Tag Archives: parenting transgender

Introducing a new, global organization for parents skeptical of the “trans kid” trend

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I’m happy to announce the launch of Transgender Trend, an international organization created by and for parents who are questioning the accelerating trend to diagnose children and adolescents as “transgender.”

Transgender Trend, started by parents from the UK, the US, and Canada, aims to be a source of information and support for anyone who wants to challenge the pediatric “transition” narrative that has swept the Western world in the last several years. In addition, the organization intends to issue press releases, and to be a voice for parents, family members, and supportive friends who have been seeking–so far without success–to reach others who share their doubts and concerns.

The website (still in development) features an FAQ, links to and synopses of research studies, quotes from doctors, researchers, and psychologists, and a blog. It’s expected that the site will grow over time. Comments and questions are very welcome, but please note: Transgender Trend is not intended as, nor will it ever be, a place for trans activists to harass and harangue the parents and supportive others who congregate there.

Stephanie Davies-Arai, mother of four and the author of Communicating with Kids, will be the UK spokeswoman for Transgender Trend. Stephanie has recently given written evidence to the UK Parliament on the issue of pediatric transgender issues.  She also wrote a powerful piece,  “The Transgender Experiment on Kids” for the Wales Arts Review (now published on her own blog), critiquing the increasingly worrying child and adolescent “transition” narrative.

Stephanie has this to say about the launch of Transgender Trend:

I’m really happy to be working in collaboration with 4thWaveNow and a global group of parents to launch Transgender Trend. Our site is dedicated to evidence-based research and information which I hope will become a resource not only for parents, but for the press and the media too. For too long, we’ve only been hearing one side of the argument: that ‘gender nonconforming’ children should be socially and medically ‘transitioned’ as young as possible; that teenagers who suddenly announce they are ‘trans’ should be taken at their word with no questions asked.

Disguised as progressive liberalism, transgender theory depends on the reactionary and conservative belief in rigid gender stereotypes which now increasingly inform our interpretations of children’s behaviour. In the absence of any rigorous analysis of this theory, we are playing with children’s futures in the name of political correctness. Ultimately, the move to reclassify ‘male’ and ‘female’ not as biological sexes but as gender types, disproportionately harms women and girls.

I hope Transgender Trend goes some way to balance the overwhelmingly uncritical celebration of ‘transgender kids’ throughout the mainstream media, and that we can provide reassurance to parents who are struggling with this issue: You are not alone.

Parents and supportive others from around the world are welcome. Please visit Transgender Trend at:

www.transgendertrend.com/

 

 

UK pediatric transition referrals DOUBLE in SIX months, girls far outnumber boys, many under 10 years old

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Scanning through my Twitter feed this morning, I nearly scrolled past this little news item tweeted by the Guardian:

According to a freedom of information response obtained by the Guardian, the number of children referred to the Tavistock has jumped from 314 referrals in 2012-13 to 697 referrals in 2014-15. In the last six months the service has seen a further increase in referrals with 634 children referred between April and September.

Children? LITTLE children:

Many of the referrals – 151 from 2012-13 to 2014-15 – relate to children under the age of 10, including one three-year-old and 12 four-year-olds.

Yesterday, I posted about a very recent research survey conducted by members of the Dutch team of clinicians who pioneered pediatric medical transition. They found that, worldwide, there is a growing sense of unease amongst clinicians working in child gender clinics. It is widely acknowledged that there is no long-term research to support the current medical paradigm for “treating” children with gender dysphoria–to the point that some providers are even forming “moral deliberation” groups to “rethink” aspects of the pediatric “treatment” protocol.

Does the Guardian article hint at any such doubts? To be fair, the director of London’s Tavistock clinic, Polly Carmichael, does hint:

“The increase is challenging,” Carmichael said. “We are keen to provide space for young people to fully explore their options and find their own way forward. It is a very complicated issue.”

If Guardian reporters would bother to read the 17-clinic survey study, they might be able to expand a bit more on some of these “complicated issues.” Oh wait, they do–in one paragraph, written in the passive voice, accompanied by a glamorous photo of Laverne Cox:

Increased media interest, the proliferation of social media where children and young people can discuss gender identity issues, and the prevalence of trans figures in popular culture such as Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox, is thought to be part of the reason why there has been such a significant increase in these referrals.

“Thought to be”–it is thought by whom?  Couldn’t you find anyone to go on the record to say this publicly? And just how ironic is it that this reporter touches on “increased media interest” without even a phrase devoted to her OWN role, in this very article, in promoting the media circus.

But never mind, because the rest of the article makes clear that the real issue is how important it is to serve all these kids and parents who are demanding transition services.

The Tavistock and Portman NHS trust gender identity development service in London has said that attempting to meet the demand from children seeking their services has put them under huge pressure…

A spokeswoman for the Tavistock said: “Gender expression is diversifying”, adding that it was important for young people to explore and develop their own path.

Let’s see: Should some of those kids with their “diversifying” identities perhaps just be advised to be comfortable in their own bodies?  Is it the duty of the NHS to be “candy sellers” (to quote the wise ethicist in the Journal of Adolescent Health survey) vs. raising a few questions with primary-school children and their doting parents? If question-raising or encouraging other, less extreme options is part of what “support from specialist services” means, it is certainly not stated in this article.

Instead, we get to hear from none other than Jay Stewart, of “Gendered Intelligence,” that NGO which has been teaching preschoolers to obsess about gender for the last 7 years.

Jay Stewart, director of Gendered Intelligence, an NGO that promotes greater understanding of gender diversity, said there are now more than 50 gender options on Facebook rather than the traditional two.

Tail wagging the dog much? Kid signs up for an account on Facebook. Kid has 50 “identity” options to choose from. Hm, kid ponders. Guess this gender thing is really something I need to worry about.  Guess I need to decide whether my body is some alien appendage attached to my all-knowing, gender-generating mind. Because I can’t possibly actually BE my healthy, evolution-crafted body, can I? I am only my ideas, my notions–one of the “identities” Facebook helpfully cooked up with the help of trans-identified employees.

“This is the tip of the iceberg of what gender identity is going to look like in the future,” [Stewart] said. “Young people have a very sophisticated understanding of gender yet the world is lagging behind. There is poor understanding of these issues and a lot of hostility and discrimination. Everyone’s gender identity and journey is unique and the numbers of children and young people wishing to transition are going to keep going up and up.”

If it wasn’t clear from other statements Stewart has made publicly, this paragraph crystallizes the matter. “Gendered Intelligence” is not in the business of helping children (with their “sophisticated understanding”) feel positively about who they are. Stewart isn’t teaching 4-year-olds to break gender stereotypes. Right here in black and white, we see that children “wishing to transition” is what those drug-company-taxpayer-funded “lessons” are all about. Because the word “transition” means only one thing: rejecting the sex you are to become one you aren’t.  And as we know from the story reported a couple of days ago, granting childish wishes is what Stewart and his minions are all about:

It’s so important to be teaching children in schools that they can be anything that they want regardless of the gender that they have been given at birth.

Seems Jay Stewart might as well be appointed as a government minister in the UK. Yesterday’s Guardian also featured Stewart as the key advocate for what sounds like soon-to-be-implemented governmental oversight of social media for UK residents who use Twitter, Facebook, or other online networking sites:

Jay Stewart, the director of Gendered Intelligence, a transgender youth group, agreed that more needed to be done about transphobic abuse online…

…“There needs to be more regulation. If people behaved like that in a school or at work it would be dealt with.

Dealt with how? Jail terms? Firings?

“People also think that being trans has something to do with child abuse or they obsess over gender reassignment surgery. All of this comes down to an educational issue and the government can do more here,” Stewart said.

Seems like the government is doing quite enough, paying for Gendered Intelligence to propagandize children in the UK schools, and providing free-at-point-of-service medical transition. But hey, a new Ministry of Thought Police would give taxpayers more bang for their buck, with Stewart at the helm.

Returning to today’s Guardian piece, what about the surge in girls “wishing” to transition, a trend that is being noticed around the world?

According to the Tavistock figures, more girls want to become boys (893) than boys want to become girls (579). Carmichael said the larger number of girls was likely to have a complex explanation. “It might be to do with increased confidence in natal females coming forward but there are lots of unknowns. But we’ve seen a large rise in natal females coming forward, which deserves fuller exploration,” he said.

At least this spokesman thinks the issue “deserves fuller exploration.” But the Guardian reporters aren’t going to do that exploration, now are they? ARE they?

Because, right. It’s just that girls who hate their bodies are feeling more “confident.” Confident of what? Certainly not that it’s perfectly ok to be a “gender nonconforming” female without spending the rest of your life injecting testosterone, undergoing surgery after surgery, and, oh, maybe regretting the kids you never got to have because your parents and people like Jay Stewart–and the “charity” Mermaids–thought it was a brilliant idea to sterilize you instead of allowing you to go through natural puberty.

The charity Mermaids, which provides support to children and families on the issue of gender transition, says children who want to transition can be given gender hormone blockers to prevent the onset of puberty followed by cross-sex hormones. The former are reversible but the latter are less reversible. Currently cross-sex hormones are available from the age of 16 on the NHS.

Signal boost, parents and teens! Just letting you know to come-and-get your free-at-the-point-of-service testosterone when you turn 16! But cross-sex hormones are “less” reversible. That’s a pretty wishy-washy way of saying that your beard, deep voice, and a host of other things that haven’t even been researched are going to be permanent changes. Oh, and then there’s that pesky little problem I keep harping about: that when you follow blockers by cross-sex hormones (as casually mentioned in the paragraph above) you won’t be able to have any kids of your own. But you couldn’t have mentioned that, could you, Diane Taylor, the author of this piece, with your “particular interest” in “human rights”? How about the human right of not being proactively sterilized and permanently altered when you’re too damn young to understand what you’re doing?

Susie Green, the chair of Mermaids, said:“Our children are being failed on a daily basis … There is a crisis. NHS primary care services often don’t understand what is going on with these children and can be dismissive and say, ‘This is just a phase they’re going through.’

Mother's Day card offered for sale by

Mother’s Day card offered for sale by “Mermaids” on their website

Except that the people who know the most about these issues, including the Dutch clinicians who started this whole pediatric transition thing, say, over and over again, that most prepubescent children ARE usually just “going through a phase.”

Parents, family members, reporters-with-a-conscience, child development specialists: Are you going to let this continue? Are you going to let the media just go on racing ahead with its propaganda, while the rate of children who “wish” to “transition” doubles, triples, quadruples–how many is too many?

And in case it isn’t painfully clear, you bet I am writing this post in anger this morning. When even some of the people who administer these “treatments,” who are profiting from them, are expressing doubts, but the lazy mainstream (and even the supposedly “feminist” media) continues to behave as de facto propaganda organs for adult trans activists, it’s hard not to become infuriated.

I keep thinking I’m past outrage. But the blood pounding in my ears right now tells me I’m nowhere near Peak Trans.

UK’s “Gendered Intelligence” has been indoctrinating students for the last 7 years, Daily Mail “can reveal”

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Children as young as four are receiving lessons from transgender campaigners – including a man who revealed to primary school classes that he is a ‘trans man’ and was ‘assigned female’ at birth.

Thousands of pupils have had the controversial classes, in which they are encouraged to explore their ‘gender identities’ and are questioned on what being a transsexual means, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Up to 20 primary schools a year pay for the classes, given by campaigners’ organisation Gendered Intelligence. Parents’ groups have reacted with concern that pupils may be ‘frightened’ by the workshops, while experts warned the lessons may confuse young children.

What is a “campaigner’s organisation” (aka “trans activist group”) doing in UK schools?

A look through its extensive website and blog makes it clear that Gendered Intelligence has been embedded with, and partially funded via, the National Health Service, the London Museum, UK lottery funds, and the pharmaceutical company Burroughs-Wellcome for many years. In fact, young people affiliated with Gendered Intelligence literally wrote the book used by the NHS to indoctrinate teachers, kids, and providers about “trans kids.” (See page 3).

Why is the Daily Mail only “revealing” this now, 7 years after the group’s inception? Better late than never, I guess.

Gendered Intelligence has confirmed it teaches pupils of all ages in primary schools, from reception class – where children are aged four and five – up to Year Six, where pupils are aged ten and 11. The workshops cost an undisclosed sum and have been available since 2008.

The Mail on Sunday has seen footage of Gendered Intelligence conducting workshops with primary classes, in a video available for teachers to hire at the cost of £20.

Gendered Intelligence’s founder Jay Stewart, who is giving the class, asks the pupils if they think ‘life will be hard at school if you’re a boy at school who likes doing “girlish things”?’

Mr Stewart then asks the class what they think the word ‘transgender’ means and he follows this by revealing he is a ‘trans man’. He says: ‘When I was assigned at birth, I was assigned female when I was born. So I am transgendered. So have you got any questions for me?’

Let’s see. If I’m a 4-year-old girl, but I’m jealous of my boy classmates, or I like to play with trucks and wear my hair short, maybe I can actually turn into a boy, just like this important, authoritative adult I’m seeing in this film did!

At the second school featured in the film, Westerhope Primary, also in Newcastle, Mr Stewart again tells the pupils that he is transgender – despite teachers asking him beforehand not to do so.

Wow, are those teachers just horrible transphobes? Or do they maybe understand that little kids tend to look up to and EMULATE adults, especially ones they see on a cool video?

Have no fear, though. The Mail reporter tells us the transphobic teacher relented (caved?) and decided it was “right” that Stewart revealed his identity. But at least one psychotherapist, Dilys Daws said:

‘What can get confused is that children who just happen to be unhappy at the moment actually fixing on this being about their gender, when it might be to do with the relationship with a parent.’

What is Ms. Daws driving at here? Could a kid decide they are trans for reasons not necessarily to do with some innate gender?

Margaret Morrissey, of pressure group Parents Outloud, said four and five-year-olds were ‘far, far too young’ to receive the lessons. She added: ‘We’re in danger of frightening children and making them feel they ought to feel like this.’

Interesting. Parents Outloud is a “pressure” group, while Gendered Intelligence is…an activist a (no pressure!) “campaign” group.

Mr Stewart said: ‘It’s so important to be teaching children in schools that they can be anything that they want regardless of the gender that they have been given at birth.

It’s so important to tell little 4-year-old children that they can be or have anything they WANT. Because kindergartners don’t ever engage in magical thinking. Little kids don’t ever confuse fantasy with reality.

Gendered Intelligence are very serious about their work. In a blog post this past July, members laid out their vision of the future indoctrination education of all students in the UK schools:

Compulsory introduction of information concerning trans identities and issues into PSHE would give trans* young people the language to talk about and understand their gender identity, as well as reducing the amount of transphobia stemming from ignorance. It is also important to include trans people and the discussion of the issues they face in other areas of the curriculum, for example studying the work of trans writers and artists, or influence figures such as the actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, this provides role models for all students.

poster

What’s next? Uniformed Thought Police patrolling and monitoring classrooms?

Strict policies should be in place for challenging transphobia, as there are with other types of prejudice and discrimination, this includes deliberate misgendering. Once students have been educated on what transphobic actions are and why they are harmful, as well as the appropriate way to discuss trans issues, a zero tolerance policy should be adopted. If both students and staff are encouraged to consistently challenge transphobic actions, it will soon become clear that transphobia is not tolerated, creating a safer environment for trans young people.

In addition to providing posters for schools (only one pound!) like the one pictured above, with helpful pink-in-dress, blue-in-pants stereotyped stick figures, the folks at Gendered Intelligence are busy with many other projects. They run the “whatmakesyourgender” blog with a number of important initiatives, such as helping kids realize they are just fine as they are might very well need packers, pills, padding, or makeup to express their gender identity.

objects

We each use many objects in order to manipulate our bodies and express our gender identity. Gender can be thought of  in terms of  ‘boy’ and ‘girl’, but also in terms of ‘boyishness’ and ‘girlishness’. Sometimes we call this ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’.

Not only do they educate the ignorant on the science of “gender” and what it means to be “boyish” or “girlish.” They are also involved in the arts, some of it generously funded by the grant-making arm of pharmaceutical giant Burroughs-Wellcome (see Excel spreadsheet, with 30K British pounds to “Drawing Gender, Drawing Sex, Drawing Bodies” earmarked for Jay Stewart.) Odd. Why would a pharmaceutical company have an interest in funding a drawing project run by trans activists? No conflict of interest there.

And there’s much, much more than a slick website, school programs, youth (ages 11-25) support groups, and summer camps. The Wellcome [as in, you know, the pharmaceutical company–Burroughs-Wellcome] Collection features a comic exhibit by the Transvengers, a group of 13-19 year old Gendered Intelligence members. Comics!  A sure way to appeal to today’s anime-obsessed youth. And like most of the Orwellian propaganda helpful information distributed by trans youth organizations, these comics turn common sense on its head. They sound like they are about breaking the gender mold, but then….if you’re not into gender roles and stereotypes, how come you need to “transition” to the other sex?

trans avengers

Seems there is no end to the money available to fund activities the staff of 12 has been working on all these years. And the busiest one of all must be director and Gendered Intelligence co-founder Dr. Jay Stewart, who, besides being the star of the preschool video presentations that help children question themselves and reject their own bodies discover their true gender identity,

carries out and oversees the main activities that take place across the organisation. Recently Jay has led on the projects: ‘What makes your gender? Hacking into the Science Museum’ – a £10,000 project funded by Heritage Lottery Fund with the Science Museum, London – and ‘GI’s Anatomy: a life drawing project for trans and intersex people’ – a £30,000 project funded by the Welcome Trust carried out in collaboration with Central School of Speech & Drama, London Drawing and the Gender Identity Development Service, Tavistock Clinic, NHS Trust. Jay also delivers much of the youth group sessions and is a mentor.

A mentor. That sounds benign. Kind of like Big Brothers/Big Sisters? Except we are talking about a “mentor” who was born female but now has a beard and the other accouterments of medical transition. If you’re a little girl “assigned female at birth” and you really don’t like those itchy girl clothes and feel like the boys are having all the fun, Jay tells you “that you can be anything you want regardless of the gender you were given at birth.“ How exciting is that?

The UK organization Schools Improvement is asking for feedback on the role of Gendered Intelligence in the UK schools. (See bottom of linked page.) Have an opinion? Let them know, especially if you’re a UK resident.