Two from Schroeter Neighborhood Park
Only last year did a Facebook post clue me in to the existence of Schroeter Neighborhood Park a couple of miles from home. This June 27th I went back there and took some more pictures, including the two shown here. Above are buds of the picturesquely named cow itch vine (Cissus trifoliata), and below is a dayflower (Commelina erecta). Apparently this is the first time I’ve ever showed you a cow itch vine picture.
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During the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in adolescents and young adults (AYA) complaining of gender dysphoria. One influential if controversial explanation is that the increase reflects a socially contagious syndrome: Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD). We report results from a survey of parents who contacted the website ParentsofROGDKids.com because they believed their AYA children had ROGD. Results focused on 1655 AYA children whose gender dysphoria reportedly began between ages 11 and 21 years, inclusive. These youths were disproportionately (75%) natal female. Natal males had later onset (by 1.9 years) than females, and they were much less likely to have taken steps toward social gender transition (65.7% for females versus 28.6% for males). Pre-existing mental health issues were common, and youths with these issues were more likely than those without them to have socially and medically transitioned. Parents reported that they had often felt pressured by clinicians to affirm their AYA child’s new gender and support their transition. According to the parents, AYA children’s mental health deteriorated considerably after social transition. We discuss potential biases of survey responses from this sample and conclude that there is presently no reason to believe that reports of parents who support gender transition are more accurate than those who oppose transition. To resolve controversies regarding ROGD, it is desirable that future research includes data provided by both pro- and anti-transition parents, as well as their gender dysphoric AYA children.
That’s the abstract of the article “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: Parent Reports on 1655 Possible Cases,” written by Suzanna Diaz and J. Michael Bailey, and published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior in March of this year. Trans activists don’t want anyone even to investigate whether the phenomenon of rapid-onset gender dysphoria is legitimate, and they raised such a ruckus that the publisher of the Archives gave in and found a pretext to retract the article.
You can read more about this in a May 24th piece in unherd and another from May 25th in National Review. You may also be able to read J. Michael Bailey’s article about the cancellation, “My Research on Gender Dysphoria Was Censored. But I Won’t Be,” which appeared on July 10 in The Free Press, where I first heard about this latest cancellation.
© 2023 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Very impressive photography.
The Cissus is a new one for me. I see Florida has a couple of species in nearby counties, including the one you show here. They’re now on my “look for” list.
I like the name “Cow Itch Vine”.
We are currently seeing Dayflower blooming profusely in many areas we visit. That shade of blue is certainly attention-getting.
It’s easy to see why you wanted to return to Schroeter Neighborhood Park.
Wally Jones
July 12, 2023 at 7:07 AM
I found other things to photograph there, too, even though it was well past the peak of the wildflower season and things were drier and less appealing. Tomorrow’s post will show more from that visit.
Happy hunting for the Cissus species near you. Because I hadn’t looked at the distribution map, I didn’t realize that the cow itch vine grows as far west as Arizona and as far east as Florida. The presence of dayflowers in your area doesn’t surprise me, as the species grows in most American states.
Steve Schwartzman
July 12, 2023 at 7:18 AM
We usually have a lot of dayflowers in the yard but so far not a one. Did cow-itch get its name from making cows itch or do they use it when they have an itch?
Steve Gingold
July 12, 2023 at 4:12 PM
I spent a fair amount of time looking for an explanation of the name “cow-itch” but didn’t turn up anything.
The dayflowers here don’t seem to be minding the heat at all. Sorry to hear yours are on vacation.
Steve Schwartzman
July 12, 2023 at 4:50 PM
In the archived answers on Mr. Smarty Plant’s page, I found this gem: “The name “cow itch vines” probably evolved because we couldn’t publish what they were really being called.” As the page indicates, several plants, including peppervine and trumpet creeper, also are called by that common name.
When it comes to ‘firsts,’ I don’t remember seeing any image of a dayflower with ‘fresh’ and ‘not-fresh’ so nicely combined. It’s an interesting sight.
I recently heard a discussion about gender self-identification as a form of social contagion. Of course the recent Brown University survey was mentioned. The same sort of pressure led to ‘revisions’ there. Social contagion takes many forms, of course. I recently had reason to fill out a form at a well-regarded medical establishment. I wasn’t especially surprised to see that ‘sex: male/female’ had disappeared, but I was surprised to see ‘sex’ had been replaced with ‘gender.’ As I recall, there were at least seven choices. I’d love to see the form in six months. I suspect they’ll soon begin approaching academically-approved listings that include so many categories they’re essentially meaningless.
shoreacres
July 13, 2023 at 6:48 AM
Good sleuthing once again. Now we’ll have to wonder which of the various possibilities for the unexpurgated version is the right one. In my searching I’d found out that trumpet creeper also goes by the name cow-itch vine, which I hadn’t previously known.
The huge increase in young people claiming to be something other than straight—as much as 40% in one group of college students—is probabilistic and statistical proof of social contagion. Unfortunately medical practitioners have also now been drinking the Kool-Aid, so to speak, as you reported. Lat night we watched a dialog in which a recent incident in Britain came up. A teacher reprimanded two girls who objected to the legitimacy of a third girl saying her gender is “cat.” It’s one more example—as if we needed any—that the word “gender” is no longer tethered to anything physiological or even real. Your last sentence summarizes the truth of the situation: if there are more than a hundred genders (and it’s not hard to go online and compile a list of that many) then the concept has lost all meaning.
Steve Schwartzman
July 13, 2023 at 7:20 AM
I love the blue of the dayflower – it’s fabulous.
Ann Mackay
July 15, 2023 at 6:49 AM
The flowers are rather small, so this close view magnifies the blue.
Steve Schwartzman
July 15, 2023 at 6:52 AM
[…] my July 12th commentary I brought up the article “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: Parent Reports on 1655 Possible Cases,” […]
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