It’s my turn to “once more” start again by adding another controversial topic to the blog.
I’ve aligned myself with Gender-Critical Feminists like Rowling and many others in the past year by defending sex-based rights. But now I’m sure I will part ways with many of them (although not all of them) because of some of the blogging I expect to do in the next year.
In the last year, I’ve been an advocate for reality. Principally for God’s good creation of real men and women, boys and girls. Those are the only options available to us.
I’ve also advocated that we embrace confused people.
This is a controversial subject for many today (but not as many as the mass media would have you believe). Most people, when made aware of the facts, don’t like the ideology behind Gender Identity and Expression. Especially when it impacts the well-being of their children. And the sanctity of the parent-child relationship.
So why would I consider adding another controversial topic to my plate? Why would I Start Again, Again?
Because of our children. The most vulnerable among us.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our English dead!
Henry V (Act 1)
Well, my favorite rich gal author has jumped into the breach, yet again.
"I can’t easily imagine a clearer case of an unjustified sense of grievance than any affront a male staff member might feel about not being allowed to provide intimate care to a disabled girl.” Thank you @jk_rowling and @Baroness_Nichol for your support.https://t.co/9IN61DZycX
Parents of a severely disabled 16 year old girl want justice for their daughter. But Gender Activists are more concerned about the feelings of biological males who have “become women” than a severely disabled 16 year old girl.
Our severely learning-disabled sixteen year-old daughter, Helen (not her real name), is entirely dependent on others for intimate care. Nearly two years ago, her special school sent round a new intimate care policy, which had been ratified by its governing body:
“A decision has been made to remove cross-gender consent from the personal and intimate care policy, which is in line with legislation and guidance relating to equality and diversity”.
In other words, same-sex intimate care had now become cross-gender intimate care, a change of policy that would allow male members of staff to take Helen to the loo, one-to-one, behind a closed door. As her parents, our reaction was initially disbelief, followed by outrage, and a determination that this policy change should be reversed. Life as parents of a severely learning-disabled, autistic and non-verbal daughter certainly has its worries, and some of these are the focus of this blog. But there is a danger, in writing at length about our worries and fears for Helen’s present and future, that we leave readers thinking our experience is one of unending woe, for which we are seeking sympathy.
Their threatened rights include:
The right to have women-only care staff dealing with intimate care, helping use the loo and manage menstruation.
The right to go to a women’s clothes shop, changing room, or bra-fitting service, and for there to be only women present.
The right not to be seen naked by or see naked men in swimming pool changing rooms (Helen loves swimming).
Obviously, nobody could imagine that male staff would be thought routinely eligible for roles providing intimate care to severely learning-disabled girls, right? Wrong.
They are not seeking sympathy. They seek justice for their young daughter.
This heartbreaking story is worth your time. Support Sex-Based Rights! Biology is not bigotry. Our severely learning-disabled sisters need us!
Erica E. Anderson, Ph.D. is the former president of the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health, former board member of WPATH and is writing a book on the evolution of the science, practice and culture dealing with transgender healthcare; she is based in Berkeley.
Erica is also a Trans-woman.
Although I would not as a Christian affirm the idea that you can be born in the wrong body, I acknowledge that some adults like Anderson may choose Transition as an option to alleviate their discomfort with the body God gave them (and their earthly father as well) 1It is the male sperm that determines whether a child is born with XX or XY chromosomes.
I would hope they would not ask me to pay for that option which includes expensive surgeries and cross-hormone therapy for the rest of their life.
Anderson, a former president of the top transgender health organization in the U.S. is highly critical of today’s trans-lobby. Anderson has written an important opinion piece in the San Francisco Examiner.
[Standard link disclaimer2Links from this blog to online resources don’t necessarily mean I support everything found there. But as adults we should embrace viewpoint diversity. And make alliances where we can.]
Some grab graphs
As a trans woman and therapist to trans and gender creative people, I’ve worked hard to advance acceptance of trans identities, including those of trans youth. But increasingly I’m worried that in our zeal to identify and protect these special children and adolescents, we may have strayed from some core principles and we are in danger of losing our way.
In this extraordinary time during a global pandemic, we have all been subject to extra stress to stay vigilant and avoid COVID and all its variants. Young people have pivoted to remote learning and stayed at home for in many cases more than an entire academic year, depriving them of ordinary social experiences. As a result, most adolescents have also depended upon social media and the internet to an extent never before seen.
We are learning some worrisome things about this massive, unplanned social experiment. Even the tech giants have conceded in their own research that there is a new kind of addiction/attraction to certain content and a kind of contagion among select groups, especially adolescent girls. Increased rates of depression and suicide, declines in dating and sexual activity, more reported loneliness and feelings of being left out, lower rates of involvement in extracurricular activities and surprisingly less sleep all characterize the current generation of adolescents. These trends seem to be accelerating in the era of the smartphone.
There is little question that reliance on screens and devices has isolated adolescents who may be most vulnerable and susceptible to peer and other influences, intensifying their usage of and reliance on whatever messages and images they see. I am concerned that our computer-mediated, always online environment is creating isolated echo chambers that can work on adolescents in an insidious way. And I believe that it’s been worse during COVID.
On the one hand, I’m glad our society has evolved toward greater acceptance of all LGBTQ identities. On the other hand, some of the messaging has landed on vulnerable youth searching not just for keys to their own identity but solutions to other psychological and emotional problems, including serious psychiatric problems.
