Snip Snip

[George K]

This is wrong, on so many levels.

Inside the World of Backstreet Castrators, Cutters and Eunuch-Makers

[Axtremus]

What's the solution from a public policy perspective?

1. Let them be (i.e., "do nothing" as a matter of public policy)?
2. Legalize, regulate, and expand medical insurance coverages to these procedures so at least the people who want them can get them from legitimate healthcare providers?
3. More "mental health" and/or "education" support to dissuade people from wanting this sort of surgeries?

#1 is easy, it won't change anything.

#2 is just a matter of implementation -- as a society we have institutions that know how to legalize and regulate medical procedures, know how to tweak insurance coverages to cover additional types of surgeries/services, and know how to fold the costs into the premiums/funding models.

#3 is hard -- fundamentally we do not know what sort of "mental health" or "education" support to provide to effectively deal with this issue. (Note here we decided a priori that it is a "problem", something to be dissuaded.)

[Loki]

Not a criticism of any sort here but I wonder if people today consume mostly the bits of the long tail of the internet versus news that is truly impactful.

I’d like to study what social media has done to what info we consume.