Cass report and men...

32 replies

akkakk · 10/04/2024 09:39

I have posted a fair bit on this part of Mumsnet recently - supporting a GC response and understanding of the trans-ideology challenges we are seeing in society...

Not surprisingly - most on here with that view point are female (I am male) so seeing the responses to the Cass report on here today I went onto Pistonheads (a very male forum) to compare the reaction - zero discussion or response.

I appreciate that there is drive for women to not allow men to take over their spaces / sports / very definition, and so there is perhaps a logic that fewer men are involved in the necessary push-back against the trans-ideology movement... but the Cass Report is not about women's spaces, it is not about toilets and sports etc. (despite those being hugely important topics), instead, at its heart, it is a response to what will no doubt be seen as one of the biggest safeguarding scandals to hit our country - where adults experimented on children who had no capacity to make those decisions by themselves and relied on the adults to protect them - where mental health issues were swept under the carpet in an ideological fantasy world that surgery would somehow work, whereas it was only ever a validation of a skewed adult perspective, not a solution for children crying out for help...

So, the Cass report is as relevant to men as women - we all as adults carry a duty of care and safeguarding towards the children in our society... it is so superb that Dr Cass has stood quietly and firmly as a rock against what sometimes appeared to be a dominant incoming tide - hopefully it will be a huge catalyst for change... but that needs all adults to take responsibility - for what society has done, and for what we do going forward to sort out this mess.

So, in asking who is standing up to support this and help work towards bringing back a balanced society which actually cares for our children - I have to ask, where are the men? Sure, a few have been vocal publicly but very few... it will be interesting to see how this now plays out - this part of the story is not just a woman's story or campaign (and I really am not devaluing the other elements where I have been a very vocal supporter), this is a society issue that needs resolving and if we don't have the engagement of all parties it won't happen.

OP posts:

Britinme · 12/04/2024 17:20

Isn't it mostly the women who have trans kids who are supporting this though? They've been lied to, but as mums our first instinct is to protect our kids (or should be) and if it's presented to them as 'would you rather have a live son or a dead daughter' many mums are going to go along with that. That's going to seem much more vital to them than the more abstract concept of "women's rights" and they won't think of it as not safeguarding in so many other ways. And it's such a recent thing, historically speaking, in the numbers going through it, that most parents of 'trans kids' haven't seen the long-term effects and consequences yet.

Original poster

akkakk · 10/04/2024 12:13

@PermanentTemporary you make some good points - do you think that this is simply a societal norm that men don't consider children to be 'their issue'?

I feel quite strongly that it is helpful to look at a lot of this from a safeguarding perspective - i.e. as adults our job is to help children make decisions that grow them into the adults they deserve to be, i.e. safeguarding is focused on benefitting the child but with an adult knowledge and experience - we don't let children play with fire, we teach them road safety, we don't let them put marbles in their mouth - all obvious things but where a child's instinct or desire might want to do something not safe - but looking after children means that as adults we know when to intervene for their benefit...

A child who says I am in puberty / am confused about who I am / have mental health issues / etc. doesn't deserve an adult response which tells them to mutilate themselves and take non-reversible drugs to fit an adult twisted perspective / to validate the adults. So - totally a safeguarding issue...

Like you I am a little more surprised that some women have also played that game - esp. when the trans-ideology movement is so male driven but that possibly is a whole extra area of psychology to unpack!

Ultimately though we have a safeguarding issue - we live in a world where rightly the norm is to agree that safeguarding is a good thing - so it is one of the tools of putting this whole area right... and that is going to have to involve men as well as women - from politicians to GPs to NHS management to the courts - there is a domination in higher positions and authority from men - if they are not a part of the solution, not much will happen...

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PermanentTemporary · 10/04/2024 09:59

It does feel a bit as if it is women who need to speak up, and that when they do, things change.

Dr Polly Carmichael, Ruth Hunt and Susie Green have been three of the most influential people in making the medical transition of children appear normal in the UK. When court cases appear showing conflict between parents on transitioning a child, it does seem to be more likely that the mother will be the one who is pro-transition (I don't have any figures on that one though). Conversely, some of the most important whistleblowers at GIDS in my view have been women. I know that David Bell and Marcus Evans are men! But reading Time to Think you can see who from the therapists' team challenged the leadership most.

I hope men do speak up. But it is truly odd to me that so many women thought (and continue to think) that socially and medically transitioning children is OK. I also think that bullying of girls by other girls is underreported and undermanaged in schools, and that it is a factor in girls transitioning.

LogicLoverLlama · 10/04/2024 09:54

I'm male, I have a daughter (so it matters for safety) and I have a son who has autism and instead was told by a local trans charity he might be trans because he felt like he was different and not part of the gang at school.

I am fucking fuming about this and will tell anyone I can at any opportunity what a shit show this is of everyone involved

FrothyCothy · 10/04/2024 09:53

DH has been more vocal on social media (especially around sport) than I ever have - I think he feels a protection from “cancellation” as a man that I didn’t as a woman. Plus he’s probably less “be kind” conditioned than I am. But I don’t think he is quite as engaged with the child protection side of things as he is with the sport side.

Teddleshon · 10/04/2024 09:50

I can’t tell you the answer to that but I would say I have enthusiastically welcomed and encouraged every man who does express a view. I have also made sure that my husband and two adult sons were kept fully informed of the damage that was being done to children and the erosion of women’s rights. FWIW my 2 sons (in their 20s) are GC and so are all their friends.

StephanieSuperpowers · 10/04/2024 09:49

Yeah, I agree. Mind you, my limited travels around the internet have shown that many of the places where this was being discussed are absolutely silent on this issue. I think it's hard for people who were in favour of transing children - they are waiting for how to discredit it. But for men who didn't bother getting involved (even if they didn't think it was a great idea), they still probably think it's a middle aged women's thing and they aren't arsed.

That's just speculation though. But most of the men I know personally were all be kind women, it doesn't affect you, marginalised minority if they had to say anything and you could see they didn't bother considering it any further.

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