this is straight mental illness, 20 years ago you rarely ever heard of people becoming transgendered, in the past year i've worked with like 3.
There definitely is a copycat aspect to it. I remember reading an Ivy League researcher wrote about how when 1 kid comes out as transgender in elementary school, a bunch of others follow to levels that are way beyond what is reasonable (up to 10% of a classroom), suggesting that the kids are just mimicking what they're being exposed to. The mob tried to come after her for writing a damn observational report.