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Lucy Spraggan 'When I was a boy'

132 replies

NancyDrawed · 10/07/2023 08:57

A post promoting Lucy Spraggan's book appeared in my Facebook feed and I found it really interesting that she chose to post the following:

There’s a chapter in my book called ‘When I Was a Little Boy’ which talks about, well, when I was a little boy.
I was born biologically female but from a young age I chose to be called Max and lived - completely authentically - as a boy.
I talk about in all the ways that my family nurtured my identity and in all the ways that freedom to be myself, freedom to be Max, helped me to grow.
It was only recently that I discovered how much Max is still a part of me and I talk about that too.
Anyway, I wanted you to meet Max. So here’s some pics of me then

I wonder whether she will go all out and say she is glad, as a happy adult lesbian, that her family let her just work it all out for herself.

One of the comments:

'I love this. However, in todays society, Lucy’s parents would have been encouraged to give her hormones and other drugs to change her body from female to male which DOES have irreparable side effects. I agree with allowing children to be who they feel comfortable being, I don’t agree with giving them drugs and medication to make a life changing decision that they just aren’t equipped to make at such a young age. I too was “all boy” when I was younger but thank god I wasn’t given the opportunity to change my gender, I love being a woman and back then I had no concept of what being a man OR woman meant in the world. I just wanted to play football, and only boys were allowed to do that. Hence why I cut my hair short and tried to pass myself off as a boy for years as a kid. I had no concept though of what I was doing. Nature took its course and thank god it did, I love being a woman and I love all my womanly parts. Children need to be supported in whatever they want to do, but making life changing decisions is something they should decide as an adult.'

Lucy Spraggan 'When I was a boy'
OP posts:
TheTERFnextDoor · 17/07/2023 11:33

FiloPasty · 17/07/2023 08:48

I was just reading the guardian story about her awful sexual assault and she has donated her fee to mermaids

I'm as gender critical as they come, but this comment is unnecessary. She can do as she pleases with her money.

Norma27 · 17/07/2023 11:31

It is awful what happened to her.
I was trying to find the thread but she has turned up at LWS - I think Birmingham- on the TRA side.

FiloPasty · 17/07/2023 11:23

The story is horrendous, her and Ryland have stayed good friends, I think he’s good people too. Just feel so sorry for her.

OldCrone · 17/07/2023 10:23

FiloPasty · 17/07/2023 08:48

I was just reading the guardian story about her awful sexual assault and she has donated her fee to mermaids

This is the Guardian article where she talks about living as a boy.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jul/15/lucy-spraggan-the-real-reason-i-dropped-out-of-the-x-factor

For the first 10 years of her life, Spraggan identified as a boy and went by the name Max. Max used the boys’ toilets, had a short back and sides haircut, and would cry for hours if referred to as Lucy. During primary school, a group of boys heard a rumour that their friend Max was actually a girl called Lucy, and demanded that he pull down his trousers to disprove their suspicions. When Max revealed a pair of blue and white striped boxer shorts, the case was considered closed.

At the approach of puberty, Max’s mum asked what he wanted to do and he, as Spraggan writes, “began to shed my Max skin and started looking for my Lucy skin”. If Spraggan were growing up today, she believes she would be given the opportunity to transition. She is sanguine at the idea, reasoning: “I think I would have loved to have been that man. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love being a woman now.” Still, she tells me, “after puberty something really changed for me and I was really challenged by myself”.

There are two extracts from her book in the Guardian, one published on Saturday, the other today. Both with her fee going to Mermaids, who would have pushed her towards being drugged and sterilised as a child.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/15/all-four-judges-had-their-eyes-on-me-big-grins-on-their-faces-lucy-spraggan-recalls-her-x-factor-audition

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jul/17/lucy-spraggan-on-reality-tv-and-redemption-x-factor

‘I was terrified of being known as the girl who was attacked while on The X Factor’: Lucy Spraggan on rape, recovery and reality TV

In 2012, she was a breakout star of the singing competition. Then she suddenly disappeared from the show. For the first time she speaks about what led her to leave, how she feels she was let down – and the surprising person who held the key to her reco...

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jul/15/lucy-spraggan-the-real-reason-i-dropped-out-of-the-x-factor

BezMills · 17/07/2023 10:04

Lucy is all kinds of Good People, I think she's brilliant.

FiloPasty · 17/07/2023 08:48

I was just reading the guardian story about her awful sexual assault and she has donated her fee to mermaids

literalviolence · 11/07/2023 23:28

That's a really interesting and helpful viewpoint. I like how she's so clearly explained that children can't know if they want to be a man or woman because they don't know what that really feels like. By the same token, a man can't know what it's like to be a woman.