Emma Bunton

I do hope that "learn from my mistakes" is another of her top parenting tips. Though I wouldn't be going to a pop star for insights into parenting except Ozzy Osbourne of course. "I love you more than life itself but YOU'RE DOING MY HEAD IN" captures parenting perfectly.

I'll let my DSs know as well, I think they'll be surprised

She doesn't plaster them across social media, she's hardly Katie Price.

Grrrr and stuff.

“Emma Bunton's situation probably falls into a comfortable little sweet spot of wanting to do right by her son (by affirming his confused wonderings), and enjoying that this is actually conveniently sTuNnINg and bRAyVe.
^^
I wonder if her son told her he wanted to join the Catholic priesthood as soon as he was old enough, would she have him posing with the Eucharist and a copy of the Canon Law? Probably not, as its not cool and she would assume that there would be a good chance he'd change his mind.”

That is a very interesting and astute observation, darkdiamond.

Oh dear.

So a nice family photo has been used by a transphobic hater for their own purposes.

Agree @AmaryllisNightAndDay I also think that growing up with a celebrity parent simply isn't conducive to positive mental health. Some celebrities will be able to make a good go of it but I think the challenges are so huge that they must be very difficult to protect your children from.

I agree with that and yes I did even remember Thatcher's "oxygen of publicity" (old lady here ) I was thinking about something slightly different, like treating someone you love as if the most important and noticeable valuable thing about them is their gender identity. Or speaking to your colleagues as if the most important thing about your interaction is that one of you might be "trans".

It's like any other psychological condition. It doesn't really matter what psychological or social issue a "trans" identity arose from originally, if you feed it attention you make it stronger. In a parent-child relationship it doesn't even matter if the attention is positive or negative any parental attention can be reinforcing. (More complex than that in reality but you see what I mean)

Bunten lives her life in a blaze of publicity so in her family there is no difference between saying it on the family WhatsApp and announcing it to the world. And what I'm saying is that even if it's just the family WhatsApp - if you care about a "trans" relative then find something else to say about them.

we're at least not talking about a little kid who might genuinely think they're of the opposite sex

You're joking aren't you. We have grown men in their 50s saying that they have literally changed sex because they're trans.

i suppose I meant that by 13 they'll certainly know whether or not they're same- or opposite- (or both) sex attracted; and will be old enough to plausibly self-diagnose as trans. whilst the declared self-diagnosis may prove inaccurate, we're at least not talking about a little kid who might genuinely think they're of the opposite sex. and i think that EB's not showing the kid's face feels quite positive, this definitely isn't a publicity stunt.

The only way to reverse the escalation of gender dysphoria in children and young adults is to stop feeding the gender identity monster with attention.

The choice appears to be "deny them the oxygen of publicity" (Margaret Thatcher vs the IRA, which notably failed), or "sunlight is the best disinfectant".

For me, the latter is the way to go. It's not always the best choice but when you're dealing with self-evident nonsense, that's positively toxic towards young people, then you really need to get the public to turn their attention onto what's going on.

plus at 13 the kids is plenty old enough to know whether they're 'queer' one way or another

Queer one way or another is any 13 year old who ever lived, and some feel very @odd, queer and an utter misfit. Since when does that mean they are trans though, especially as you can only think you are trans?

KJK is an activist not a strategist. She is very effective at what she does. On this point KJK is probably right but she is ahead of the curve.

The only way to reverse the escalation of gender dysphoria in children and young adults is to stop feeding the gender identity monster with attention. On an everyday level that means (for example) calling a halt to public declarations of perfectly ordinary pronouns. And for individual parents it means no public announcements about their gender if your child is dysphoric or otherwise messing about with their gender identity. Just find something else to say about your child and be proud of on their birthday. Surely Bunton must have something else she cares about in her child? Scattering them with gendered hashtags is making a huge fuss about exactly the wrong thing and while it might not be conscious abuse it's at least very poor parenting.

In time it will be seen as abusive and people like Bunton will have quietly forgotten they ever did it.

I’ve posted before about a woman we know who used to be a page 3/glamour model. FHM - that sort of thing.

Shes got an adolescent girl who she now refers to as her son 🙄

The girl wears her hair literally over her face, constantly has her arms folded over her chest and basically looks permanently miserable. Poor kid.

A very good point. Deliberately making a child paranoid is a horrible form of abuse.

No one should encourage child in a delusion that can lead at best to disappointment, at worst to serious physical and mental damage. Calling that ‘abuse’ is fair enough, in my view.

Charlize Theron
Jean Smart
Naomi Watts/Liev Schreiber
Cynthia Nixon
Sade
Several children of Real Housewives

I'm sure theres even more than that

I always do wonder with the daughters of famously beautiful Mothers is it just deciding that you will forever be compared to your Mother and found lacking and opting out is easier like if every day someone was holding me up against JLo and comparing my looks to her I would prefer to opt out

Yes!

I've posted it before, but it bears repeating

Even worse than the lying that yes, of course you can become a girl are the parents posting that their child is terrified of all the people who hate them and want them not to exist.

If you've allowed and encouraged your kid to believe that everyone who won't play along with their wishful thinking hates them, you are absolutely colluding in psychological abuse IMO.

I fail to see how lying to your son, telling him that yes he’s a girl in the wrong body, that he needs to live his live going forward masquerading as a girl, that he has to feel deep shame and upset about his “wrong” genitals, that he has to painfully “tuck” his penis (admittedly not all will do this), that he needs to take puberty blockers and cross sex hormones, that he needs to become a lifelong medical patient… ISN’T abuse.

Instead Emma could just have let him enjoy stereotypically feminine pursuits, as countless gay men will tell you they enjoyed as boys.

Emma Bunton's situation probably falls into a comfortable little sweet spot of wanting to do right by her son (by affirming his confused wonderings), and enjoying that this is actually conveniently sTuNnINg and bRAyVe.

I wonder if her son told her he wanted to join the Catholic priesthood as soon as he was old enough, would she have him posing with the Eucharist and a copy of the Canon Law? Probably not, as its not cool and she would assume that there would be a good chance he'd change his mind.

While I doubt she is deliberately abusing him, I do think it's a mis use of her influence and following. Any kind of discussion that your child has with you with any aspect of sex (sexual interactions or biological sex) needs to be handled sensitively, privately and discretely. As a mother, your focus should be on protecting your child long term, and that means making sure that the things they entrust you with are guarded carefully. Our children's trust should be stewarded very mindfully and their personal business should be respected. Thats before we even get into the fact it's a lie and she is allowing him to believe a falsehood.

Instead, she helps him to build this fantasy and publicises it. It's folly, it's foolish, its crass and its cringe! Abuser? Hmm, not intentionally. Very, very silly? Yes.

What a mess. EB has 2 sons. Noe the youngest is trans.

I agree with KJK:

Kellie-Jay Keen founded Party Of Women to make sure that people can safely say:
No woman has a penis
No man has a vagina
There is no such thing as "non-binary"

Those are facts and can not be disputed.

But to call EB "a child abuser is" is a step too far.