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Browsing at a newsstand recently, I couldn't help noticing the cover story of the July/August issue of The Atlantic. "Your child says she's trans. She wants hormones and surgery. She's 13." To make a long story short, I ended up buying the magazine. And reading the article in its entirety - 16 pages of text, double columns, so quite long as magazine articles go. I found it fair and balanced, thorough and thought-provoking. But don't take my word for it - read it for yourself, if you are so inclined:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/when-a-child-says-shes-trans/561749/
I was floored by some of the vitriolic responses I saw, even on sites where I normally find the commentators' arguments well-reasoned and quite often am in agreement with them too - here are a few examples:
https://jezebel.com/whats-jesse-singals-fucking-deal-1826930495
https://boingboing.net/2018/06/19/the-atlantic-again-concern-tro.html
https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/06/desistance-and-detransitioning-stories-value-cis-anxiety-over-trans-lives.html
You'll notice that Singal does say that a majority of people who transition during their adult years are happy with their decisions; he also says that many youth are too, and that if the gender dysphoria is very pervasive and originated very early in life, it's highly likely that the transition will be a success and that the transitioned will have no regrets. His main "sins" in the eyes of his critics, it seems to me, are (1) He's a cis-gender male; (2) He publicizes the fact that some children and teens do either regret irreversible or difficult-to-reverse procedures and treatments at a later date, or explore some of the possibilities of transitioning and gender reassignment but ultimately decide that it's not the route they want to go. Is caution really such a terrible thing to advocate, particularly given that these kids are minors and it can be pretty hard to understand what's going on in a kid's head and heart, even if it's your own child?
I don't know what Jesse Singal's family situation is, nor do I recall reading anything else he's written (though that may soon change). I do know, though, as a cisgender person in a family and community with a number of transfolk in it that families too are very much affected by the decisions of the transpeople themselves. Shouldn't we be allowed to weigh in on these questions too?
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/when-a-child-says-shes-trans/561749/
I was floored by some of the vitriolic responses I saw, even on sites where I normally find the commentators' arguments well-reasoned and quite often am in agreement with them too - here are a few examples:
https://jezebel.com/whats-jesse-singals-fucking-deal-1826930495
https://boingboing.net/2018/06/19/the-atlantic-again-concern-tro.html
https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/06/desistance-and-detransitioning-stories-value-cis-anxiety-over-trans-lives.html
You'll notice that Singal does say that a majority of people who transition during their adult years are happy with their decisions; he also says that many youth are too, and that if the gender dysphoria is very pervasive and originated very early in life, it's highly likely that the transition will be a success and that the transitioned will have no regrets. His main "sins" in the eyes of his critics, it seems to me, are (1) He's a cis-gender male; (2) He publicizes the fact that some children and teens do either regret irreversible or difficult-to-reverse procedures and treatments at a later date, or explore some of the possibilities of transitioning and gender reassignment but ultimately decide that it's not the route they want to go. Is caution really such a terrible thing to advocate, particularly given that these kids are minors and it can be pretty hard to understand what's going on in a kid's head and heart, even if it's your own child?
I don't know what Jesse Singal's family situation is, nor do I recall reading anything else he's written (though that may soon change). I do know, though, as a cisgender person in a family and community with a number of transfolk in it that families too are very much affected by the decisions of the transpeople themselves. Shouldn't we be allowed to weigh in on these questions too?
