to find CBBC's 'Just a Girl' programme re a transgender child inappropriate?

[PatButchersEarring]

..totally prepared to be told I am being U on this one, but...

My 7 year old daughter is currently watching 'Just a Girl' on CBBC. This seems to be a dramatisation about a pre-teen, transgender girl- so born a born, but living as a girl. Also either currently or looking into taking hormone blockers.

AIBU to think this is an inappropriate topic for a young age group?

[noeffingidea]

I probably wouldn't have allowed my young children to watch this, mainly because I don't agree with the concept of identifying as something that you are not. Humans are male or female (with the exception of a small number if intersex individuals) and pretending otherwise is lying. It's important to be truthful to children and to teach them actual facts.
Yes I have had a 'non gender conforming' child, a boy who loved to wear his sisters clothes, pretend he was on ANTM, play with dolls, wear my high heels,etc etc. He was allowed to do what he wanted indoors, outside he dressed in boys clothing and pretended to like football, only to protect him from bullying. No need for any drama. He grew out of it eventually though he's still not exactly 'macho'. He's fine and happy the way he is.
Why people can't exercise common sense and just let kids be kids I'll never know.

[Mamatallica]

I've just watched this, it's not the only transgender program on CBBC, there's another one called "My Life - I am Leo" about a girl who doesn't want to have long hair and wear dresses therefore must be really a boy and given hormone blockers. Why can't a girl just have short hair and wear trousers?
The "Just a girl" program, aside from the obvious agenda has to be the worst format for a program I've ever seen, insanely annoying graphics and stop/starting all the time. Seemed very unbelievable too, everything worked out a bit too perfect eg. bully apologised, kid went to party, boy asked him/her to cinema. Call me sceptical but...

[Greypuddle]

We, sorry. I think that was my three year old who posted the above. Not clear what he's trying to say...

[Greypuddle]

Oh bloody hell, it hadn't posted after all. Ignore me. Please. As you were.

[RichardBucket]

He was allowed to do what he wanted indoors, outside he dressed in boys clothing and pretended to like football, only to protect him from bullying.

How does that fit in with your policy of prioritising "honesty" so highly?

[RichardBucket]

Or is it okay for children to pretend to conform to gender expectations as long as it matches their genitals?

[GreatFuckability]

merrymouse none of those things explain why it isn't normal.
It gives an opinion on transgenderism, but talk of societal constructs is just that. An opinion.
I'm certainly not saying biology isn't important, but you or I don't get to tell someone else that they 'should' or 'shouldnt' be allowed to feel wrong in their own body.

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

I don't think anything that requires major surgery and lifelong medication should be described as 'normal'.

[WinchesterWoman]

'i'm not saying biology isn't important'

bit of an understatement

[merrymouse]

I'm not arguing that somebody should or shouldn't be allowed to feel wrong in their own body - it isn't possible to change how somebody feels and many people feel that their bodies are wrong for many reasons.

I'm also not sure how anybody would define feeling 'normal'.

I am disagreeing with the idea that people can change sex - that a man can become a woman and vice versa.

Being transsexual is not just a question of feeling 'like' a woman or a man, (and there is certainly no objective concept of what that means) it is arguing that because of that feeling you are a man or a woman regardless of biological sex. That is either appropriation of language or incorrect use of language and it is harmful.

[Prawnofthepatriarchy]

I don't see any parallels between homosexuality and transgenderism. Homosexuality occurs widely in nature. It's innate. You get gay animals, even gay birds. However being transgender is entirely confined to human beings, because gender is a social construct.

Another difference is that gender is oppressive whereas being gay is not. Gay people don't demand anything of anyone, just to be allowed to get on with their lives. In comparison, male trans activists want to infringe on women's rights and demand that we validate their identities however bizarre these might be. Stefonknee anyone?

There's currently an explosion in the number of both teenage and adult transitioners. Trans is very, very fashionable and part of the reason for the steep rise in numbers is that the trans umbrella now includes fetishistic cross dressers as well as what used to be called transsexuals. Its rise also seems to stem from medical advances, an antifeminist backlash that means gender is being enforced with a heavy hand, and a horrifying increase in the amount of porn consumed, specifically lesbian and shemale/sissyfication porn. People say young women transition out of self-hatred, whereas a lot of adult men transition because of porn.

Although there are some societies which recognize a third gender, there is no history of transgender identity being a natural feature in all societies, whereas homosexuality occurs in all times and places. Many people speculate that in a gender-free society no one would be trans.

I first marched for gay rights when I was 14. Like millions of other people I felt passionately that people should be free to be true to themselves. That doesn't appear to be what's happening in a lot of cases where people transition. People like Miranda Yardley know they're male. Others try to insist they have a female penis. This group is characterized by self-delusion, denial and, when crossed, astonishing levels of narcissistic rage.

[Prawnofthepatriarchy]

God, that's a wall of text. Sorry.

[DoNotBlameMeIVotedRemain]

If I'm a young woman who wants to be a bricklayer, who always wears clothes from shops aimed at men and enjoys sleeping with women. Am I actually a men? I'd say no. I'm a gay woman who enjoys a lifestyle which might be more commonly associated with men but which I, as a woman, should be entirely free to adopt.

[Karoleann]

I've said before the whole thing is completely ridiculous. Having your willy cut off if you are a man and changed into a vagina does not make you female.
As donotblame above has said as a man/woman you can chose to portray yourself in a whatever way you please.
Your gender does not define who you are.

[GreatFuckability]

I think we are talking slightly at cross purposes. When i say it is normal, i'm saying its normal to feel however you feel. The issue of socially constructed gender is fairly irrelevant to a child who FEELS they are of the opposite sex to that of their birth. They dont understand feminism, or social norms, or any of that stuff, that just feel what they feel. I think those feelings are entirely normal.

[WinchesterWoman]

It's not irrelevant at all. You don't have to understand gender to absorb it.

Isn't it more likely that a child sees that some things are 'for boys' and some things are 'for girls' - that is what society teaches them from the moment of birth after all- and decides they want those things they're being directed away from.

That child would now be a target for a 'trans' conversation. Now, not only are we telling them that some things are for boys and some for girls - we are telling them that if they want those other things they ARE the opposite sex.

What's normal is to want the thing you want, the toy, the sport, the blue bike, the princess dress. It's not normal to be told that if you want the 'wrong' toy, or sport, or bike, or clothes - you're the opposite sex.

[merrymouse]

The issue of socially constructed gender is fairly irrelevant to a child who FEELS they are of the opposite sex to that of their birth.

However it is still not possible to change sex, and it is still necessary to define biologically female and biologically male.

People feel all sorts of things, and I am not qualified to say which of those feelings are 'normal'. However, to feel something that is objectively at odds with reality does not make it true.

[CoteDAzur]

"i'm saying its normal to feel however you feel... a child who FEELS they are of the opposite sex to that of their birth... I think those feelings are entirely normal."

Would you say that to someone who FEELS they are an alien from outer space or a time traveller? Would you say that to a stick-thin girl who FEELS she is fat? Or to a boy who FEELS one of his legs is too much and needs to be amputated? Would you say that the feelings of a man who FEELS he is a wolf rather than a human being are "entirely normal"?

If not, what is it so special about boys who FEEL they are girls and vice versa that makes their feelings "entirely normal" while everyone else whose perception of their body/selves conflict with objective reality are told that they have a disorder of some sort?

[noeffingidea]

richardbucket . Wtf? My kids live in the real world.

[user1474298648]

I worry that there is a whole industry growing which benefits from kids being on hormones etc etc. Thinking stuff is boys v girls is very conservative in my view. Really sad that there are some increasingly more girls unhappy with their bodies who are resorting to breast binding etc. Can't see a huge difference between that and anorexia/self harm - being a girl often sucks, perhaps now more than ever - transgender politics just plays into that IMO and I understand that most kids grow out of body image issues. People who don't need every support and fully support anti-discrimation laws and education.

[Atenco]

I've said before the whole thing is completely ridiculous. Having your willy cut off if you are a man and changed into a vagina does not make you female No, it actually turns you into a eunuch.

I never thought I'd live to see the day where men would be queuing up to be castrated.

[Prawnofthepatriarchy]

Atenco, 80% of MTTs have, and intend to keep, their penis. So perhaps not as many as you thought shame, isn't it?

[Atenco]

Prawnofthepatriarch I must admit I am glad of that though, as we have seen on mumsnet, that entails other problems

[Toadinthehole]

I am relieved to read the common sense on this thread. Without attempting to deny the very real torments a small percentage of people suffer in this respect, I worry that society is being encouraged to make up for its slow acceptance of feminism and the gay rights movement by doing the hundred metre sprint for transgenderism.

[Toadinthehole]

Atenco,

So tucking it between one's legs doesn't count?