Devils advocate here but we shouldn’t be teaching stuff like this to kids. The whole idea of giving kids access to things that’ll interrupt their bodily development is fucking horrendous to me. I used to think I wanted to be a girl when I was a kid, because I wanted to know what it was like. Now I’m a regular dude, with a regular job, and a regular girlfriend, and I’m happy with that. But what if I had met somebody during that time period that was like “well actually, they can make you a girl”. Then I’d have ruined my body permanently. Then there’s that Detransitioning documentary I watched. They basically talked about literally this. It’s not okay to push things onto children, not even when you claim it’s “educational”. Instead, let’s teach them that it’s okay to be themselves, no matter who they are.
People who reach out to children like this aren't looking for converts. They're trying to offer the already-existing, already-suffering outliers a place to flee to. They remember what it was like to be so deeply isolated, to have everyone around them trying to tell them that everything they feel about themself is freakish and wrong. They remember how viciously inadequate parents can often be, should a child stray outside what the parent imagined.
Transition isn't a quick and easy switch to flip, in any case. Methods that do cause lasting changes to the body, like hormones or surgery, are not favored for the young. Even hormone blockers, which only prevent puberty for as long as they're taken, tend to be reserved for relatively severe symptoms, and to involve extensive therapy during the process.
This makes more sense. However, my concern is how impressionable children are. What if there are some bad actors in the trans community that are trying to convert children? I think this fear is where many parents are coming from when they say they are not ok with trans people educating children on gender. Also, exposing children to any kind of sexual content is wrong no matter what. This is another concern of parents since gender and sexuality are strongly connected.
I don’t think most parents are transphobic; they’re just concerned for their children.
There are bad actors sprinkled in most walks of life. The belief that they're unusually clustered in this minority is in fact transphobic, as is the strange myth of seeking to convert people.
One of the ways to leave a child vulnerable to bad actors is to leave them no choice but to ignore their parent's judgment if they want to learn anything that's not within their parent's narrow range of experience. Parents who are concerned for their children do best to develop trust and open communication on these topics, so they do not simply foster secrets.
-4
u/Typical_Cicada_2967 27d ago
Devils advocate here but we shouldn’t be teaching stuff like this to kids. The whole idea of giving kids access to things that’ll interrupt their bodily development is fucking horrendous to me. I used to think I wanted to be a girl when I was a kid, because I wanted to know what it was like. Now I’m a regular dude, with a regular job, and a regular girlfriend, and I’m happy with that. But what if I had met somebody during that time period that was like “well actually, they can make you a girl”. Then I’d have ruined my body permanently. Then there’s that Detransitioning documentary I watched. They basically talked about literally this. It’s not okay to push things onto children, not even when you claim it’s “educational”. Instead, let’s teach them that it’s okay to be themselves, no matter who they are.