RE: The War On Childhood & Gender Identity
This is a well-researched and considered post about a difficult subject. I have very mixed feelings on it. On the one hand, the media does seem to be focusing on, almost pushing the idea of transgender children (not that I pay much attention to the mainstream media these days). And I agree that the etiquette around gender issues is often taken too far.
On the other hand, when I was at school, in the 1970s, I remember a little boy who was incredibly feminine and preferred to hang out with the girls – this was at primary school, and people laughed at him. He was seen as a bit of a joke character. I never heard of him after primary school.
In my teens I was sent to an all-girls school, which I hated. One of the girls in my class had a very masculine appearance – a highly intelligent young woman with a very pleasant, gentle personality.
She was utterly shunned. Girls used to complain that she was watching them in gym as they got changed, though I never noticed this.
Young people these days are much more accepting of each other's gender expression than they were when I was a child, and I think that's a great thing. I have a young close relative who is transitioning, and I hate the idea of him having hormone treatment and surgery. But he is steadfast about this and has been for several years. If he'd grown up in a time when such things were taboo, I dread to think that he might have ended up as a suicide statistic, and no one would have understood why.
Hey @natubat Thank you for taking the time to read and leave a comment, I really appreciate it. I do have some experience with this subject as I had an aunt whom (when I was a child) was one of the first people in the country to have a sex change, so I have no axes to grind. In reference to my aunt and in many cases a sex change does not automatically grant you happiness of peace of mind. The human mind is incredibly complex and so sometimes the need to transistion is itself symptomatic of deeper psychological issues.
I refer to my post where I state "Surely our time and efforts would be far better placed extolling the virtues of kindness, compassion and understanding to our children as opposed to teaching three year olds about gender fluidity"?? Equally I understand that many trans activists may have been bullied or had a tough time at school and so from that perspective some may be attempting help children in a similar situation. That said perhaps viewing schooling through the lens of someone that was bullied for being confused about gender is perhaps not conduicive to the benefit of the 99.5% of children whom would never entertain such thoughts?
I wrote this on another reply but it seems apt in reference to your comment. Now it's within the nature of children to look up to and indeed seek recognition from adults. All of a sudden the virtues of "trans" are everywhere, It's on childrens TV, in school, in books and trans children are being lorded as stars on youtube etc. Obviously if children are seeking recogntion then it stands to reason that they may subconsciously begin to imitate these new "stars" .. I mean the same process has played out for generations with pop stars, celebrities so perhaps that statement isn't too much of a leap to make. Equally, from another perspective I feel many of the points I've highlighted in the post will cause confusion in the minds of young children that would have never even thought about the possibility of gender fluidity.
Again my main thoughts on this is that children should be taught the virtues of kindness and compassion and the acceptance of differences whilst not going into specifics. I think this whole movement has gone and is going way too far and I feel that this will be to the detriment of childhood development and indeed innocence. I really fail to see how a demonic drag queen reading children story books about gender fluidity is going to help any aspect of said development. I also feel allowing primary school children to change sex without parental consent is both insane and a gross intrusion into parental rights. Indeed the age of consent is 16 and the voting age is 18 and yet we want to allow children to have the right to change their bodies and futures and consume hormone blockers? Indeed what about tom boys? I knew many tom boys that grew up to be beautiful women .. it makes me wonder how they will be treated in todays society and narrative. Thanks again for the thoughtful comments @natubat I really appreciate your input and exchange of ideas.
I think you've hit the nail right on the head about the need to transition often (not necessarily always) being symptomatic of deeper psychological issues. I worry a lot about the peace of mind of my relative once the transitioning process is "complete" (if it ever is complete).
is he under 18 taking those drugs?
He is, yes. It's not something I would want - I don't even like taking paracetamol! I have said this to him. I completely support him changing gender, but it's very sad that he has to take those physical steps at such a young age. He feels he has to. I've said my piece and he has said his, so I'll stand by him.
I don't think many people care what adults want to do it's the concern that they are integrating this stuff on a grade school level. Sex education isn't even available without parental notification and parents can still opt their children out of sex education classes on a junior level but they aren't even being given the option of the same courtesy for a much more highly controversial subject.
To be honest I don't even know what I think schools should do about it. Schools are institutional, and institutions can lead to bullying, attention-seeking - all sorts of bizarre behaviour, especially when students are all kept within strict age groups. Schools have to protect children from being bullied if they are a bit different from the "norm", while on the other hand, they have to work out whether a child is just "acting up" to be like their peers or to get attention. It's quite a tightrope for them to walk. Governments interfering in schools probably makes the situation much worse.