American Psychiatric Association famously reclassified gender identity disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, calling it gender dysphoria and then explaining that living with the delusion that you are a member of the opposite sex is not actually a mental disorder at all. That ruling was based on zero scientific evidence — much like the original DSM-V classification of pedophilia as a “sexual orientation” before renaming it “pedophilic disorder” under public pressure.

The latest example of the American Psychological Association’s political hackery concerns the topic of “traditional masculinity.” In their journal, the APA announced that they had released new guidelines to “help psychologists work with men and boys.” Those guidelines suggested that “40 years of research” show that “traditional masculinity is psychologically harmful and that socializing boys to suppress their emotions causes damage that echoes both inwardly and outwardly.” The APA explains that “traditional masculinity – marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance and aggression – is, on the whole, harmful. Men socialized in this way are less likely to engage in healthy behaviors.”