Stella O'Malley is an Irish sociopath who believes that trans teenagers are porn-addicted fetishists and should receive no empathy or sympathy from society as a whole. She is also a very poor author, with three shite books on parenting and mental health.[1][2] She is a regular contributor to Irish national newspapers, podcasts, and TV. She made a documentary about gender dysphoria in children for Channel 4, and in June 2021 co-founded Genspect, a self-described gender critical organisation.
Stella O'Malley | |
---|---|
Nationality | Irish |
Occupation(s) | Psychopath and author |
Known for | Psychopathy and mental health |
Website | http://www.stellaomalley.com |
Published works
Books
O'Malley has written three books, all of which were on the Irish best sellers list.[3][4][5]
Cotton Wool Kids
O'Malley's 2015 book Cotton Wool Kids advises parents against being over-protective and to be more relaxed about raising their children. The Irish News reported that "O'Malley is eager to stress that her book is not a parenting guide, but rather a guide to giving parents the information and the confidence to free themselves from the treadmill of after-school activities and over-supervision that has become common today and to raise their children more in touch with the outdoors and the community around them."[6] According to O'Malley, "The biggest change that has happened to childhood since I was a child is not that life has become more dangerous - it hasn’t - it is simply that commercial interests have cottoned on to the fact that they can make pots of money by exploiting parental anxiety. Consumerism is often driven by the creation of dissatisfaction and it is this which propels commercial interests to insinuate that parents are neglectful if they don’t buy the latest product for their child."[7]
Bully-Proof Kids
Her 2017 book Bully-Proof Kids uses case studies to analyse bullying, which she defines as "meanness from someone with more power than you, that is repeated over time", so as to empower children in their social networks. The Irish Times described the book's focus as "empowering children and teenagers to navigate the sometimes treacherous world of peer networks, both face-to-face and in cyberspace", written with parents as the primary audience.[8][9] Swift Press re-published Bully-Proof Kids in the United Kingdom on March 31, 2022.[10] The Guardian suggests that parents can arm their kids with the right tools with this book, and in this way "you'll empower them against bullies – and stop them becoming one themselves."[11]
Fragile
Her 2019 book Fragile calls for a "new wave of authentic and appropriate mental health discussions".[12][13] O'Malley said: "There's a power in being fragile now. You get attention and you get status from it in the way that people once did from their yachts and cars."[14] In the Irish Independent, O'Malley stated, "Mental health slogans that we see plastered all over social media and on public walls are often inadvertently taken out of context, dumbed down beyond recognition, and assimilated as if they are the answer to everything. Slogans such as 'listen to your gut' and 'focus on your feelings' might seem great at first glance however, when we consider that the emotional part of the brain is the most powerful, the fastest and also the stupidest part of any person's brain, we soon realise that it is often inappropriate to be excessively led by our emotions."[15]
Film and TV
Her 2018 Channel 4 documentary Trans Kids: It's Time To Talk[16][17] tackled the topic of gender dysphoria, and included her own experience: she had been certain she was a boy from the age of four, but due to puberty, an "absolute train wreck", she stopped identifying as a boy in her early teens. The documentary received both praise and criticism. Suzi Fei of The Financial Times described the film as "a step in the right direction" and "where compassion meets controversy". Rosie Kinchen of The Times (UK) wrote that "the point that O’Malley wants to make is not that medicine is wrong, but that we need to be sure we aren’t causing unnecessary damage".[18][19][20] Sarah Carson of iNews criticised the documentary for uneven coverage, attempting to prove that being transgender can be a phase "with few statistics and not enough concrete evidence", asking if children and adolescents are being "groomed" into believing they're trans, and O'Malley's conclusion that transgender children "are lost and are being led".[21][22]
She has been the resident psychotherapist for two TV programmes, "Raised by the Village",[23] on Irish TV channel RTÉ1, and on a TG4 parenting show in Irish, Cad Faoi Na Tuismitheoirí.[24]
Podcasts
In 2019 O'Malley hosted a parenting podcast ‘Secrets of the Mother World’ with the Jungian analyst Lisa Marchiano.[25] This podcast was created "to help mothers feel less alone" as mothers were invited to send "their anonymous stories about their own experiences in the Motherworld — experiences that are too intensely private to share anywhere else." According to O'Malley and Marchiano, "The Motherworld is a mysterious unknowable place; it can be the best of times, it can be the worst of times. It is a place you can't really know unless you've gone there." [26]
O'Malley currently hosts a podcast called ‘Gender: A Wider Lens’ with US therapist Sasha Ayad.[27] This podcast aims to "explore the expanding concept of 'gender' from a psychological depth perspective."[28]
Exploratory Therapy, Genspect and SEGM
O'Malley advocates for "exploratory therapy" in support of gender dysphoria and has written and testified about how some conversion therapy bills also risk limiting access to exploratory therapy.[29][30][31] On August 9, 2021, O'Malley co-authored an opinion letter titled "Bill to ban conversion therapy poses problems for therapists" alongside psychologist Jacky Grainer and GP Madeleine Ní Dhailigh for the Irish Times in reference to the The Prohibition of Conversion Therapies Bill 2018. In the letter, she criticized the inclusion of “suppression of gender identity” in the bill's definition of conversion therapy.[30] The Union of Students in Ireland subsequently announced that it was boycotting the Irish Times until it apologised for the article.[32] The Trans Writers Union and Trinity News also announced a boycott of the paper due to what they characterised as advocating conversion therapy and a pattern of transphobic behavior.[33][34]
In February 2020, O'Malley tweeted "I hate the phrase gender critical but I am making a list! A large number of people contact me seeking help and I don't know enough Irish therapists who can provide compassionate and nuanced therapy." This was described as compiling a list of Irish gender critical therapists, which some Twitter users equated with conversion therapy.[35]
In June 2021, O'Malley founded Genspect, an organisation formed to advocate for parents concerned about their children's treatment for gender issues.[36][37] Jenn Burleton, Executive Director of TransActive, described Genspect as "an anti-trans, 'gender critical' organization ideologically affiliated with TERFism, ROGD [Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria], and Alliance Defending Freedom".[38] Genspect has supported numerous legal complaints against clinicians and has supported parents trying to prevent children from socially transitioning at school without full parental support. Genspect also "stands in full solidarity" with Our Duty, an organisation which advocates an immediate moratorium on gender-affirming healthcare for anyone under 25 and public funding for gender-affirming healthcare at any age. The group recommends talk therapies where the stated goal of any treatment regimen must be "swift desistance from transgender ideation". Genspect has advised parents against using trans children's chosen names and pronouns, recommended that schools ban "tucking" and "binding", as well as use "biologically accurate language in all cases" and not punish students for misgendering other students. Genspect also stated that "acceptance of the reality of their biological sex" should be the first treatment for gender variant children.[39]
Genspect also intervened in Welsh Valleys School in a case against the school district for using a student's preferred pronouns in school and spoke in opposition towards New Zealand's Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act 2022 for its inclusion of protections against gender identity conversion therapy. In their guides, the group also says that there is "no evidence showing that social or medical transition reduces the risk of suicide among young people with gender dysphoria", which has been described by Open Democracy as a false claim.[39] In an interview with O'Malley in Undark Magazine published in April 2022, O'Malley stated that she opposes all medical treatment for teens under 18.[40] Genspect held a Detrans Awareness Day on March 31, 2022.[32][41]
On 15 June 2022, The New York Times interviewed parents from Genspect who defined the rise in trans-identified children as a "gender cult" and mass craze. The article also referenced a substack newsletter by an anonymous Genspect parent titled "It's Strategy People!" about how the organisation gets its perspective into the media by purposefully not referring to trans children as "mentally ill" or "deluded".[42] PinkNews criticized the Times article for platforming Genspect.[43]
O'Malley helped found the International Association of Therapists for Desisters and Detransitioners (IATDD) and the Gender Dysphoria Support Network (GDSN) in 2020.[29][44][45][46] She described the IATDD as for those who have medically detransitioned and the GDSN as for parents of children who wish to transition.[45]
O'Malley is a clinical advisor to the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine (SEGM).[44] SEGM is an "an organization set-up to evaluate current interventions and evidence on gender dysphoria."[47] Notably, seven of SEGM's eleven public clinical advisors are also public members of the Genspect team. Namely, O'Malley, Julia Mason, Avi Ring, Sasha Ayad, Roberto D'Angelo, Marcus Evans and Lisa Marchiano. In a report authored by a law professor and six physicians and psychologists who work with trans children and teenagers in response to attempts by legislators in Alabama and Texas to ban gender affirming care for minors, the researchers said that SEGM, which was cited by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is "biased" and "not a recognized scientific association".[48][49] Trans Safety Network, a UK research collective which investigates anti-trans hate and misinformation, described Genspect as an "anti-Trans psychiatric and sociological think tank" and reported that most of SEGM's funding in an anonymous donation drive came in donations greater than 10,000 dollars.[50][34]
In March 2022, O'Malley would have appeared at an NHS conference on gender dysphoria at Great Ormond Street Hospital, alongside paediatrician Hilary Cass, journalist Helen Joyce, CEO of Mermaids Susie Green, and fellow Genspect advisors Sinéad Watson, Stephanie Davies-Arai, and Lisa Littman. The event was cancelled following complaints by NHS whistleblowers, researchers, and trans rights activists, who accused a majority of the speakers as having a "record of extreme prejudice towards trans people". In particular, opposing inclusion of protections for trans people under the UK conversion therapy ban, intervening in a court case in Arizona in defense of the state's Medicaid ban on trans healthcare, and arguing gender-affirming care for transgender youth is "abusive".[39]
On 6 May 2022, Gay Community News (Dublin) published an article about concerns people raised over O'Malley being invited to address a Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI) conference on managing gender issues in schools. In the article, O'Malley was characterised as an anti-trans conversion therapy advocate whose views were misinformation.[33] On May 10, 2022, TD Mick Barry raised issue with O'Malley's invitation to the conference, referring to a Twitter Spaces conversion in which she stated "I don’t think you need to give empathy at all, none, zero. I think I should because I’m trying to understand them" when asked why woman should have sympathy for who they describe as autogynophiles.[51] O'Malley has sent a legal letter to Barry accusing him of defamation.[52]
References
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- ^ Hayward, Eleanor (26 March 2022). "Gender event off after trans activists attack 'extreme' views". The Times. Archived from the original on 29 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
- ^ "Irish Bestsellers 21st February 2015". Writing.ie. 28 February 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ "Irish Bestsellers 2nd September 2017". Writing.ie. 8 September 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ "Irish Bestsellers 13th April 2019". Writing.ie. 19 April 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ Lee, Jenny (8 September 2015). "Parents urged to stop wrapping kids in cotton wool". The Irish News. Archived from the original on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ^ O'Malley, Stella. (7 April, 2015). "Why are we over-parenting, and what damage is it doing our children?". The Irish Times. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/why-are-we-over-parenting-and-what-damage-is-it-doing-our-children-1.2161587. Accessed on 05 July 2022
- ^ Wayman, Sheila (11 November 2017). "Bully-Proof Kids review: how to empower children in peer networks". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ^ O'Callaghan, Helen (1 September 2017). "Bullyproof kids: How to protect your child against school bullies". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ^ "Swift Press | Bully-Proof Kids".
- ^ Moorhead, Joanna.(19 March 2022). "How to bully-proof your kids for life", The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/mar/19/how-to-bully-proof-your-kids-for-life-according-to-the-expert. Access date 03 July 2022
- ^ O'Malley, Stella (15 April 2019). "Psychotherapist Stella O'Malley: Why it's not always 'good to talk'..." Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ^ O'Malley, Stella (30 April 2019). "The schizophrenic who refuses to take their medication, the person with OCD who won't admit there is anything wrong... why do so many mentally ill people refuse help?". Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ^ Berry, Sarah (30 April 2019). "'Generation wuss' put down to over-involved parents". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 29 April 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ^ O'Malley, Stella,(15 April 2019). Psychotherapist Stella O'Malley: Why it's not always 'good to talk'...The Irish Independent. https://www.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/psychotherapist-stella-omalley-why-its-not-always-good-to-talk-38009155.html. Retrieved 03 July 2022
- ^ O'Malley, Stella (24 November 2018). Trans Kids: It's Time To Talk. IMDB (Television production). Archived from the original on 9 August 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ^ "Trans Kids: It's Time To Talk". Internet Archive. 24 November 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Kinchen, Rosie (18 November 2018). "Thank God they didn't make this tomboy trans". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
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- ^ Wallis, Sara (24 November 2018). "Trans Kids: It's Time To Talk shows it's time to change for our lost kids". The Mirror. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
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Under the guidance of one of Irelands top child psychotherapists, Stella O'Malley …
- ^ "Cad Faoi na Tuismitheoirí?". RTÉ. 6 December 2021. Archived from the original on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
The Cookes in Kerry benefit from guidance from our parenting expert Stella O Malley who helps them navigate …
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- ^ Stella O'Malley's testimony at the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill - 13 Oct 2021, retrieved 26 June 2022
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- ^ a b Schad, Saoirse (6 May 2022). "Irish education conference faces backlash for talk on "managing gender issues" in schools". Gay Community News (Dublin). Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
- ^ a b Ferreyra-Carroll, Lilith (21 October 2021). "A state of collapse: Trans healthcare in Ireland is a national emergency". Gay Community News (Dublin). Retrieved 28 June 2022.
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Stella O'Malley, a psychotherapist who founded Genspect, a parental support group for those concerned about the treatment that their children are receiving for gender issues.
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