Episode
The Year Trans Was Invented (Gender Dysphoria Absent From the Historic Record)
- Published
- Apr 14, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 6418
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Summary
In this deep-dive episode of Based Camp, Malcolm and Simone Collins examine the provocative claim that gender dysphoria —the intense, modern experience driving today’s trans movement—has no precedent in recorded human history before the 1920s. They contrast historical examples of cross-dressing, third-gender roles, or gender-nonconforming behavior (two-spirit, hijra, sworn virgins, Elagabalus, etc.) with the core modern trans experience: profound discomfort with one’s birth sex that often leads to demands for medical transition, pronoun changes, and access to single-sex spaces. Malcolm and Simone argue that gender dysphoria resembles culture-bound syndromes like anorexia—intensely felt but socially influenced, disproportionately affecting autistic individuals, emerging around puberty, and exploding via social contagion and media stories. They respond to critics like Short Fat Otaku (Dev), discuss the shift from 1990s liberal “live and let live” assumptions, the role of bad actors, sports/prisons/restrooms, detransition, and why new evidence (Cass Review, WPATH files, UK data) demands updating views. Simone shares her personal experience with anorexia to illustrate how real these feelings feel even when culturally shaped. A data-driven, empathetic, and unflinching conversation on human flourishing, consent, and ideological capture. If you’re interested in history, psychology, culture-bound illnesses, or the trans debate, this episode is essential. Episode Transcript Malcolm Collins: [00:00:00] Hello Simone. I’m excited to be here with you today. Today we are going to be going deeper down a rabbit hole that I have pulled on in the past, but I was called back to it by an episode I watched of the rapidly declining in viewers short fat Orta. I, I think we now do better than…