A transgender physician who recently had his medical license suspended for malpractice has been nominated for a Norwegian award intended to honor those who have contributed to improving the lives of young girls. Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad recently came under professional scrutiny after one of his minor patients committed suicide, and has previously stated that “we’ve all been pedosexuals, once.”
Benestad was included amongst the nominees for the Jenteprisen, or Girls’ Prize, by Plan International Norway. Plan International purports to advance international children’s rights and equality for girls.
“Every year, Plan International Norway awards the Jenteprisen to a person or actor who has made an important effort for girls’ rights and equality conditions, in Norway or outside the world,” reads the contest’s description.
“The winner is chosen by an independent jury and awarded on the UN’s International Day of the Girl on 11 October. This year is the twelfth year in a row that we have awarded the Jenteprisen.”
According to Plan’s statues and criteria for nomination, “The Jenteprisen goes to a person or actor in Norway who has made an important effort for girls’ rights and equal conditions, or who has made an extra effort to stop violence, abuse and discrimination against girls – either in Norway or outside the world. People of all genders can be nominated.”
Plan International nominated 75 candidates this year, the vast majority being women’s rights campaigners or organizations which provide services for women and girls.
Among the nominees are a health center for women, the NGO Save the Children, and the Dina Foundation, which provides aid to girls who have been sexually abused in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Yet despite referring to itself as “a fearless champion of child protection” with a “focus on girls and safeguarding their rights,” Plan International has caused controversy for including Benestad.
Esben ‘Esther Pirelli’ Benestad, a former gender clinician registered and associated with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), is bizarrely listed as a possible recipient for the Girls’ Prize – despite having had his medical license suspended at the start of the year following multiple investigations by the Norwegian Health Authority.
Because he has been repeatedly investigated for privately administering puberty-blocking drugs and hormones to minors, some Norwegians expressed disappointment at his nomination for the prize and subsequently found themselves subjected to public humiliation by Plan International Norway.
In a post made to their Instagram on September 22, Plan International Norway compiled a number of critical comments from social media, and published them in a slide-show in an effort to condemn those who had expressed concerns.
“Oh my god what a ridiculous human rights group you have turned into. A good reason why myself and many I know have stopped supporting you financially,” said one individual.
“Didn’t realize the ethical guidelines of Plan International was to castrate children and make them permanently ill. Lobotomizers of women next on the list of nominees, maybe?” said another.
“Maybe you could announce Andrew Tate as the winner next year? Heard he has made a solid contribution towards getting women into employment,” read another comment.
On social media, some targeted by Plan International Norway attempted to defend themselves, stating they felt “publicly shamed.”
Comments on the Instagram post were similarly critical, with many pointing out that former professor of religious studies at the University of Stavanger, Anne Kalvig, ought to have been nominated instead of Benestad.
Kalvig is the deputy chair of WDI Norway, a women’s rights organization which focuses on the impact gender ideology has on women and girls. She recently resigned from her post as a professor in a show of protest against what she has called a “smear campaign” being leveled against her for her views.
“You have nominated a secluded male doctor who has prescribed hormones to minors for the Jenteprisen, but disregarded the nominations of women’s advocate Anne Kalvig, who is one of the few brave women who dare to speak out critically against the new view of gender, where gender is reduced to being an emotion,” one woman replied. Several other concerned commenters accused Plan of “censoring” their input nominating Kalvig for the prize.
Speaking with Reduxx, Kalvig said she did not believe in gender ideology, which she called harmful.
“The belief system of sex being a soul essence, spread in Norway by Benestad in particular, is detrimental to the safeguarding of children and in direct opposition to girls’ and women’s rights. Nominating a frontman for this harmful, cultural practice shows that Plan does not know what a woman nor a man is, or what sex discrimination means – a deterioration of knowledge they share with multiple NGOs.”
Responding to the comments supporting her nomination, Kalvig told Reduxx she appreciated the consideration, but would not have accepted had she been selected.
“I appreciate the nominators’ wish to include me, and what I perceive as their wish to get focus on how sex self-identification harms women and children. However, I would not have accepted the prize, in the unlikely instance that I might have won, due to how they [Plan] treated Kari Jaquesson as a nominee in 2019.”
Jaquesson, a fitness instructor, was removed from nomination after a trans-identified male who had also been shortlisted raised complaints about her past criticism of him.
Christine Marie Jentoft, who refers to himself as a “lesbian,” had been criticized by Jaquesson for his conduct, specifically involving him inviting children to hug him and call him “mother.”
Jentoft initially withdrew his own nomination in protest of the criticism he had received from Jaquesson, but Jaquesson was later removed from the prize running, with Plan International Norway’s general secretary Kari Helene Partapuoli telling VG that Jaquesson’s views “contradict the value basis of Plan.”
This year’s trans-identified male nominee, Benestad, has recently been the subject of controversy in Norway following an investigation by the Norwegian Health Authority (NHA) which ultimately resulted in the suspension of his medical license.
In January, the NHA handed down a 42-page report detailing the motivation behind their decision to revoke Benestad’s license to practice as a clinician. The health authorities stated that Benestad was declared “unfit to practice responsibly due to a substantial lack of professional insight, irresponsible activity, and substantial breaches of duty.”
Though the report acknowledges that Benestad has had support and praise from some of his clients, the inspectors pointed to several specific cases which were made known to them through complaints lodged by either family members or unnamed individuals.
Of particular concern to the health authorities was Benestad’s tendency to neglect both the opinions of colleagues and nationally recommended protocols. “We consider that you do not cooperate with other health personnel to a sufficient extent,” stated the authorities in their report.
“The National Health Inspectorate has also assessed that you do not follow the Norwegian Health Authority’s national guidance in your treatment of patients with gender incongruence. We consider it worrying that you justify this by saying that no one else has enough expertise or resources to provide this treatment, or that they advocate a method of treatment that you do not agree with.”
Benestad had been giving puberty-halting drugs to adolescents under questionable circumstances.
The ages of the patients were redacted to protect their identities, and therefore it is unclear how young the children were at the time that medical intervention was initiated. However, in the past, Benestad has indicated that he has prescribed puberty-halting drugs to a boy that he began treating at the age of nine, an incident that spurred the first investigation into his practice by health authorities.
The former general practitioner was previously investigated twice by the NHA for disregarding recommended safe practice policies in his medical treatment of minors. In 2021 it was revealed that he had privately administered puberty-blocking drugs and hormones to a teenager who went on to die by suicide.
Benestad has recently estimated the number of patients he has seen in his 37-year-long career to be between approximately 1,800–2,000 in total. Prior to administering puberty-blocking drugs to under-18’s, Benestad was treating child sexual abusers, which he has referred to as “pedosexuals,” and insisted pedophilia was a common human trait.
“We’ve all been pedosexuals once,” Benestad told VG in 1997, and cited “prevailing taboo notions” around pedophilia as a cause for child sexual abuse.
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