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Six year old trans girl ‘tries to cut off her penis’ after Guide ban

984 replies

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:14

Quite a disturbing article in this morning’s Observer regarding the impact of the Guides’ ban on trans girls following the Supreme Court ruling.

It reports on the experience of one six year old trans girl named Emily after hearing she could no longer attend Rainbows:

Emily’s parents decided to be honest with their daughter about the situation, and explained that she was no longer able to take part in Rainbows because she was trans. A few hours later Curt said they found her “sobbing in her room” and were “shocked” to find her holding a pair of plastic scissors to her penis.

AIBU to find this a distressing consequence of campaign by anti-trans activists or is it a natural result of allowing such young children to change their gender identity?

Girlguiding facing mass exodus after setting deadline for...

Girlguiding facing mass exodus after setting deadline for...

The organisation is battling a backlash over new rules that will exclude trans girls from the organisation

https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/girlguiding-facing-mass-exodus-after-setting-deadline-for-trans-girls-to-quit

OP posts:
Thread gallery
17
Clefable · 29/03/2026 11:55

Anyone who doesn’t understand the value of single-sex spaces for young girls has never experienced the drastic change in dynamic across all age groups, from Rainbows to Rangers, between single-sex female groups and mixed sex groups. Girls as young as 8/9 are talking about boys, the male gaze, body image; girls as young as 4/5 are coming to the group with ideas of what girls can’t do. It completely changes the whole environment of the space if you include boys. Not necessarily a bad thing, but there is absolutely a place for single sex groups for girls.

Lomonald · 29/03/2026 11:55

I see it was Rainbows and not Brownies point still stands WTAF !

Butchyrestingface · 29/03/2026 11:55

Thread title should be:

Six year old boy ‘tries to cut off his penis’ after Guide ban

Poor wee soul. Failed by his parents.

Tiddlywinks63 · 29/03/2026 11:54

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:36

The girl clearly wants to identify as female, and I think it’s only right that we respect her wishes in how we refer to her.

BS

askmenow · 29/03/2026 11:54

GCAcademic · 29/03/2026 11:33

Yep, same as any other child whose parents exhibit Munchausens by Proxy. Six years old FFS.

Exactly this ☝️ those parents are sick, egotistical attention seekers and the poor child should be removed.

TheKhakiQuail · 29/03/2026 11:54

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:33

The article is clear that this girl’s friends are all now boycotting Rainbows due to how she has been treated.

Well, that is good, they could all join Scouts together. Problem solved.

Hallamule · 29/03/2026 11:54

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:51

Should we move towards a situation like the Greens and Zack Polanski are advocating where trans women are legally recognised as women, and have access to all ‘female’ spaces?

Alternatively, all spaces could simply be made mixed gender.

This would blunt the impact of transphobia.

Lol, what would it do for women's rights to safety, dignity and privacy?

AyeDeadOn · 29/03/2026 11:54

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:27

Zoe Williams has argued that a sensible solution to all of this would be to make the Brownies mixed gender like the Scouts.

Wouldn't this be more sensible than making six year old girls so distressed that they attempt to cut off their penis?

For heaven's sake. Its not the job of 6 year old girls to put up with losing the single sex spaces they benefit from to help out boys who's parents have completely fucked them up psychologically. Where does it end? What if it was a 15 year old boy taking plastic scissors to his penis (sure, funny how they're always just caught in the nick of time!) because he wasn't being let box 15 year old girls?

DarmokAndJaladAtTenagra · 29/03/2026 11:54

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:51

Should we move towards a situation like the Greens and Zack Polanski are advocating where trans women are legally recognised as women, and have access to all ‘female’ spaces?

Alternatively, all spaces could simply be made mixed gender.

This would blunt the impact of transphobia.

Why do you hate women?

Boiledbeetle · 29/03/2026 11:54

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:36

The girl clearly wants to identify as female, and I think it’s only right that we respect her wishes in how we refer to her.

The boy is 6.

6

He is being lied to by the adults in his life.

His parents are responsible for this. They should have been truthful with him from the very start.

He is a boy, that will never change.

Starbri8 · 29/03/2026 11:54

VeterinaryCareAssistant · 29/03/2026 11:18

Why is a 6 year old even aware of these things?

Maybe he would decide to transition as an adult.
Maybe he's gay.
Maybe he's just a strange child.

But he shouldn't be aware of this stuff at age 6.

While you can't change biology ...I think calling him
"a strange child " is unnecessary and cruel. Body dysmorphia is real and I believe in rare cases there is a disconnect between the sex of the body and the sex of the brain, in intersex people the physical presentation can be at odds with the sex the person identifies with. Dismissing the feelings of the child and saying you are a boy is too simplistic.
He very well may change as he gets older., be a feminine man, gay or it may be a phase. It also may not be ... But right now he's a scared frightened child who's head is telling him one thing and his body is showing another.

ThatCyanCat · 29/03/2026 11:54

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:51

Should we move towards a situation like the Greens and Zack Polanski are advocating where trans women are legally recognised as women, and have access to all ‘female’ spaces?

Alternatively, all spaces could simply be made mixed gender.

This would blunt the impact of transphobia.

The Greens are as extreme and insane as Reform these days, fuck them 50 ways to Friday.

And no, men and women should both be allowed to form single sex spaces for reasons nobody struggled with until five minutes ago. Sex exists, sometimes that matters and sometimes you don't get everything you want. Nobody had a problem telling women and girls that and they still don't while they try to dismantle their rights!

Thelnebriati · 29/03/2026 11:54

Should we move towards a situation like the Greens and Zack Polanski are advocating where trans women are legally recognised as women, and have access to all ‘female’ spaces?

No. Thats not transphobia.

Smoosha · 29/03/2026 11:53

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:27

Zoe Williams has argued that a sensible solution to all of this would be to make the Brownies mixed gender like the Scouts.

Wouldn't this be more sensible than making six year old girls so distressed that they attempt to cut off their penis?

But there already is a mixed sex organisation like that. So why didn’t the parents sign him up to brownies to start with? The reason the parents signed him up for brownies was because they wanted a girls only organisation for validation.

titchy · 29/03/2026 11:53

AliceNotInChains · 29/03/2026 11:50

Girls should be banned from scouts. When I was a kid boys went to scouts and girls went to guides.

I’d prefer that too tbh. Though I recognise the reasons why they went mixed sex and it did probably save the organisation.

itgetsthehoseagain · 29/03/2026 11:53

Springiscoming368 · 29/03/2026 11:43

I guess I do. I have told them a complete strange man breaks into their house and leaves presents at Christmas.

Everyone lies to children. We don’t always tell them the truth. We will tell them a version of the truth. Every parent varies on how much they lie to their kids. Some parents refuse to do Santa. Some won’t talk about how babies are made and make up something else.

I don’t think this argue stands

My DD grew up believing in Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy etc. She also spent four years believing she was a boy at the height of this social contagion, presenting as a boy, and on the GIDs waiting list.

Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy didn't cause lasting damage. She'll never get those four years back to be able to repair the social isolation that came with the school bending over backwards to cater for her social transitioning.

youbizarrehorse · 29/03/2026 11:52

A 6 year old boy waved a pair of plastic scissors in the direction of his penis because he wasn’t allowed to attend an all girls group. That is more accurate than the wording in the article.

The child has been made to feel rejected because of the warped views of his parents who have made him aware at a young age that his penis is the problem. Poor kid. Imagine having parents who make you feel ‘other’ rather than accepting that your preference for glittery stuff and dolls (or similar) is completely fine and isn’t because you were born in the wrong body. Those parents should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

Hallamule · 29/03/2026 11:52

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:27

Zoe Williams has argued that a sensible solution to all of this would be to make the Brownies mixed gender like the Scouts.

Wouldn't this be more sensible than making six year old girls so distressed that they attempt to cut off their penis?

Why? As a mixed sex group for this type of activity already exists, why is another necessary? Why did this little boy's parents not enrol him in a mixed sex group in the first place?

Why is it not ok to have a girls only group?

spannasaurus · 29/03/2026 11:52

I notice that whenever people mention the poor trans girls being banned from Guides they talk about 6 year old boys being sad hoping that you won't think about the 16 year old boys who may be sharing tents and changing facilities with girls

arethereanyleftatall · 29/03/2026 11:52

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:27

Zoe Williams has argued that a sensible solution to all of this would be to make the Brownies mixed gender like the Scouts.

Wouldn't this be more sensible than making six year old girls so distressed that they attempt to cut off their penis?

This response is so so silly, I actually can’t believe anyone can be dim enough not to see the problem. And I genuinely mean that.

the problem is the root. The problem is ever telling this boy, or pretending to this boy, that he can be a girl. OF COURSE he can’t be. He isn’t.

yes, there are many child victims in this. And all caused by the complete imbeciles who pretended trans is a thing. You have caused much damage.

no, terfs are not to blame. Terfs are right, terfs are the real kind ones.

ThatCyanCat · 29/03/2026 11:51

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:27

Zoe Williams has argued that a sensible solution to all of this would be to make the Brownies mixed gender like the Scouts.

Wouldn't this be more sensible than making six year old girls so distressed that they attempt to cut off their penis?

Then it would be just like the Scouts, so why not join the Scouts? Besides, it's not a straightforward solution to change the entire charter of a charity. Plus, these people wouldn't accept an openly unisex organisation because the whole point is to use female spaces for validation.

Oh, and as a Scout I once inquired into a connected sailing organisation but was told it was only for boys. Does anyone give a shit?

And would girls who require a single sex environment be allowed to create another one or will that be forbidden too?

The problem isn't the existence of a girls' organisation, it's this hideous ideology and the parents who pushed it.

Clefable · 29/03/2026 11:51

Also in mild hysterics that ‘girl cutting off her penis’ is even a legitimate sentence at this point. There’s a clue in there somewhere.

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:51

Should we move towards a situation like the Greens and Zack Polanski are advocating where trans women are legally recognised as women, and have access to all ‘female’ spaces?

Alternatively, all spaces could simply be made mixed gender.

This would blunt the impact of transphobia.

OP posts:
Msmfailedusbad · 29/03/2026 11:51

I don’t believe this story or trust the guardian / observer (whatever). I won’t click links because ideologues on here can have some of that back when they moan about links to media they don’t like. It will be either completely exaggerated or a total non story. Like a lot of bilge they spout.

Lavender14 · 29/03/2026 11:51

JonesTown · 29/03/2026 11:27

Zoe Williams has argued that a sensible solution to all of this would be to make the Brownies mixed gender like the Scouts.

Wouldn't this be more sensible than making six year old girls so distressed that they attempt to cut off their penis?

I think the problem then is you're into the area of eroding female only spaces which we know are important.

Personally I have a lot of empathy for any children affected and think the entire situation has been handled really badly by girlguiding UK and I feel sorry for the leaders left to navigate such a hot mess with a lack of clear leadership and backing.

However I also think in this instance the parents made an inappropriate choice to put issues into a 6yo that were more than the child had the capacity to handle. There's lots of things that happen that are unfair in life and I see it as my job to shield my child from that as much as possible until he's at the right age to understand certain things. The parents in this case didn't do that and I think that was a really poor choice on their part, it's no surprise that the child had a huge reaction and was extremely distressed as a result. But that could absolutely have been avoided by a different conversation from the parents. It doesn't sit well at all even outside of the trans aspect of the situation.