Adolescent Transgender Identity Is Associated With Bullying Involvement

Yep first hand experience of this. Boy at school was very much invincible for a while - teachers were in awe/cautious of going against his very publicised ‘oppression’. Police were fairly good but he laughed at them behind their back. Social Services I think learned a lot from him.

That was my take @BonfireLady and why I was confused by the conclusion.

*a weird non-sensical circular reference

From the article. My bold.

Conclusion: Transgender identity, especially non-binary identity, is associated with both being bullied and perpetrating bullying even when a range of variables including internal stress and involvement in bullying in the opposite role are taken into account. This suggests that bullying during adolescence may serve as a mechanism of maintaining heteronormativity.

The whole article is written in the language of gender identity (use of "cisgender" and "assigned at birth"), which suggests there could be a bias at play somewhere. However, that aside, can anyone help me translate the words in bold. Each time I read them I translate it as "we conclude the purpose of bullying during adolescence is to keep people straight and conforming to the stereotypes that are associated with their sex". i.e. these people are oppressed because of their gender identity and they can't help the fact that they play their role as bully or being bullied. A weird non-sensical cross reference.

Sadly/happily I don't have a degree in queer theory so I'm struggling to navigate the language with ease.

If my understanding of those words is correct, then this seems to be a case of sleight of hand around the cause and effect i.e. taking it as a given that these people are trans and there is no need to question what led them to identify as transgender (fact not belief). Then because they are trans they are either victims of bullying or perpetrators, where the world of "heteronormativity" has created the bullying problem.

My head hurts.

I think the results on that need highlighting here:

Results: Both experiences of being bullied and perpetrating bullying were more commonly reported by transgender youth than by cisgender youth. Among transgender youth, all involvement in bullying was more commonly reported by non-binary youth than those identifying with the opposite sex. Logistic regression revealed that non-binary identity was most strongly associated with involvement in bullying, followed by opposite sex identity and cisgender identity. Transgender identities were also more strongly associated with perpetration of bullying than subjection to bullying.

So in summary. In contrast with the narrative of the most 'vulnerable group' what is being observed is a pattern where being trans has a higher rate of abusing others than being a victim of abuse.

When we have talked about this on MN over the years, one of the observations has been about the need for TRAs to control others and how there seems to be a pattern of how its NOT about identity but about power over others (pretty much what bullying is).

Its fascinating that someone did this study at all too. A few years ago, I can't see it having been possible.

I thought it was all sweetness, love and trans acceptance by the zoomers and the alphas? Is the researcher suggesting otherwise?

I may very well be being stupid and I have no statistics background but I am confused by the finding that 'transgender identities were more strongly associated with perpetration of bullying that subjection to bullying' leading to the conclusion that 'bullying during adolescence may serve as a mechanism of maintaining heteronormativity'

Indeed. The cohort has changed massively. In the early days before trans activists were allowed to gaslight children in schools the cohort were usually young boys - often unpopular / socially isolated children. The damaging guidance from Mermaids suggested that primary schools held celebratory assemblies for these children to announce their special new status. This not only "glued" them into their "new" sex so that changing their minds was impossible but also gave them a status and adult protection they'd never had before. It was tragic to see.

Since the gaslighting of children has exploded it's now teenage girls in the midst of puberty who believe the lies sold to them. I can absolutely see the potential for some children to use their new status to bully others but can never unsee how all these children have been literally groomed and gaslit by some of the most unethical adults and groups in society.

They are victims.

Doesn’t surprise me in the least that people who want to control others language, bend society’s rules and demolish boundaries are bullies. If they were all shy retiring wallflowers they wouldn’t have achieved what they have.

If ever there was a study where I'd want to see sex disaggregated ...

I was never a bully to my fellow teens but I was an annoying little shit that engaged in endless power plays with teachers:

If I were at school in 2020 rather than 1990 I would absolutely have adopted an ever-changing xenogender and all associated ‘pronouns’ and wielded both against authority figures/used them as leverage to get out of class/avoid a telling off for not doing my homework.

Doesn’t surprise me at all that the same tool can be, and is, weaponised against classmates and peers.

It is fascinating, and raises the question of whether all the viciousness we've seen directed at GC women is an outlier in terms of modes of interaction for TRAs, or whether it's the core.

Fascinating research, wonder if these results could be reproduced with an adult sample.

I suppose another explanation would be that there is a common cause for both: they are troubled in some way so one thing they do is bully and another is seize on a trans identity because they think it will explain their problems.

It is massively true of the kingpin trans child at my dc’s school

For me the obvious explanation is that claiming a trans identity is, in the current environment, a way to acquire power. So it makes sense it will be adopted by those who wish to use power to hurt.

This is a cynical explanation. A less cynical one might be that they are suffering because they are trans, poor lambs, so they are driven to take it out on other people.

Any theories for why this would happen?