A Guide for Understanding Transgender Children…
Must read article by Julia Serano over at Mention on Detransition, Desistance, and Disinformation: A Guide for Understanding Transgender Children Debates
Some important points from the article:
Not all transgender people are transsexual (in the old sense of the word). In spite of this writers tend to interpret transgender to mean those who transition.
“Cis” and “trans” are not immutable and mutually exclusive categories. People move from one category to the other.
Not all transgender people need to transition, but some do. There is no test that can determine what a transgender person should do in this respect.
Less than 4 percent of those who transition later detransition, and they do so for a wide variety of reasons. They are not proof of transitioning being a bad choice.
Transphobia isn’t merely the “fear” or “hatred” of transgender people, Serano says:
“..it is best thought of as a double standard that is pervasive in our society, and which presumes that cisgender (that is, non-transgender) bodies, identities, and experiences are valid and the unspoken norm, whereas their transgender counterparts are deemed illegitimate, inauthentic, defective, and suspect in comparison.”
Cis kids are not forced to transition; nor are transgender children:
Contemporary trans health providers are increasingly adopting a “gender-affirming” model for transgender and gender non-conforming children. Rather than being shamed by their families and coerced into gender conformity, these children are given the space to explore their genders. If they consistently, persistently, and insistently identify as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth, then their identity is respected, and they are given the opportunity to live as a member of that gender.
If you are concerned about the welfare of a cis girl being lured into transitioning, you should be equally concerned about a trans girl being forced to live as a boy:
…consider a cisgender girl who has always been happy with her assigned gender. Then suddenly, at the age of nine or ten (as she is entering puberty), her body shows signs of masculinization, and doctors confirm that this is due to her body producing testosterone (for the record, this is not a hypothetical situation for some intersex children).
If this child was horrified about these potential unwanted changes, and asked for hormonal intervention (which the doctor confirmed would be safe and effective), would you respect her decision and allow her to proceed with it?
Or would you dismiss her wishes on account of her lack of maturity, and insist that she just deal with the testosterone until she is eighteen and capable of making an adult decision?
As with the last example, if this scenario concerns you, but the idea of transgender children being forced to experience unwanted puberties does not, then you clearly value cis bodies and lives over trans ones.
Photo of transgender kid Zay Crawford. Read her story here.