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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Adult daughter dating trans-identified male, struggling to navigate family concerns

482 replies

BlueLegume · 18/03/2026 10:07

Good morning all. I am normally rooted over on the Elderly parents threads. Just as I thought life couldn’t get more difficult it has. A week ago my adult daughter told us she was in a relationship with someone who identifies as male. This person was born female - daughter troped out the ‘gender assigned at birth’ nonsense. She has utterly ripped the family apart as she clearly has drunk the kool aid and cannot understand our concerns.

She has a great job, we are normal family where she says she has always felt safe and is loved.

Any advice welcome navigating this. Happy to answer questions but I will caveat this post with the following:

I am a sex realist. I hate the term gender critical.
I do not buy gender ideology. I think it is a term being used to expect society to accept trans etc off the back of the hard won rights for lesbians and gay men.

I do not believe anyone can change sex.

The ‘be kind’ mantra is a weaponised term to justify the nonsense.

Advice welcome.

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ImImmortalNowBabyDoll · 26/03/2026 12:43

It's not really any of your business what genitals your daughter's partner has.

If you want to end up NC with her then carry on.

If you actually want a relationship with your daughter then suck it up and call him "he", it's not going to ruin your life unless you choose for it too.

SugarPuffSandwiches · 26/03/2026 12:25

I have a right to consent - give permission for something to happen. My daughter has changed, dramatically actually

Your daughter is an ADULT though. Capable of making her own decisions on who she does or doesn't date.
Just like her partner is presumably an adult too and makes their own choices.

SugarPuffSandwiches · 26/03/2026 12:23

I will not perform because someone else tells me to because if I don’t do things their way they will feel offended. Be offended. Then consider why you are offended
I mean, I literally said it's your right to hold your beliefs and use what pronouns you like. I'm not offended in the slightest, so not sure why you think I am when nothing I've said has indicated that?
Do and say what you like. I've never said otherwise.
You seem desperate to find offence yourself or you're deliberately misunderstanding or not reading my posts, who knows.

BlueLegume · 26/03/2026 12:08

@SugarPuffSandwiches I will not perform because someone else tells me to because if I don’t do things their way they will feel offended. Be offended. Then consider why you are offended. If you then realise you are offended because I didn’t consent to your demands then maybe I am not the problem.

I have a right to consent - give permission for something to happen. My daughter has changed, dramatically actually.

I am staying calm and am listening to her daily rant about how I need to ‘educate myself’ and ‘understand how hard trans peoples lives are’. That doctors and midwives should not be allowed to assign what a new baby is, M or F. That in a progressive society they should wait for the baby to decide who it wants to be. All utter nonsense including that she believes her partner is a man and as such has redefined herself to fit the relationship as the partner who is biologically female does not like the term lesbian. She considers herself to be a straight man. That is internal homophobia and an insult to men. Especially gay men.

Not hostile at all. Again, you along with a few others seem to be so bloody minded that we all just get on board with the gender wang nonsense you just won’t give up.

When the medical scandal that this is enters the mainstream I presume you will be front and centre making sure these young women in particular get as much support and compassion they need for the hideous experiments they have been put through over the past 10-15 years.

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SugarPuffSandwiches · 26/03/2026 11:47

I am navigating things to ensure communication and contact with my daughter are maintained
If you refuse to use preferred pronouns (which is your right) and you think of your adult dd's partner as mentally ill, genuinely interested in how you're navigating communication and contact? Hope it's working out for you. As it all sounds so hostile.

BlueLegume · 26/03/2026 11:41

Thanks @ConstanzeMozart

I am navigating things to ensure communication and contact with my daughter are maintained. She has changed dramatically since this relationship began and I noticed this but kept quiet.

Being ‘told’ how I must behave by her and some posters on here does very much feel like a veiled threat to do as I am told.

That is coercive behaviour.

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ConstanzeMozart · 26/03/2026 11:36

SugarPuffSandwiches · 26/03/2026 11:34

As Sylvanmoon says, just find common ground with your adult child's partner, like you would hopefully do with anyone they were in a relationship with.
You can hold whatever opinion you like on them privately, just be civil and accepting when you see them otherwise it might push them further together and you further away.

The OP has said repeatedly she's happy to do that, but her DD is demanding she refer to her partner as 'he'. That's a step beyond being civil and accepting; it's in dogma/manipulation/coercive control territory.

SugarPuffSandwiches · 26/03/2026 11:34

As Sylvanmoon says, just find common ground with your adult child's partner, like you would hopefully do with anyone they were in a relationship with.
You can hold whatever opinion you like on them privately, just be civil and accepting when you see them otherwise it might push them further together and you further away.

scientista · 26/03/2026 11:21

SylvanMoon · 26/03/2026 11:15

As a fellow sex-realist who would find this situation deeply troubling, I think, as others have suggested that you need to find a way to navigate it for now. We know that there is a high rate of desistence, especially in girls, so perhaps you may be a catalyst for this young woman to reconsider her decision. I wouldn't be focused right now on the fact that there is a degree of mental illness that must dictate such drastic action. I would focus on not playing along with the fiction, while at the same time showing your daughter that you love her. And similarly, you can try to find something to value in the woman she's "in love" with. Perhaps, rather than write her off as mentally ill, feel sorry that whatever personal trauma she has experienced must be so painful that it has led this young woman to remove her breasts and whatever other bodily modification she's undertaken. I don't think this will be an easy journey for you, but it may in some way be able to heal another person.

Jesus can we stop with all the mentally ill and trauma stuff. My child is autistic, I believe this is why they are trans. Happy childhood and still a happy person. Just autistic and trans.

SylvanMoon · 26/03/2026 11:19

@BlueLegume here's some evidence about the desistance rate for girls:

Adult daughter dating trans-identified male, struggling to navigate family concerns
SylvanMoon · 26/03/2026 11:15

BlueLegume · 18/03/2026 11:45

Ok breasts aren’t limbs but they are body parts @idkbroidk
@Leahrosemary obfuscate all you like. A man is a man - as determined at conception. A woman is a woman - as determined at conception. My daughter is dating a woman. That’s the sentence I want to use and am happy to. I wish them all the happiness but it’s a relationship built on a lie that this person is a man.

As a fellow sex-realist who would find this situation deeply troubling, I think, as others have suggested that you need to find a way to navigate it for now. We know that there is a high rate of desistence, especially in girls, so perhaps you may be a catalyst for this young woman to reconsider her decision. I wouldn't be focused right now on the fact that there is a degree of mental illness that must dictate such drastic action. I would focus on not playing along with the fiction, while at the same time showing your daughter that you love her. And similarly, you can try to find something to value in the woman she's "in love" with. Perhaps, rather than write her off as mentally ill, feel sorry that whatever personal trauma she has experienced must be so painful that it has led this young woman to remove her breasts and whatever other bodily modification she's undertaken. I don't think this will be an easy journey for you, but it may in some way be able to heal another person.

BlueLegume · 26/03/2026 10:28

Interesting how little traction this thread got from such an important article and point in time for such an important subject pretty much only showing up in the past 10-15 years.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5355146-gender-clinic-backs-off-after-family-successfully-challenges-direct-contact-with-adult-daughter?page=1

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scientista · 26/03/2026 10:12

Ok

BlueLegume · 26/03/2026 10:03

Ah thanks @scientista I will be sure to get back in my lane and only discuss the original topic.

I am in the process of dealing with my relationship with my daughter. I’ve taken on board many points from the thread.

That does not mean I don’t have the right to engage in further discussion.

I’m not attempting to educate anyone if anything I’m asking for people to educate me on the issue.

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scientista · 26/03/2026 09:55

You started a thread about how to navigate this relationship, your posts are mostly attempting to educate people and sharing links to reinforce your beliefs but you don’t seem to be interested in the issue you started with? Which was around your relationship with your daughter.
I actually feel the same way as you about some of this and I don’t need educating.

you are educating people on a board set up for people who are interested in this topic and most of them already know all of this anyway so why do you keep attempting to enlighten people? (In quite a patronising way)
You don’t seem interested in talking about how to make it work with your daughter, just sharing all your knowledge about the trans issues

BlueLegume · 26/03/2026 09:49

Just a reminder. From the emotional start of the thread to where we now are and thanks to @DialSquare for the reminder of their thread.

My daughter is in a relationship with another woman. No problem.

The issue is the woman she is dating expects my daughter to refer to her as male. She has had a double mastectomy but prefers it to be called top surgery.

Yes I find all of it concerning. I’ve repeatedly asked for evidence anyone can change sex. As yet nothing.

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PollyNomial · 26/03/2026 09:31

PrettyDamnCosmic · 26/03/2026 09:07

For the young it's a social contagion just like eating disorders & self-harm which also are more common in adolescent girls. Evidence for this is that before the madness of the last 10-15 years lying to children that they could change sex there were no kids who thought that they were "trans".

Needless body mutilation is a high price to pay to join a cult.

Edited

Needless bodily mutilation to join a cult is (at least) a centuries old custom.

BlueLegume · 26/03/2026 09:24

@SugarPuffSandwiches correct it was @scientista who called me patronising.

I do stand by the fact you were patronising in stating I was ‘back to the mutilation part of my loop’.

I am genuinely interested in you bringing a strong debate to this part of the thread giving me some facts that people can change sex. Convince me. If you knew me IRL you would know I am open to hearing a good debate. As yet I have not heard anything other than we should go along with how someone ‘feels’.

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SugarPuffSandwiches · 26/03/2026 09:20

As for patronising - it doesn’t get much more patronising than your comment about ‘back to the mutilation part of your loop’
Are you confusing me with someone else? I've never used the word patronising. Somebody else did upthread, and said you were - not me though.

BlueLegume · 26/03/2026 09:18

Thanks @DialSquare I remember your thread.

Honestly, I am all ears to a discussion if @SugarPuffSandwiches and @scientista can come at me with something.

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BlueLegume · 26/03/2026 09:14

@PrettyDamnCosmic it is really sad to see that people have been taken in by this.

@SugarPuffSandwiches this thread was derailed many pages ago by people telling me I should accept that a person can change sex. They may well not have used that direct language but ‘accept’ has been used many times.

I can tolerate an idea that a person with mental health issues as in believing they have changed sex. When that means my daughter has to go along with a lie that she is dating a man when that man is a woman, that bothers me.

I feel the same about cosmetic surgery and aesthetics. It is tampering with nature and nature is something we should embrace.

As for patronising - it doesn’t get much more patronising than your comment about ‘back to the mutilation part of your loop’.

As ever, I am open to you putting a debate forward explaining how anyone can change their sex.

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SugarPuffSandwiches · 26/03/2026 09:10

am open to different opinions with a view to someone bringing some evidence to me that will persuade me that people can change sex. As yet no one has done this
That's not what the thread's about though?
Maybe that's why. Thought you just wanted advice about your adult daughter? Although I see we're back to the "mutilation" part of your loop.
Edited to say it's clear you don't want advice at all, just a chance for another cult mutilation social contagion" "debate".

PrettyDamnCosmic · 26/03/2026 09:07

SugarPuffSandwiches · 26/03/2026 08:54

Also every time they post after a different opinion it just seems like another chance for them to say either "social contagion" "mutilation" or "cult" on loop. Which is all they seem to want, sadly think you're wasting your breath.

For the young it's a social contagion just like eating disorders & self-harm which also are more common in adolescent girls. Evidence for this is that before the madness of the last 10-15 years lying to children that they could change sex there were no kids who thought that they were "trans".

Needless body mutilation is a high price to pay to join a cult.

BlueLegume · 26/03/2026 09:04

@SugarPuffSandwiches I am open to different opinions with a view to someone bringing some evidence to me that will persuade me that people can change sex. As yet no one has done this.

NHS operations to remove healthy body parts in order to address a disorder of the mind is unethical. The Tavistock clinic (now closed) staff admitted they were ‘transing away the gay’. That sits up there with conversion therapy which we now sensibly recognise as inappropriate.

The NHS is offering this surgery. https://gendersurgery.chelwest.nhs.uk/#:~:text=Chelsea%20and%20Westminster%20Hospital%20NHS,surgery%2C%20and%20lower%20feminising%20surgery.

What happened to ‘do no harm?’ In order for any surgeon to carry out any of these surgical procedures they have to mutilate before they reconstruct.

They may not be statements you agree with but they are facts.

Chelsea Centre for Gender Surgery

Homepage

https://gendersurgery.chelwest.nhs.uk/#:~:text=Chelsea%20and%20Westminster%20Hospital%20NHS,surgery%2C%20and%20lower%20feminising%20surgery.

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