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On May 8, I reported here on a Norwegian doctor named Esben Benestad who often, appearing in drag on TV, has gone by the name of Esther Pirelli. Despite his lack of credentials in sexology, Benestad, now 74, was awarded a professorship in that field many years ago, and ever since then he has used that position to aggressively promote transgender ideology. Meaning that many young people who’ve claimed to be trans, but who’ve been turned down for “gender-affirming” treatment by the institutions tasked with such butchery, have turned to Benestad, from whom they’ve received encouragement and support – and, most important, a signature on a piece of paper that could allow them to indulge in such self-destructive mischief as puberty blockers, hormone injections, and “gender-affirming” surgery.
Then, earlier this year, the Norwegian Health Authority revoked Benestad’s medical license on the basis that he was guilty of gross professional irresponsibility. Cue VG, Norway’s largest newspaper, which in an admirably long and probing article “pulled the curtain back,” as I put it on May 8, “on his whole reprehensible racket.” His career as a promoter of transgender “treatments” is a tale of egomania on a scale nearly beyond belief: calling himself “the world’s best” specialist in the field, he’s claimed to possess the highest possible level of competence “when it comes to gender-affirmative treatment.” In fact, VG’s article confirmed that Benestad’s sheer irresponsibility is through the roof: reportedly, he recommended the removal of a teenage girl’s breasts without ever meeting her, gave “gender-affirmative” hormones to a patient he’d met twice, and prescribed puberty blockers to pre-teens after brief exchanges on Skype.
In my May 8 article, I celebrated what I described as Benestad’s “day of reckoning.” And in the ensuing weeks, after viewing a powerful new YouTube video by a brave 30-year-old man named Alexander Linkowski – and then listening to a thoroughgoing VG audio report on Alexander’s experience – I celebrated Benestad’s decertification even more.
Because Alexander, as it turned out – and the following paragraphs are based both on his videos and VG’s report – had been one of Benestad’s many victims. As a kid, Alexander moved from Poland to Norway with his parents. In middle school he was ambitious, interested in astrophysics, outer space, metal music, and old black-and-white movies on TV. Other boys, involved in soccer and hiphop, found him eccentric, and mocked his supposed effeminacy. In response, he stopped going to school and instead wandered off into the woods. “Much of the light inside me disappeared,” he recalled.
Online, he found a forum about transgenderism. He wrote a post on the website confessing to a hatred for his own body. Increasingly, the idea of sex change took hold of him. At the time he was living in Skien, a couple of hours west of Oslo. He spoke to a psychologist there who tried to get him an appointment at the National Hospital. That didn’t happen; later, he would feel that if he’d spoken to someone competent there, he’d have been disabused of his transgender illusion.
In the event, he was referred to the local psychiatric clinic, where he was refused any kind of gender-reassignment “treatment.” But in 2012, increasingly desperate, he visited a sexologist in Warsaw who prescribed puberty blockers (he was 19) and estrogen. He started going by the name Dominika Jennifer. (He chose Jennifer because of Jennifer Connelly, the actress in A Beautiful Mind.) But he wanted more. He wanted surgery. Ten years ago this month, he presented himself at the offices of Esben Benestad, who, at their first meeting, in Skien, was dressed as a woman. According to Alexander, Benestad promised: “I can save you.” Benestad denies this, claiming he’s never said such a thing to a patient.
But no matter. Bottom line: after three appointments, during which, according to Alexander, Benestad made no serious effort to grasp his psychological situation, Benestad referred Alexander to a surgeon in Bangkok for “gender-reassignment surgery.” Alexander flew alone to Thailand. His last thought before he went under sedation was: “Help me, I don’t want to do this.” He woke up without a penis and with a fake vagina. He didn’t fool himself into thinking it was real. He knew it was a “wound” – something “grotesque,” something that felt “false.” He’d bought, he realized, into “a lie.”
In the ensuing years he stopped taking hormones, switched to anti-depressives, and, emotionally, hit bottom. Then he heard Jordan Peterson on TV delivering his straightforward message of responsibility: “Clean up your room.” Alexander listened. He started putting his life back together. And finally he made his YouTube video, which is entitled “My Detransition Story: The dark truth behind gender dysphoria and transition regret,” and which I urge you to watch and share.
And what about Benestad? In response to VG’s questions about Alexander, he claimed to feel “really sorry” for his former patient, but quickly insisted that there was no way of foreseeing the young man’s post-operation regret. (Benestad compared it to a woman who later regrets having had an abortion.) Alexander, for his part, pointed out to VG “that Benestad had previously told VG that [he] had never received a patient complaint” – an obvious lie on Benestad’s part. As for Alexander’s charge that Benestad hadn’t “tried once” to determine whether Alexander might end up regretting “gender-reassignment” surgery, Benestad wrote an angry-sounding e-mail to VG bragging that he’d spent three (!) whole consultations trying to ensure that the boy was a legitimate candidate for a penectomy.
In other words, as far as Benestad is concerned, it was apparently more than generous to have three conversations with a confused 20-year-old before authorizing the removal of his penis. (Note well that Benestad, who exults in his self-declared trans identity and loves parading around as a woman, has never had his own male genitalia and gonads removed.)
One wonders: how many other patients, one wonders, have experienced the consequences of consultations with Benestad of the sort that Alexander has? And one further wonders: exactly what kind of punishment would not be excessive for a man who, purportedly in the name of proper and compassionate medical care, has done what Benestad has done?
Watching Alexander’s heartbreaking videos, and listening to VG’s audio report, I consoled myself with the thought that, well, at least Benestad has been deprived of his medical license. Further action against him might well follow. And, with any luck, other irresponsible promoters of transgender sorcery might also eventually pay for their offenses against bodily autonomy, professional responsibility, and the Hippocratic oath. Surely Alexander’s story alone is powerful enough to demonstrate to Norwegian medical authorities just how great a menace Benestad is to the people of Norway.
But I might just as well have believed that the people behind the Russia hoax that did so much damage to Donald Trump’s presidency would pay for their lies, or that the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop would actually send him and his father to prison. Alas, in Norway today, as in the U.S., certain individuals belong to a highly protected class. In Norway, Benestad is among them. So on June 19 came the news that Benestad’s right to practice medicine has been restored. Upon being informed of this decision, Benestad called it “a gift to the queer [skeive] movement in Norway.”
So it is that anyone who might have expected the slightest sign of humility or regret from Benestad, after the withdrawal of his medical license and the publicity surrounding Alexander’s tragic story, would have been deeply disappointed. Speaking to VG after his medical license was returned to him, Benestad bragged that he was more competent in gender-related matters than anybody at the National Hospital.
To be sure, as a further report on June 20 clarified, Benestad, while permitted to work in a subordinate position in a public institution, will no longer be allowed to maintain his private practice. He responded to this new condition with typical egotism, suggesting that few if any doctors in Norway are competent to oversee his work. He also complained that the Norwegian Health Authority is obviously determined “to get rid of me.” On the contrary; if the authorities had had any guts, he’d be behind bars, not in the market for a hospital job.
Cynical as I am about these matters, I wasn’t prepared for the very latest news on the Benestad front. On June 26, Blikk, a gay monthly, reported that Sex and Politics, a non-profit organization that is purportedly devoted to sexual and reproductive health and rights, had just awarded its first annual honorary prize to Benestad, whom it describes as having been “generous in giving of himself, both professionally and personally, and thereby serving as a role model for many, both in Norway and internationally….Many believe he has a non-traditional approach to the subject, but few question his knowledge and competence.”
No, this is not a joke.
Apparently it will take a good deal more time, and more courage, and many more stories like that of Alexander Linkowski, to rid the medical profession of the demonic likes of Espen Benestad.
mj says
Transmania is brutal.
It’s sociopathic.
And denying that it is sociopathic is sociopathic.
Transmania, like its sister crt-blm-abortion, political, anything-but-human-rights movements, is a front for its true agenda of hatred for, and physical and moral destruction of, America.
Why not entertain then, the thought that, politically, and therefore publicly (as opposed to privately, and therefore morally) hatred of the human body is metaphoric to hatred of America?
Forget the emotional and psychological dynamics of an individual in turmoil and crisis. This is war with America. Amputate!
Amputate not just body parts.
Amputate children from parents.
The irony is that the one fact that is common to the entire world is that we are all children. And that’s where the commonality ends.
Steven Brizel says
This is quack or junk science gone mad
Taylor says
This is Mengele in drag.
Steve says
Indeed. Transwomen are actually eunuchs. Transmen are mutilated women whose virilization is about as convincing as a strap on.
Mo de Profit says
No it’s sexual perversion pure and simple “ (Note well that Benestad, who exults in his self-declared trans identity and loves parading around as a woman, has never had his own male genitalia and gonads removed.)”
I think we know why most of them don’t have their dicks removed.
roberta says
Somewhat off subject, but still tranny.
Years ago many people believed that our government was turning against us, but thank God our military never would. I always warned them that world history said different, but I admittedly had no idea how/why the military would turn on the people they swore to protect.
Who would have ever guessed they would fill the ranks with these mentally disturbed tranny freaks? Pure efing genius. They absolutely hate themselves, and the only thing they hate more than themselves is us.
It’s perfect.
THX 1138 says
“Apparently it will take a good deal more time, and more courage, and many more stories like that of Alexander Linkowski, to rid the medical profession of the demonic likes of Espen Benestad.”
A great deal of time indeed. But not necessarily, the future is not predetermined. The Platonic-Kantian-Hegelian philosophy of unreason is in the ascendancy, it is predominant, and has been dominant for over 200 years. The Nazi Holocaust and the Soviet Dark Age have been two results of that philosophy.
The roots of the Renaissance (the rebirth of reason) began in approximately 1250 from there it took another slow and tortuous 500 years of civilizational development to reach the apex of the Age of Enlightenment, the founding of the most rational country in the history of mankind, the United States of America.
But a complete, consistent, airtight, irrefutable, philosophy of reason had not been developed and formulated by 1776. The Age of Enlightenment, unfortunately, was not the culmination and full development of reason but the beginning of its sunset.
It would take almost another 200 years for an airtight, consistent, irrefutable, philosophy of reason to appear on the historical scene, that philosophy is Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism.
What does all this have to do with Transgenderism? Transgenderism is one more manifestation of the irrational, the subjective, one more manifestation of a philosophy of Platonic-Kantian-Hegelian unreason. Like Marxism, Nazism, Freudianism, or Environmentalism.
Unless a philosophy of reason is introduced and taught at the universities as an antidote for unreason, the light of reason will keep on dying. As of right now, time is not on the side of reason.
roberta says
An old friend of mine comes from a true Roman Aristocrat family, they can just about trace their linage back to the founding of Rome.
Through upbringing, education, good breeding, and just being the smartest person in the room (always).
He has come to similar conclusions about the state of the world as of this moment.
His claim is that it will take no less than 100 years to get back onto a straight and logical track.
Intrepid says
“Unless a philosophy of reason is introduced and taught at the universities as an antidote for unreason, the light of reason will keep on dying. As of right now, time is not on the side of reason.”
What are you….the keeper of the flame of reason? Must be tough on a low traffic website. Another futile lecture from our rezidentura leftist.
I have told you to apply to the universities. But since you never seem to leave your room I doubt that you will be successful.
Here’s what I found:
forum.objectivismonline.com/index.php?/topic/1901-objectivist-professors/
www.atlassociety.org/post/government-jobs-for-objectivists
ari.aynrand.org/about-ari/get-involved/
www.atlassociety.org/post/careers-in-medicine-and-social-work
So you are right, you don’t have a lot of options. I would suggest applying to all of them….mainly to get you out of our hair. You could meet people (the horror!!) and actually be challenged on your “ideas”
And the Atlas Society actually has a Disqus comment board where you can engage with fellow Lotus flower people.
Unfortunately no one seems to be on these boards. What a surprise.
THX 1138 says
How’s your Lutheran Church doing these days? I hear they’re eagerly enjoying receiving hundreds of millions of tax-payer dollars to house, clothe, feed, and aid all the illegal alien invaders destroy America and the American way of life, which is actually not Judeo-Christianity, but Laissez-Faire Capitalism.
And do you know WHY the Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, and other Christian churches are eagerly engaged in destroying America? The Judeo-Christian moral code of altruism and self-sacrifice for the poor, needy, marginalized. “The meek shall inherit America”, “the love of money is the root of all evil, so redistribute your money, give it away to the illegal invaders”, “you are your brother’s keeper”, “selfish pride is evil, it goeth before a fall”.
There’s much in common between Karl Marx and Jesus Christ. Neither is a pro-capitalist.
“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?…
Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me….
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” – Matthew 10 17-23
“In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” – Luke 14:33
Intrepid says
We are doing just fine. And picking the same scripture over and over to try and prove your point simply doesn’t work. It never did. I guess you do that because you think you are smarter than us. you aren’t.
The three Lutheran synods in North America are the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS).
The ELCA: over 4.5 million members. The LCMS: with just over 2 million members. The WELS: 380,000 members.
So, little man, there are about 7 million of us. We ain’t going anywhere. As always, sucks to be you.
As I said you can always take it up with the people who run the show:
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
8765 W Higgins Road
Chicago, IL 60631
Toll-Free: 800-638-3522
Beez says
Altruism: the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others:
Apparently, you don’t understand the protestant view of salvation: No “altruistic” act – indeed no human act of any kind or nature can assure one’s salvation. We are saved by faith through the free gift of grace. Works will avail us nothing.
Steve says
This castration cult has gained momentum and currency because pf the rampant misandry in the West- for a confused young man or boy, what could be worse than being a “cisgender male”, who is not only the cause of all the ills in the world, but who has “unacknowledged privilege”? It is very easy to seduce these troubled youth with the illusion that they’re really women, who are considered “oppressed” not matter how objectively advantaged they actually are.
I recall seeing a documentary Lee Grant made in the 1980s called “What Sex Am I?” Although the documentary was sympathetic to transgenderism (among others, she interviewed Christine Jorgensen, who started it all back in the 1950s) she included a doctor who treated transgender patients. Tellingly, he noted that if there were a common thread among the transgendered it was that “pre-transgender” boys were often ridiculed for their effeminacy, while at the same time their families communicated the idea that being male was bad- that males were ugly, dirty and nasty. These attitudes are even more widespread 40 years later.
internalexile says
Transylmania, perhaps?
Jeff Bargholz says
It’s a hate movement looking for special privileges and a precursor to normalizing pedophilia.
Cat says
Yes, you got it!
And heres my conspiracy theory. Trans was popularized to excuse some famous trans person. I wonder who?
Children sexualized (inappropriate books for little kids in libraries and schools not to mention Disney, drag queen BS) so that when the list of Epstein’s Island visitors list comes out we will say “Ho hum” and accept pedophilia.
M. Tiro says
My question is, Why are so many so vulnerable to these ideas? Or maybe they aren’t. Maybe the leftist press just makes it seem that way.
Jeff Bargholz says
Yes, the number of these sick freaks is greatly exaggerated.
CHARLES R DISQUE says
Excellent research and journalism, Mr. Bawer. Thank you again.
Miranda Rose Smith says
Who paid for Alexander Linkowski to fly to Warsaw and to Thailand and to be mutilated?
Carolyn says
Doctors have been out of control for a good long time. They are basically drug pushers who like to chill and Bill. When was the last time a psychiatrist cured anyone? When was the last time a doctor said no to writing a prescription– any prescription?
Heads up people, they don’t CARE about you!