Opposing Opinions Around Pediatric Medical Transition and Gender Ideology
NEWS
This post will contain several examples of varying opinions about pediatric medical transition and gender activism.
Trans Opposition to Pediatric Medical Transition and Gender Activism
Not all trans people believe in pediatric medical transition as the medical side effects can be intense, and surgeries and hormones have risks. Scott Newgent, an FtM trans person, has circulated a petition, “Adult Transgender & Non-Transgender People Against Medically Transitioning Children opposing medical treatment on minors.”
Scott has suffered serious damage due to phalloplasty surgery, a dangerous operation with high rates of complications:
Well, we are the marginalized group, along with the support of Non-Transgender adults, and we are telling you that medically transitioning children is wrong. In remaining quiet, we have cut a safe corner out for ourselves to live peacefully, but with the massive influx of children transitioning, we can in good conscience, stay silent no longer. Together, arm in arm, we come together from the LGBT community, the straight community, the conservative community, the liberal community, the Christian community, the Jewish community, and many more to save Transgender identifying children.
A trans person in Canada is calling for an Inquiry into the rising numbers of children being treated for gender dysphoria, many of whom are in the foster care system.
We are adding an older article that highlights the reality that there are disagreements, even among trans people, as to how gender non-conforming people should exist in society. The article, “Pakistan's traditional third gender isn't happy with the trans movement,” is about the conflict between tradition “third gender” culture and modern trans activism:
For centuries, South Asia has had its own Khawaja Sira or third gender culture. The community, identifying as neither male nor female, are believed by many to be "God’s chosen people," with special powers to bless and curse anyone they choose.
The acceptance of Khawaja Sira people in Pakistan has been held up internationally as a symbol of tolerance, established long before Europe and America had even the slightest semblance of a transgender rights movement.
But the acceptance of people defining their own gender in Pakistan is much more complicated. The term transgender refers to someone whose gender identify differs from their birth sex. This notion is yet to take root in Pakistan and the transgender rights movement is only beginning to assert itself formally. Now, some third gender people in Pakistan say the modern transgender identity is threatening their ancient third gender culture.
A “third gender” traditionalist comments on an MtF who uses female pronouns and is currently a supermodel:
Bindiya Rana is the grand matriarch of the third gender community in Karachi. She doesn’t prescribe to the transgender identity. She is a Khawaja Sira, so revered that she is a guru (teacher) to more than 50 chelahs or apprentices.
This relationship has a parental element and is a cornerstone of Khawaja Sira culture. Each chelah pledges allegiance to their guru, as they did to their guru before them. These family trees provide acceptance, social support and financial backing. Most chelahs give a percentage of their income to their gurus. It’s a lifetime commitment that allows the establishment of families that often replaces biological lineage.
But those who identify as transgender, like Choudary, don’t subscribe to the guru-chelah system. As a result, Rana and her chelahs view the transgender identity as alien and even immoral.
“If you don’t have a guru, we don’t recognize you. These people who say they are transgender; that concept is just wrong," says one of Rana's chelahs. "They can never be women. They cannot give birth. Even if they change their bodies they can’t change who they are. We are not women. We are what Allah has made.”
The Pakistani example highlights that there is more acceptance of trans than the concept of homosexuality in the Muslim world where homosexuality is punishable by death.
Trans Identity as a form of Self-Harm
GHQ is adding an older article from the New Statesmen, which discusses how female body hatred around gender dysphoria is being normalized despite the fact that doing things like breast binding is physically damaging:
And yet, look again at that list of side effects: breathing difficulties, skeletal problems, fainting, inability to participate fully in exercise. The female adolescents wearing binders have reproduced all the problems of tight-lacing corsets, this time in the service of restrictive anti-femininity rather than restrictive femininity. So is issuing guidance to reduce the harms of binder-wearing in schools an act of care for transgender children, or an abdication of it? Is the role of adults in authority – whether parental, educational or medical – to validate everything that comes under the rubric of transition, regardless of long-term consequences, or could another approach be better?
LGB Conflicts with Gender Politics
Andrew Sullivan made a brief reference to gender identity politics in a discussion about the sweep by the conservative Tories in Britan in a recent election. We cover some similar opposing viewpoints that are a reaction to some of the cultural influences of postmodern queer theory.
It is clearer and clearer to me that the wholesale adoption of critical race, gender, and queer theory on the left makes normal people wonder what on earth they’re talking about and which dictionary they are using.
A paper called Disaffirming Gender: Somatic Incongruence as a Co-function of Ideological Congruity covers the conflicting interests that can exist between concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity:
The activist conjunction of sexual orientation and gender identity is questioned by demonstrating how the concerns of the transgender movement run contrary to an agenda of liberation from gender ideology. The confused vocabulary of trans discourse articulated in the language of somatic incongruence (so-called gender dysphoria) is exposed, using an analysis of the concept of somatic incongruence and the various interventions through which bodies are apparently restored to ideological congruence constructed upon, inter alia, gender, race, and age. The paper rejects transgender medical treatment and surgery as nothing but the most brutal affirmation of gender stereotypes and, in conclusion, calls for a radical and total disaffirming of gender, analogous to the termination of racial classification and segregation.
Below are several articles about the formation of the LGB Alliance in the UK. The organization was formed to advocate for LGB interests away from the demands of trans activism, which include transitioning young children and MtFs taking positions on girls’ sports teams.
This article covers the views of a former member of Stonewall UK who supports the breakaway LGB organization:
Fanshawe believes that the Stonewall of today is undermining the rights of lesbians and putting women and girls at risk by “unthinkingly” merging the rights of lesbians and gays with those of trans people through its ‘acceptance without exception’ dogma as it lobbies for transgender people to be able to legally self-identify as the gender they feel they are without having to provide evidence that they have lived in that gender for two years or by having gender dysphoria diagnosed.
LGBAlliance is going so far as to challenge Stonewall UK backed initiatives:
The LGB Alliance is of the view that Stonewall’s advice misrepresents the Equality Act, which recognizes sex as a protected characteristic. By replacing biological sex with gender identity, the LGB Alliance argues, Stonewall contravene legislation designed to uphold women’s rights. They describe this position as ‘Stonewall Law’ and fully intend to fight it.
There are always accusations of bigotry in LGBT discourse when other groups wish to advocate without adding trans interests. This is from Quillette.
Are gay people allowed to meet and organise in defense of their interests? A hard yes, you might have thought. But some apparently disagree.
Witness the response to the London-based LGB Alliance, a newly created British group that asserts “the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people to define themselves as same-sex-attracted.” The group’s creation has sparked vitriol, not from the traditionalist Christians or social conservatives who might have opposed such groups in the 1980s or 1990s, but from the self-described progressive left.
There is an article in the Spectator that covers trans activist approaches to promoting trans acceptance in women’s spaces like sports and prisons and pediatric medical transition. The information comes from a report from a British law firm:
The report is called ‘Only adults? Good practices in legal gender recognition for youth’. Its purpose is to help trans groups in several countries bring about changes in the law to allow children to legally change their gender, without adult approval and without needing the approval of any authorities. ‘We hope this report will be a powerful tool for activists and NGOs working to advance the rights of trans youth across Europe and beyond,’ says the foreword.
Below are some relevant quotes from the article about strategy:
‘While cultural and political factors play a key role in the approach to be taken, there are certain techniques that emerge as being effective in progressing trans rights in the “good practice” countries’…
‘In many of the NGO advocacy campaigns that we studied, there were clear benefits where NGOs managed to get ahead of the government and publish progressive legislative proposal before the government had time to develop their own. NGOs need to intervene early in the legislative process and ideally before it has even started. This will give them far greater ability to shape the government agenda and the ultimate proposal than if they intervene after the government has already started to develop its own proposals’…
‘In Ireland, Denmark and Norway, changes to the law on legal gender recognition were put through at the same time as other more popular reforms such as marriage equality legislation. This provided a veil of protection, particularly in Ireland, where marriage equality was strongly supported, but gender identity remained a more difficult issue to win public support for.’
‘Another technique which has been used to great effect is the limitation of press coverage and exposure. In certain countries, like the UK, information on legal gender recognition reforms has been misinterpreted in the mainstream media, and opposition has arisen as a result. ….Against this background, many believe that public campaigning has been detrimental to progress, as much of the general public is not well informed about trans issues, and therefore misinterpretation can arise.
In Ireland, activists have directly lobbied individual politicians and tried to keep press coverage to a minimum in order to avoid this issue.’ (Emphasis added).
The Times of London posted another article about trans activist money in politics:
A pharmaceutical firm that markets drugs used in gender-identity clinics to delay puberty has given £100,000 to the Liberal Democrats.
Jo Swinson’s party has already upset feminists, who worry that the “extreme trans-ideological” policies in its manifesto will put vulnerable women at risk.
Denying Trans People Emotional & Sexual Access is “Transphobia”
There is an ongoing narrative that people should be emotionally and sexually available to trans people based on the trans person’s gender identity, or that person is a bigot or a transphobic.
This is from a recent article in Slate:
Stoya: I’m having difficulty putting myself in to the shoes of a person who is so off put by genital configuration.
Rich: Look, I’m way more into dick. Maybe I need to work on that, but it feels OK to like what I like. I don’t fantasize about vulvas; I do dicks. It’s plausible that someone has a type formed by a bunch of factors that are specific and don’t make him a bad person. But it’s also not just possible but observable and prevalent to have “preferences” that dog-whistle bigotry. I think these things require a lot of self-interrogation.
GHQ reviews the conflicts this is causing here and here.
Comments from Jesse Singal:
The Advocate also published an article arguing it’s transphobic not to date trans people as some trans people are trying to make this concept mainstream:
The question that gets danced around, however, is: “Are all these numbers indicative of transphobia?” The answer, I believe, is clearly yes.
The Spectator commented on the strained arguments in the Advocate article:
Those who deny the existence of biological sex and insist a person can change sex through self-declaration have made a number of grave mistakes — some of which harm their own community. The promise of ‘passing’ — a term that refers to trans-identified people who are perceived to be the opposite sex, rather than simply a male attempting to dress ‘like a woman’ or vice versa — is in fact quite cruel. Most trans-identified people won’t ‘pass’ in public; but even if they manage to appear as the sex they wish to be on a day to day basis, all sorts of subtle cues betray them when it comes to attracting their desired partner.
Trans Activism
Trans activists have reacted angrily to a book promoting body positivity in children called My Body is Me! due to the fact it promotes body acceptance and was cosponsored by Transgendertrend, a group that questions the ethics of pediatric transition:
My Body is Me is an upbeat, rhyming picture book, aimed for 3-6 year olds, written by Rachel Rooney and illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg in consultation with TransgenderTrend. It introduces children to the workings of the human body, and celebrates similarities and differences while challenging sex stereotypes. It also aims to promote a positive self-image and foster self-care skills. The text is inclusive for children with physical or sensory disabilities.
In an example of extremist gender activism, Debbie Hayton (who is on the GHQ Board) is trans and is being targetting for not believing it is possible to change your biological sex:
A transgender woman has been accused of transphobia for wearing a T-shirt saying she is really still a man.
Debbie Hayton, 51, a physics teacher in the Midlands, who transitioned from male to female in 2012, is facing expulsion from the LGBT committee of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) for the slogan: “Trans women are men. Get over it!”
Jake Pyne is an FtM activist who is part of GDAWorkinggroup.com. This website was set up with almost the same name as a group of health professionals (GDworkinggroup) who advocate a more cautious approach in an apparent attempt to challenge them. The site members consist of the people at the forefront of trans activism and the affirmative model, such as Diane Ehrensaft and Johanna Olson-Kennedy. Jake Pyne is also allegedly responsible for spreading a false allegation against Dr. Ken Zucker in order to get him fired for his more conservative approach to medically transitioning minors.
Below is a screencap of Pyne laughing at a joke about murdering a reporter, which is common behavior over the internet:
Multiple trans voices take issue with pediatric medical transition and some of the more radical aspects of trans activism.
Changing Laws and Policies to Allow Pediatric Medical Transition Without Parental Consent
The below case is an example of the new normal. Parents will lose the ability to have their children wait until they are adults to alter their body medically. This case is in Europe, but the same activist push exists in all Western countries:
By the parents' admission, they warned “Nea” that sex change is a complex and traumatising procedure, and that some of its effects are irreversible. They suggested waiting until the school year's end, going back to Finland, undergoing a thorough medical examination, and learning more about the consequences of getting a sex change.
However, “Nea”, with the help of a representative from a local trans organisation, went to the police and reported her parents for opposing her gender reassignment procedures. The authorities in the unnamed EU country supported the underage girl.
The Conservative think tank site Public Discourse reviews some conflicts of interest in allowing trans-identified students in girls bathrooms:
The case against compelled affirmation policies needs to be more explicitly and vividly sexualized. The argument against these policies must be rooted in the civil liberties of objecting students and the right not be forced to be the object of another’s sexual gaze. Opening intimate facilities to anyone of the opposite sex imposes psycho-sexual trauma on countless non-consenting youths, and constitutes a form of sexual exploitation.
The case:
Consider the experience of some northern Illinois high-school girls, as one federal court recently described it. In Students and Parents for Privacy v. High School District 211, Judge Jorge Alonso wrote that several of them were “startled, shocked, embarrassed, and frightened by the presence of a male in the girls’ restroom,” most especially when “female student A” was “exposed to this male’s penis.” No wonder: he also found that these students “are at continual risk of encountering (and sometimes do encounter), without their consent, members of the opposite sex while disrobing, showering, urinating, defecating and while changing tampons and feminine napkins.”
The naked guy was no streaker or everyday pervert. He was a student. The school did nothing to discipline him. In fact, the school authorities had sent him there under what they unapologetically called a “compelled affirmation” policy governing transgendered students’ access to intimate school facilities. Judge Alonso dismissed all complaints about the policy that were based on rights protected by the Constitution, including the free exercise of religion, students’ right of bodily privacy, and parents’ right to direct the education of their children. He did, however, permit statutory claims for sexual harassment and violation of the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act to go forward, possibly to trial.
The legal expert wants these cases to elicit sexually in the minds of the public:
I think that the case against compelled affirmation policies needs to be more explicitly and vividly sexualized. By that I mean that the argument against these policies must be rooted in the civil liberties of objecting students, as they pertain to the morality of acts which cause sexual arousal; which instigate impure thoughts; and which threaten both the healthy psycho-sexual development of young people and—most importantly in our cultural moment—the right not to be forced to be the object of another’s sexual gaze—the occasion for the arousal of another person. This improvement synthesizes the prevailing privacy contentions (which, again, are sound so far as they go); extends them; and focuses the argument on something that even judges who have been mesmerized by transgender-affirming propaganda might find hard to sanction: opening intimate facilities to anyone of the opposite sex (that is, anyone bearing the sexually provocative body parts of the opposite sex) imposes psycho-sexual trauma on countless unconsenting youths, and constitutes a form of sexual exploitation.
Most MtFs who transition at young ages are not sexually attracted to females. They are very effeminate homosexual males. However, most MtFs are autogynephilc males, are sexually attracted to women, and appear to be coming out at younger ages. The school system in these cases would be putting heterosexual males in with teenage girls in situations that involve nudity.
Gender ideology, something some LGBT people strongly disagree with, is taught to children in schools in multiple countries in the world:
For trans ideology to truly spread, it needs to become an inherent part of our core belief system. As natural as the sky being blue, and the earth being round, we must all have the truth of trans as a foundational element of our understanding about the world for it to thrive. Convincing adults is one thing, but to really make this wash, it’s children that need to taught the dogma of multiple gender identities and the ability of humans to swap their sex for its opposite. The purported goal behind teaching children that male and female are nothing more than feelings is compassion, empathy, and anti-bias.
The work to bring children into the trans fold is pervasive and growing, and we’ve seen it in the US and Canada. In Sweden, the government is pouring money into an educational program for drag queens to read to children with disabilities. Meanwhile, in the UK, where trans advocates have a major head start, the BBC is airing educational programming to teach children that there are as many genders as stars in the sky.
The article “Schools told all lessons for five-year-olds should include gay and trans themes” discusses the issue of when and how to teach children about gender identity and sexual orientation.
South Carolina wants to ban underage medical treatment for trans-identified youth.
There is a recorded video of a conservative father rebelling against gender ideology being taught to children in school.
Miscellaneous
Here is an account of a medical student who believes the sciences are embracing ideology over scientific facts regarding gender identity and biological sex.
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