CBBC - just a girl

ripples many accounts of trans children involve gender non-conforming behaviour and that is part of homophobia. Many accounts of children who say they are trans have parents who are more comfortable with a trans heterosexual child than a homosexual child.

Good question ageingrunner

Ripples. You sound like the kind of trans I've been sharing a loo with for years. And, up until recently, have had zero problem with.

Thanks for posting on here. It's appreciated.

ripples, do you think you would still identify as trans if men and women were more able to dress and behave however they wished? Or is there more to it than that?

Datun

I think that is a fair and valid point

For what it's worth, the programme is very naive, and given its subject matter, I can understand why so many would be offended by it. It paints a stereotype of gender that I do feel is, rightly so, quite offensive.

I do feel that the trans community have taken this stereotype on board and run with it - this stereotype being - boys play with cars, girls play with dolls. That's one reason why I distance myself from the trans community, because it equates gender identity with biological sex, and for me the two are not automatically related. Women, or men, should not be identified through societal constructs, but rather through anatomy. In this respect, I can present as a woman all day long, but that is it - present. That doesn't make me a woman. It makes me a pretence.

The irony is that I'm not even pretending to be a woman. I'm presenting as a woman, while having no misconceptions that I am actually a man. Whenever anyone refers to me using a female pronoun, I am very quick to correct them!

ripples101

I think being gay is more widely accepted than being trans because there is only one reason to be gay, but motivation for being trans seems to have a myriad of reasons.

Ripples thank you for posting, not least for reminding us that even thought the transactivists seem to be shouting the loudest right now, certainly doesn't mean all trans people subscribe to their views.

I think there is a valid concern about young children who feel "different" to others watching that show and coming to the conclusion their difference is because they are trans, when actually they could be gay, or autistic, or any of a number of "different".
Internalised homophobia exists and for children so young that sexual attraction is something nebulous and far off, I don't think it's reasonable to expect them to know why they feel different.
When it's all couched in terms of stereotype and "she knew she was a girl because she liked dolls" that makes it worse.

It's not a television drama, it's a multimedia story told via the website - not sure what you call that.

Certainly it doesn't sound as though they questioned whether the person who was commissioned to do the work knew what they were talking about.

It is absolutely a stretch in my opinion.

In my own experience, living in the U.K., I found it so much easier to come out as gay than I did as trans ( I come out as gay before coming out as trans). I was much more accepted as being gay by more people than I was for being trans.

Acceptance of Trans people is way behind acceptance of gay people in this country, arguably throughout western cultures, in my opinion.

I realise that my experience is annecdotal however.

I haven't seen the programme ripples, so can't comment on it. I was under the impression that it was a drama anyway so probably unlikely that the BBC would choose to depict the characters as being homophobic. In real life it might be quite different though.

It's not clear that they are homophobic, but they certainly seem to have very set ideas about appropriate behaviour for boys and girls. The concept of sexuality being about the gender identity of the relative parties, not their biological sex is certainly put forward.

More than anything else, it sounds as though nobody thought through the various messages proposed by the storyline.

There's massive homophobia in pressuring lesbians to have sex with male bodied people.

It seems obvious to me that Jazz Jennings is actually a gay boy, but his conservative parents would rather have a trans daughter than a gay son

Ageingrunner

In my experience there has been without doubt homophobia in the trans community.

There has also been transphobia within the gay community.

I don't regard the parents of the child in the cbbc programme to belong to either the trans or gay community however. What I am asking - in my first post in this thread is whether this child's parents are being homophobic in seemingly accepting their child's trans identity.

So not a massive stretch to imagine that some people's transition might be motivated at least partly by homophobia, either of them or their family

I think there is homophobia amongst some of the trans community. A video by fox fisher (transman) where he was saying that LGBT should drop the T because it gives the impression that T is associated with deviance, was surprising to say the least. There was also a tweet by mermaids which was very homophobic. I'm sure someone will be able to link to it. So there definitely is homophobia amongst some trans people and those associated with them.

*wrote

Write my reply before seeing your cross post comment.

Empress

In the UK, homosexuality isn't a crime. Are gay men pressured to transition here?

I am still struggling to see the relevance of beyond' "one word: Iran" comment in regards to a thread that is about a cbbc programme.

Cross post, sorry.

Mostly

Yes I have. I posted on her a while back and other posters directed me to them, which I am very thankful for

In Iran, homosexuality is a crime and gay men are pressured to transition, which is seen as more socially acceptable.