Elon Musk makes bombshell claim about his transgender child

I agree. His parenting attitudes, wealth and fame, will no doubt leave his children with issues, but the idea that he doesnt care about his children is groundless.

There will be lots of parents who are in his postion, and presumably their reaction to the Cass report and other information will depend on how their family have coped. With lots of other chilldren in the mix, im sure it isnt easy and is more complex than we can imagine.

Its becoming like lots of issues - those of us without trans children cannot speak because we have no experience, those of us with experience cannot speak because we are bad parents for doing so.

I don't believe a word Musk says about his role in this. He is into pronatalism and the idea of spreading his superior genes into future generations; also preimplantation screening for "the best" fetuses. He's supporting Trump's electoral campaign.

I think either:

1. he's in a narcissistic rage that his ch8ld hasn't grown up to be the superior life form he planned;
2. he's cynically using his child's story to boost Trump's election campaign, or both.

I feel most sorry for his child. Parenting like that is going to screw you up.

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/may/25/american-pronatalists-malcolm-and-simone-collins

https://www.transgendertrend.com/children-change-minds/

I think it came from some small research studies and was also what Kenneth Zucker said before he got forced out of GI treatment.

The practice of prescribing puberty blockers will have affected this now I guess.

To be fair plenty of parents who are fully involved with their child and are primary careers, have also been pressured to go along with affirmation by the “your child will die” line. And plenty have tried to object or stop it happening too, though I also have sympathy with parents who believed it and just wanted the best for their DC.

This isn’t just happening to Musk because he’s a Disney dad or absent parent.

But I do agree being his child must be stressful. It’s not his DC’s fault either and extra pressure and media interest isn’t going to help..

Well done Elon for speaking up!

I think it goes back to the point about how he wasn't involved with his children. He left child rearing to his incubators.

He expected to be Disney Dad.

Strangely enough his eldest has some sort of emotional difficulties, what with Dad abandoning and impregnating with half the west coast with his offspring and almost certainly also being autistic (like Dad).

Dad gets told something, and takes it at face value, what with being a megalomaniac and running a global empire from his Bond Villain HQ being his true love and priority.

Then Dad starts to wake up and realise he's been spun a crock o shite and he goes nuts.

The kid didn't want to tell Dad about any of it and deliberately hit information including admitting he wanted to be a woman.

I mean Dad's desire to repopulate the earth with his minions and probably expecting his sprogletts to be mini mes and then have a bit of a shock when they didn't turn out to be Daddy's minions probably would have an impact on your self esteem. There are lots of people who note that kids who come out as trans have a habit of living in the shadow of another sibling who perhaps gets more attention for some reason (sibling is disabled for example). Does anyone believe that Musk isn't training to find an heir who he believes is his match and shares his IQ? Imagine your Dad is Elon and trying to get attention isn't easy because Dad is too busy establishing a new moon colony.

Worth noting Musk himself is known to have issues with his self image too and has managed his weight with slimming pills.

So yes, I think if you knew your dad was keen to have a hoarde of offspring, and you were a rebellious teen?

Receipts? He appears to have ongoing contact with all of his children. He took the other surviving children from his first marriage to meet the pope with him last year.

Bear in mind before you make these claims, that you are talking about a man who's first child died in his arms, who is now talking about the metaphorical death of his second (with his twin brother) child. I don't think he uses this terminology easily when he knows the grief of a child dying.

Musk is definitely worthy of a lot of criticism for many things, including things related to his children and their mothers. But being able to criticise him for things he actually does doesn't give us open season to blast him for stuff we've made up or read somewhere that was probably made up.

I cannot fathom what sort of person thinks that a man is so bad that his child needs sterilising. This thinking is so deranged I just can't get my head around it.

It's an analysis of the available studies. The desistance rate was between 60% and 90% depending on the study. The average across all the studies shows a desistance rate of 80%. Nobody is saying this average rate is definitive. We have all been arguing for years that the available evidence is poor. We need more studies preferably ones were young children are allowed to go through puberty to see how many desist before they introduce studies that stick them all on puberty blockers at age 12 just because they are playing with the wrong toys.

I logged in to say this, but here it is, crisper, faster, better.

So: this. Exactly.

Plus, added attraction, being right wing has gotten him more power than left winging it, so with his kind of mind, it's a no-brainer.

I have clicked on the link and I'm already aware of all of those studies from my own research. You don't just calculate an "average" from those studies and decide that figure is a definitive rate of desistance that can be quoted as fact especially given the low quality of studies.

Brendan O'Neill (Spiked) has written very powerfully about Musk's recent comments:

www.spiked-online.com/2024/07/23/elon-musk-has-revealed-the-pain-of-losing-a-child-to-the-trans-cult/

The excellent Michael Biggs has written extensively about this analysing the limited data that GIDS etc kept. Transgender Trend have published many of his articles:
https://www.transgendertrend.com/the-tavistocks-experiment-with-puberty-blockers-part-5-the-belated-results/

There is a link in the article that takes you to an analysis of the 10 relevant studies. You just need to click on the link. The figure of 80% is an average of those studies.

Not really, it doesn't have a link to the study confirming the 80% figure that I see repeatedly here. Do you have that?

🙄 didn't link!
Here it is. Sorry:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5057269-5057269-puberty-blockers-how-exactly-did-we-get-here

This might help…

https://www.transgendertrend.com/children-change-minds/

Could you link this 80% desistance rate please? I have seen this quoted more than once.on this board and no one has provided a link. From my own research I can't find anything to confirm this and the highest desistance rate I could find was 63% however in that study anyone who didn't return to the clinic was classed as having desisted without that actually being confirmed or followed-up.

Yes. Prof Sallie Baxendale discusses the 'window of opportunity'- particularly around pubertal brain development- in this talk:

Very useful recent MN thread looking into the history of the use of puberty blockers with gender dysphoric children

Mumsnet user AlisonDonut posted Chloe Cole's response to Elon upthread.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5125696-elon-musk-makes-bombshell-claim-about-his-transgender-child?reply=136984040&utm_campaign=reply&utm_medium=share

Chloe is a detransitioner who has been interviewed by Jordan Peterson too.

Just confirms everything ive ever believed about him. And on top of that hes a shit father. Hope his child disowns him.

Who is Chloe?
Who is Alison?

None of this is true, why are you making stuff up that is so easily proved incorrect?! He is regularly seen with all his children bar the trans one and some of the littlest. His eldest (the trans one's twin I believe) is often seen at events with him, and he recently attended the graduation of the middle ones. I can't imagine why the fashion sense of the interviewer would have any relevance whatsoever to Elon's feelings about his estranged child, what an absurd thing to say?! Of course his employees make enormous contribution to his success (which he himself states at every opportunity) but forming the team, inspiring and directing them to accomplish what any sane person would have considered impossible is one hell of a skill - which is why no other companies are anywhere close to his despite the fact he doesn't even patent. Moreover, everyone who has ever worked with him (who are actual experts and no doubt know rather more than some angry little nobody on the internet!) has said he is an exceptional engineer with an exceptional intellect. You may not understand what he is achieving but that doesn't diminish his achievements. There are many, many things to criticize about him; there's no need or excuse to make up silly nonsense.

I thought he said his son was dead - as in now that the child has transitioned he (Elon Musk) has to accept that the son no longer exists.

The child is now female. He addresses the child as female.

He has not banished the child - the child has banished.

With that in mind your critique is a little unfair.

The rest of it - who he works with etc I don't know much about.