11–20 of 22 posts
There have been numerous documented cases of transition regret. I wonder what the impact will be when that number is multiplied 10x or 100x.
When a quarter of the class is left-handed.
That would also be an outlier, about 10% of people are left handed
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article states: > My daughter’s trans identity started when the school taught a module on ‘identity’ during which they told a group of 11-year-olds that, if you feel uncomfortable in your body, it means you are transgender. Not that the daughter came away from school misunderstanding the lesson. Sex ed shouldn't start after puberty has started.
> The article states: [...] Not that the daughter came away from school misunderstanding the lesson. How is a parent supposed to know exactly what was taught in a particular lesson other than by hearing about it second-hand through their child? From the parent's point of view, it may appear like that is exactly what was taught even if it wasn't. It would be best for them to verify with the school before writing about…
> I never said it should.
The daughter "had just had her first period two months prior to this class." She's definitely hit puberty.
If this was her first sex ed class, and it was about being transgender, then it something is seriously wrong in the pedagogy.
Why didn't sex ed start earlier?
Why didn't the parent teach the daughter about puberty already?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The article states: [...] Not that the daughter came away from school misunderstanding the lesson. How is a parent supposed to know exactly what was taught in a particular lesson other than by hearing about it second-hand through their child? From the parent's point of view, it may appear like that is exactly what was taught even if it wasn't. It would be best for them to verify with the school before writing about…
It sounds like you are agreeing with me that the school did NOT teach that "if you feel uncomfortable in your body, it means you are transgender." > I never said it should. The daughter "had just had her first period two months prior to this class." She's definitely hit puberty. If this was her first sex ed class, and it was about being transgender, then it something is seriously wrong in the pedagogy. Why didn't sex…
Meanwhile, my daughter has had her period more than a year, as have most or all of her friends. She has multiple friends in her class who express either transgender or gender fluid identities. In fifth and sixth grade, boys and girls were already hugging in the hallways, "dating," and talking about things at a level that would shock most people. Seriously, even her siblings, ten years older, are shocked at how young some of this stuff is talked about, or the details of what is shared. This isn't just "old fogey" expressing shock, my 21-year-old is shocked.
The reason for the delayed instruction is simple: it's the result of a long legal battle that has seen conservative parents in my state trying to eliminate it entirely, and settling (for now) with gender-segregated opt-out instruction several years too late to do much good.
Fortunately, my daughter received good instructions from her parents beginning when she was eight, and professes to understand that whatever sexuality or gender identity one express when she is 12 may or may not be a sexuality or gender expression that they stick with as an adult.
My thought is that if a child sees all this, and that they'd be subject to it, why wouldn't that child avoid those extra expectations, burdens, duties, harassment and discrimination by saying "I'm not a girl"?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The article states: [...] Not that the daughter came away from school misunderstanding the lesson. How is a parent supposed to know exactly what was taught in a particular lesson other than by hearing about it second-hand through their child? From the parent's point of view, it may appear like that is exactly what was taught even if it wasn't. It would be best for them to verify with the school before writing about…
It sounds like you are agreeing with me that the school did NOT teach that "if you feel uncomfortable in your body, it means you are transgender." > I never said it should. The daughter "had just had her first period two months prior to this class." She's definitely hit puberty. If this was her first sex ed class, and it was about being transgender, then it something is seriously wrong in the pedagogy. Why didn't sex…
I'm saying we simply don't know. It's not hard for me to believe that someone somewhere taught that. It's also not hard for me to believe that a child took away that as the message, even though it isn't what was intended by the teacher, and that the parent took their child's description of the lesson at face value. It's also not hard for me to believe that the parent made that part up.
All of those are reasonably possible scenarios, but I see no reason to just assume the worst from the parent.
> If this was her first sex ed class, and it was about being transgender, then it something is seriously wrong in the pedagogy.
I agree, but we have no reason to necessarily believe that was the case. As a boy, I didn't pay much attention to sex ed until it actually became relevant to me. At the time, transgenderism was still considered a disorder so it wasn't something I was even prompted to consider. It's impossible to say how I or my peers would have responded if that weren't the case.
Assuming that was the case and the child had no exposure to sex ed whatsoever prior to the talk on transgenderism, I can still sympathize with the parent's position. They made a mistake and circumstances have made that mistake difficult to correct. And now they feel like they're in a tug-of-war with the school over the fate of their child.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It sounds like you are agreeing with me that the school did NOT teach that "if you feel uncomfortable in your body, it means you are transgender." > I never said it should. The daughter "had just had her first period two months prior to this class." She's definitely hit puberty. If this was her first sex ed class, and it was about being transgender, then it something is seriously wrong in the pedagogy. Why didn't sex…
Hi! Parent of a 12-year-old here. This summer I received an email about the intention of my local public school district to teach a unit on sex education in the fall, in SEVENTH GRADE. Meanwhile, my daughter has had her period more than a year, as have most or all of her friends. She has multiple friends in her class who express either transgender or gender fluid identities. In fifth and sixth grade, boys and girls w…
What school has a pro-LGBTQ stance and teaches a unit on identity, including trans-identity which asserts ' if you feel uncomfortable in your body, it means you are transgender', before teaching a sex ed course?
Has your daughter's school taught about trans-identity yet? If yes, how have the conservative parents in your state permitted it?
If not - which I think is the more likely case - where did her multiple trans and gender-fluid friends learn about the concept?
It seems to me those same external, non-school sources could also have informed the 28 students in the linked-to essay, no matter what the school taught.
Which would undermine the theory proposed in the essay.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It sounds like you are agreeing with me that the school did NOT teach that "if you feel uncomfortable in your body, it means you are transgender." > I never said it should. The daughter "had just had her first period two months prior to this class." She's definitely hit puberty. If this was her first sex ed class, and it was about being transgender, then it something is seriously wrong in the pedagogy. Why didn't sex…
> It sounds like you are agreeing with me that the school did NOT teach that "if you feel uncomfortable in your body, it means you are transgender." I'm saying we simply don't know. It's not hard for me to believe that someone somewhere taught that. It's also not hard for me to believe that a child took away that as the message, even though it isn't what was intended by the teacher, and that the parent took their chi…
> I didn't pay much attention to sex ed until it actually became relevant to me
It was several weeks after the daughter's first period. Probably pretty relevant. And the signs of puberty start showing up before then.
But note that this wasn't a sex ed class, it was "a module on ‘identity’". Even if we limit ourselves to sexual identity, that topic includes heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, transexual, and asexual.
Even P.E./gym should have covered something on how exercise and phyiscal fitness can affect how comfortable you feel in in your body.
> and the child had no exposure to sex ed whatsoever prior to the talk on transgenderism
For the author's theory to be true means at least 6 other parents also did not talk to their children about sex ed -- and that's assuming every single one of those children concluded they were trans, which seems far outside the odds.
If I assume the best, then this sounds like such an outlier that there's no take-home lesson to learn.
>A quarter of the girls in my daughter’s class identify as transgender. Seven out of 28. Is this an all-girls' school?