In 1989 when Britain’s Tavistock Clinic opened its Gender Identity Service (Gids) it treated fewer than 10 people each year. Most were males with a long history of what Dr Hilary Cass in her recent report calls “gender-related distress”. By 2009, it treated 15 adolescent girls and in 2016, that figure had increased to 1071.

Now whatever your views on this whole area – and personally, I am a trans ally – the enormous increase in young girls wanting to transition is a phenomenon worthy of investigation. As the mother of two daughters – aged 18 and 21 – I have had a front-row seat on what it is like to be a Gen Z teenage girl. It’s no picnic. Much of the media tuts about “snowflakes” – but Gen Z are not making up their mental health issues. This isn’t just over diagnosis, it’s real. This cohort is more anxious, distressed and seriously mentally unwell than any cohort ever; it’s endemic.

The Telegraph London