woman loses residency of son she was raising as daughter

Very balanced, I thought.

Here is an article by Helen Lewis in the New Statesman. She seems to be quoting this thread.

www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2016/10/would-you-let-your-child-change-their-gender

To which I replied "am I now the motherland?" My work here is done heh

I'm so glad that I have mumsnet, my daughter aged 13 is convinced she is now trans. Mainly because of an Internet friend she made, to me it's fairly obvious that she is a gay female, but discussions ensue. At least we can laugh about the special snowflakes on tumblr.

She is very clever and we have had many a discussion about gender critical feminism and self identification.she has come round a bit; she used to identify as a country

If my child told me that they thought they were trans, I think I'd try and move to an island with no internet.
It'd be interesting to find out if desistance rates are the same for children who've been involved with mermaids and those who haven't.

It seems they are just supporting early transing of children, regardless of the support that the child or parent actually needs.

I think it must be very hard, as a support group for something affecting children, to keep in your mind, are you supporting the children, or their parents? A lot of the time the outcome will be the same, but it is a different thing.

That's a very interesting article.
Mermaids are a scary organisation.

Epic C&P disaster, sorry!

That's a fantastic article, thanks ItsAll

I am reposting it on the General thread too

I am really spooked by Mermaids keeping lists of feminists and banning them from contributing at conferences etc.

This was posted on the other thread by ItsAll but I think it's worth reposting here.

www.feministcurrent.com/2016/10/26/lobby-groups-like-mermaids-dictate-policy-discourse-around-gender-identity-kids-lose/

"In short, the government is taking its cues from a lobby group that apparently keep lists of gender critical women, striking them from participating in an ostensibly public forum."

This is terrifying!

Very interesting article. Thanks, ItsAll.

Interesting article about Mermaids....
www.feministcurrent.com/2016/10/26/lobby-groups-like-mermaids-dictate-policy-discourse-around-gender-identity-kids-lose/

I know!

Blimey.

Just seen mermaids have been named 'community group of the year' in the Pink News awards

MrsJamin, exactly right. Exactly what was happening when I was a member.

If Mermaids are setting themselves up as experts (which they are not) and simultaneously positioning themselves as fighting against social workers, the NHS and the bloody Tavistock who are actually qualified then that is incredibly irresponsible.

tubasinthemoonlight that makes for tough reading. It seems that when people join Mermaids this is what they hear:

• Get social and medical transition as soon as possible
• Don't listen to social services
• Don't listen to your GP
• Don't listen to your school
• Don't listen to Tavistock Gender clinic
• Don't question what your child says
• Any deviation from the above may lead to your child committing suicide.

Thanks for replying, tubas. I'm glad your DC is happy with where they are now.

I think it could be worth taking it further, I know a few people are beginning to see a Kids Company scenario happening with Mermaids.

I didn't answer your last question RiverTam, about possible homophobia. I never got any vibe of that whilst I was a Mermaids member. But I left over two years ago. It may be diffeeent now.

RiverTam, my child is no longer a teen. No longer attending any Gender Clinics. But very happily transitioned both socially, medically and surgically. No regrets about any of it and I do have happy memories of our early days with Mermaids and meeting lots of lovely families, many of whom I am still in contact with. But I am strong. I know that some of the parent members of the committee who left are still upset about what happened. One of them has echoed my own thoughts in considering taking what happened to the Charity Commission. It would be our word against that of the Mermaids Committee though. Some of them are unpleasant enough that I don't really feel I could deal with it alone.

Thanks, prawn, I've realised I know very little about this. It seemed perfectly reasonable to me that the transwoman I know had the minimal surgery needed to get rid of the testosterone. I assume that without testicles, the penis can't function sexually? I know that she said that nothing can really go wrong with removal of the testes, but that removal of the penis can have unwanted results. She didn't spell it out, but I thought she was worried about incontinence?

Puremince, I'm travelling and on my phone. The reference I use comes from an article in the New York Times, I think. The figures were produced by a trans spokesperson. I'll be able to provide the link this evening, or early tomorrow. The percentage refers to SRS. I don't think there was any separate figure given for removal of testicles. I understand that transwomen who are sexually attracted to women, and may identify as lesbians, typically retain a complete set of functional male genitals. Why they might do so is a complete mystery.

tubas thank you for sharing your experiences, I hope you and your DC are getting on alright. In the light of this recent case would you consider raising all of this as a concern as to Mwrmaids activities/agenda under Green? Because it seems shocking that they are so often cited as a go-to organisation for parents of children with possibly gender/body dysphoria, and go into schools giving talks, and that the NHS link to.

Out of interest (please don't feel you have to answer this!), did you/do you get the impression that Green's agenda is homophobic? Because I'm getting some real vibes about that.

Enid, I just read the article you linked to. Susie Green's "‘as a toddler, Jackie always headed for the dolls in toy shops" justification means that Mermaids protestations of the judge in the current case wears very thin.