Time to Think

The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children

By: Hannah Barnes

Narrated by: Hannah Barnes

UPDATED WITH A NEW CHAPTER

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING

'This is what journalism is for' - Observer

Time to Think goes behind the headlines to reveal the truth about the NHS's flagship gender service for children.

The Tavistock's Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) was set up initially to provide talking therapies to young people who were questioning their gender identity.

But in the last decade GIDS referred around two thousand children, some as young as nine years old, for medication to block their puberty. In the same period, the number of referrals exploded and the profile of the patients changed: from largely pre-pubescent boys to mostly adolescent girls, who were often contending with other difficulties. Was there enough clinical evidence to justify such profound medical interventions?

This urgent, scrupulous and dramatic book explains how GIDS has been the site of a serious medical scandal, in which ideological concerns took priority over clinical practice. It is a disturbing and gripping parable for our times.©2023 Hannah Barnes (P)2023 Swift Press Audio

Troubling

The book is phenomenal.
It provides a coherent timeline of events, interviewed a wide range of viewpoints which it presents for the reader to evaluate and covers evolving science in a straight-forward, easy to understand manner.
And yet it's troubling and scary. The lack of accountability, oversight and bullying to keep people quiet by special interest groups and top staff should give anyone pause about the state of medical care, especially for children.
The Savior nature of some staff who prescribed hormones for kids quickly and eagerly without proper evaluation of other factors that might have made children uncomfortable in their bodies is scandalous.
Kudos to the author and those who tried to speak up, even at risk to their careers.

Well written.

I work as a mechanic and listened to the book while working occasionally tears would come to my eyes due to how these children who are and were struggling needs were not met. I feel that the book gives me better clarity when it comes to my children.

A must read for anyone who cares about trans kids.

If you care about trans kids and if you want what’s best for them, then you will not regret reading this book.

Compassionate and Thorough

I’ve been keeping up with the books published on this topic, and this is my favorite to date. The deep respect, compassion, and concern for the trans community is palpable. At the same time, the author is able to bring attention to just how horrific the situation is by letting clinicians and patients stories speak for themselves.

The health and well-being of these young people is certainly the fundamental concern of this book. At the same time, Barnes is able to articulate the mechanism by which this was able to get so out of control:

Labeling all scrutiny as “transphobia” shuts down vital opportunities to improve the lives of these children and trans individuals in general. Failure to recognize that transition isn’t a panacea promotes a denial of reality that needlessly alienates the very people best qualified to improve outcomes. The “trans rights” hysteria that we try to pass for public discourse is a perfect example of how our cultural and political institutions are failing society by weaponizing ideology rather than providing a platform for cultural maturation. This is true across the political spectrum, so it’s a relief to find an analysis on this situation that focuses on the lack of open discussion rather than virtue-signaling a specific tribe.

This is an important read no matter how you feel about gender transition.

Devastating

In ten years when we look back, this book will stand out as beginning the process of exposing an inhuman medical experiment enacted on children due to a moment of cultural insanity as absurd as the Salem witch trials or 20th Century eugenics.

Meticulously Detailed and Clearly and Authoritatively Sourced

It tells the story with extreme clarity and from extremely authoritative. I highly recommend it

This is a must-read

This book provides a detailed, fact-based history of what exactly happened at the UK’s gender clinic. It is unbiased in its approach and the information revealed is critical to understanding the current social contagion (especially among young girls) of transgenderism.

Earnest, Compassionate, yet Devastating Documentary

Hannah offers us a window i to GIDS at the Tavistock, through the eyes of clinicians, patients, parents and safeguarding professionals. It’s a compelling read: detailed, compassionate, heartbreaking at times. It’s also utterly damning to medical professionals who have failed ethically through overcommitment, ideological capture and greed. This needs to be read widely — detransitioners are not the only ones who will have serious regrets.

Everyone read this!!!

This is not just happening in trans medicine. The social justice/Marxist influence corrupts all of the West's institutions. GIDS is just the poster child for an otherwise well-meaning institutions made dangerous by the left.

Thank you for writing this.

Despite being such a long book with a narrow topic I was completely enthralled. There is so much I could say about the content but I will just say thank you, thank you for putting this together and thank you for reading it yourself, I really like it when journalistic authors read their own work and you have a beautiful voice.