Ultimately, the debate Flavin ignited underscores a significant cultural divide. While one side, represented by Flavin’s speculation, attributes the perceived rise in transgender identities to social or environmental factors like Hollywood's permissiveness and lack of structure, the prevailing scientific and medical consensus maintains that transgender identity is a matter of core human experience—not a trend, a phase, or a result of parenting deficits. Her theory, lacking credible basis, became a lightning rod for the ongoing tension between traditional views on gender and the growing understanding and visibility of transgender individuals in contemporary society.
