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Alexandre Ledrait vs. transgender people

Alexandre Ledrait is a psychologist and anti-transgender activist. Ledrait is associated with anti-trans hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM). Ledrait promotes the spurious “rapid onset gender dysphoria” diagnosis.

Background

According to the 2024 SEGM conference brochure:

Assistant professor at the University of Caen in clinical psychopathology, coordinator of the Centre Ressource Information Prévention Adolescence et Radicalité, and director of a service which carries out expert appraisals for the Paris Court of Appeal, the general investigation department, and the anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office. His work focuses on the function of the symptom in adolescence, and the role of unconscious “choice” in connection with unelaborated childhood traumatic experiences and family history. His research in radicalization provides insight into the recourse to violence that may be associated with radical phenomena can take on a political guise (jihadist and extreme right-wing discourse) or can be inscribed through contemporary symptomatologies as a form of identity protest (as in the case of anorexia nervosa and/or rapid-onset gender disorders). His writings on trans identity–based on his specialized clinical practice with adolescents–revolve around the differential and functional diagnosis of certain symptomatic forms of gender dysphoria.

2024 SEGM conference

Ledrait sat on a panel titled “The Role of the Family in Addressing Youth Gender Distress.” Other panelists were anti-trans activists Stephanie Davies-Arai and Richard Stephens.

Ledrait coauthored a glowing report on the conference:

The international controversy over the care of trans-identified minors can give rise to calm and constructive discussions. All the credit goes to Professor Riittakerttu Kaltiala. Professor of Child Psychiatry, Head of Department, at the University of Tampere in Finland. With the help of one of the founders of the American collective SEGM, she managed, without any publicity (so as not to alert activist movements), to bring to her university from June 14th to 16th the finest international specialists on this subject from some fifteen countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, the USA, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Ireland, Israel, Chile, etc. We thank her for inviting The Little Mermaid Observatory to represent France and Belgium. At her request, none of the other participants’ names will be cited.

Throughout the presentations, several points were the subject of shared observations. Requests for transition from people who were called “transsexuals” were rare and discreet, whereas today, young people are very vocal about wanting to “become trans” and be recognized as a gender other than their own. 

Selected publications

Cognet-Kayem, A., Ledrait, A., Lamoureux, C., Megalakaki, O., & Masson, C. (2025). Transidentification in Adolescents and Young Adults: Understanding Parental Concerns to Improve Psychological Support for Families. Archives of Sexual Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03139-w

Koener, B., Ledrait, A., & Masson, C. (2025). Managing Gender Dysphoria in Minors—What Insights Does Evidence-Based Medicine Offer in 2024? Disease Biology, Genetics, and Socioecology, 3. https://doi.org/10.53941/dbgs.2025.100003

Masson, C., Ledrait, A., Cognet, A., & Athéa, N. (2024). De la transidentité à la transidentification. Déclenchement rapide de la « dysphorie de genre » chez des adolescents confrontés au malaise pubertaire. L’Évolution Psychiatrique, 89(3), 435–447. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evopsy.2023.02.002

Masson, C., Ledrait, A., Cognet, A., & Athéa, N. (2024). De la transidentité à la transidentification. Déclenchement rapide de la « dysphorie de genre » chez des adolescents confrontés au malaise pubertaire [From transidentity to transidentification quick triggering of gender dysphoria in adolescents confronting the malaise of puberty]. L’Évolution Psychiatrique, 89(3), e21–e32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evopsy.2023.03.002

Ledrait, A., & Blanc, S. (2024). De l’impossible identification sexuée à la transidentification pubertaire : une étude de cas. La Psychiatrie de l’enfant, Vol. 67(2), 45–58. https://doi.org/10.3917/psye.672.0045

Koener, B., Eliacheff, C., Dechêne, S., Ledrait, A., Masson, C., & Cognet, A. (2023). Un colloque exceptionnel. [An exceptional conference: On the transidentification of minors (Finland, June 2023)]. Le Carnet PSY, N° 265(8), 31–33. https://doi.org/10.3917/lcp.265.0031

Masson, C., Ledrait, A., & Cognet, A. (2023). De la transidentification pubertaire. Le Journal Des Psychologues, N° 406(5), 18–22. https://doi.org/10.3917/jdp.406.0018

Resources

HAL (Hyper Articles en Ligne [Hyper Articles Online]) (hal.science)