I promise I am not a reactionary, but I am somewhat uneducated on the subject so I might say something offensive accidentally, sorry in advance about that.
So, does gender dysphoria stem from a disconnect between the body and some “gender socialization” function of the brain, which could be solved by getting socialized and treated by everyone as the correct gender from the start, or something that stems from a disconnect between the brain and the actual body parts and hormones, so the transition is needed to alleviate that, or both?
Empirical research in this field is just asking trans people. That’s all there is to it, you cannot measure how much gender dysphoria somebody feels any other way. We are talking about phenomena that are entirely internal, and exclusively experienced by us, how we feel about them and how we express them is the absolute only way to research them, and is what you’ll find in any paper on reduction of dysphoric symptoms that holds up to scientific standards, whether you’re looking into studies that show how social context affects trans wellbeing or how medical treatment affects trans wellbeing. It’s always “ok, let’s make a questionaire and ask trans people what works”. All approaches to understand us while at the same time ignoring what we have to say have failed to yield results that have held upt to critical review, just ask all the idiots who tried to explain our existence away as a “paraphilia”. Cis people need to come to grips with the terms that is us and us alone who are the authorities on trans issues and how to treat us. There is no alternative to this and this is simply not negotiable, not after decades of ignorance and outright hostility and demonstrable, human rights violating mistreatment from the psychiatric establishment. We demand the exclusive say on how to live our lifes, because you cissies have no understanding of this. None. I’m sorry to say this, but you people don’t get it and that you don’t get it has killed way too many of us, we won’t have that any longer.