Researchers attribute the new phenomenon of rapid-onset gender dysphoria largely to social contagion. In England, the number of girls identifying as transgender skyrocketed by 4,400 percent in a 10-year period. In Denmark, the number of children referred to the centralized gender service also exploded, climbing from 97 in 2016 to 352 in 2022, of whom 70 percent were female. Between 2017 and 2021, American youth receiving a diagnosis of gender dysphoria nearly tripled in just five years, according to one study.