I've wondered that quite a lot myself. I see some serious parallels with those of my female peers who used self-harm as a similar plea for attention, usually because underlying suffering wasn't being dealt with. The literature on self-harm showed similar patterns of social contagion.

The bigger question for me is how could we sort between the two, and should we want to even if we could. Gender transition, and genderqueer presentation are relatively harmless ways to alleviate pain.

I don't think it's a conscious choice. I would think its a psychological phenomenon possibly more common in those who are naturally attention seeking but i doubt they intentionally mean to seek attention. i do agree that if they are attention seeking it could detract from the rest of the trans community.

I'm certainly not attributing malice to it, or conscious choice. As someone else said, the newfound acceptance of talking about it could have made it a new outlet of attention seeking. Most people at that stage in their life don't choose that kind of thing and don't self-reflect unless it's pointed out.

> wanting to feel special, different

Also, boasting about being broken, having depression, mental issues and suicidal thoughts is now frowned upon, so gender dysphoria has covered that vacuum. Before that it was geekiness.

Maybe this is society's growing pains as it learns to cope with social media.