Please look at this and voice your thoughts

[DoubleTweenQueen]

Ok, so, it has come to my attention lately that gender-questioning is becoming more prevalent - particularly with pre-teen and teen girls.

DD2 seems to be questioning her own identity - doesn’t surprise me. Consider it a normal part of painful adolescence, particularly how women are portrayed and treated.
She has just turned 12. Was bullied when she was 9. Developed GAD; changed schools. Felt better, made new friends, more relaxed with life.

Then the pandemic - fear, worry, social isolation, introduction to tech for education and contact, her older sister succumbed to an eating disorder which has been a source of pain and more worry, and continues to be.

DD2 got into minecraft and you tubers who did minecraft. From there she has acquired quite a grounding in the toxicity of gender politics, mostly from the US it seems.

She seems to have been facilitated by school in her new thoughts about herself - she says she is demi-female, wants to change her pronouns to ‘they’ and her name. This is the first I’ve heard of it, by accident. No-one has mentioned anything about her questioning her identity or any upset from her at all. School have not talked to me at all regarding what else might be going on in her life - first term of senior school. I have filled them in. They are backpedaling.

What I have learned very quickly is that schools appear to be counselling children who are gender questioning, by affirming their thoughts through counselling in school - which is confidential and not shared with parents because the current thought seems to be - once a child questions their gender, they are identified as a ‘protected minority’ and supported and affirmed. Some schools are also enabling children to change their pronouns and name in school - step towards social transition.

This is counter to current thought regarding providing a safe neutral space for children to question and grow, without enabling or influence a move in a trans direction, and one they could feel unable to renege upon at a later date.

More worrying, there is a bill currently being drawn up in Parliament regarding the ban on ‘conversion therapy’ - heavily lobbied for by LGBT+ groups.
This wouldn’t seem to be an issue, apart from this does actually impact the field of child psychology in that when a gender-questioning child goes for therapy or support, the counsellor or psychologist may not look for co-morbidities, i.e. delve deeper to question whether the gender-questioning is a symptom of some deeper issue - anxiety, trauma, neurological-diversity. This is just bonkers! But look at what happened at The Tavistock clinic.........

I aam posting here, because most (including me) were blissfully unaware of the stealth by which this ideology is creeping into our schools and soon nurseries - under the guise of inclusion and anti-bullying. That our children have just gone through two years of difficulty and over-exposure to tech and social media. That their mental health has truly suffered.

If you have older children in secondary school - ask them if they hear of students declaring they are non-binary, interested in changing name or pronouns, interested in Communism and vegetarianism - it seems to go together.
It is very common now. Social contagion as bad as eating disorders, and potentially as damaging, if enabled to move down the pathway of puberty blockers, hormones, surgery!

Please look into this, and make yourselves heard!!

www.transgendertrend.com/conversion-therapy-legal-opinion/

Also - look at Genspect, and the Bayswater Support Group.

These are children, who are vulnerable and neuro-plastic. They are influenced heavily by SM. Please make yourselves aware, before this becomes law, and when your gender-questioning child goes for any sort of counselling, they will be met not with in-depth discussion about what has led them to their belief about themselves being wrong, or weird, or ‘other’ (so normal for adolescents!!) - but affirmation of a trans identity, and not looking for co-morbidities, because it will be against the law

Thanks for reading.

Put here for traffic, but MN can move wherever they like.

I would like to see MN also look into this, as an important parental issue (if they dare )

Vote - YABU - you’re hysterical
YANBU - you might be on to something

Please please please take a look at this and respond to the consultation as soon as you can:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10285677/Parents-backlash-set-brakes-new-gender-law-amid-fears-families-prosecuted.html

@DoubleTweenQueen thank you so much for your reply. My child is at college and off to uni next year so the days ofe being able to restrict social media are long over, said child has been making their own money for the last few years and bought their own phone plan and data almost straight away.

I will look at those links though and thank you again, much as I am so sad anyone else is going through this it's nice that people understand exactly how I feel as I don't think my friends do. Some just think it's silly, some that I should just accept it and the worst, that I should celebrate it.

Brilliant Nicola Williams and Fair Play for Women have got the government to extend the consultation deadline by 8 weeks

fairplayforwomen.com/government-forced-to-extend-public-consultation-on-conversion-therapy-after-fair-play-for-women-threatens-legal-action/?fbclid=IwAR1G5wZH42TzmnfcN1dH0-kNf-DGCgQDEiyX2a2u4HhtJ015E17Ypfr5KZ4

@DoubleTweenQueen

When you say through mine craft a grounding in the toxicity of gender stuff... That sounds like she has been made aware of how toxic it is but has unfortunately fallen into a trap at school?

Or.. She's been dragged into the toxicity through mine craft and that's where the trouble started??

I ask because I've had issue with dd and she's heavily into mine craft on u tube

@DoubleTweenQueen

Was hoping this crazy post would be a bit more effective than crossing fingers :D and that getting more folk interested might help with the momentum.

I don’t think children should be recognised as being trans accept for the evidence of a thorough psychological evaluation of all factors which may be affecting them.
This is not what’s happening, and is at risk of being denied to them, due to conflation with the LGBGT+ human rights/inclusion interests, with which I have zero argument, but that it must not reduce the protections of other vulnerable groups, as you say.

Nope I don't think that'll work, posting under a vague title on the wrong board deliberately to draw people in just pisses off the people who don't want this subject constantly rammed down their throat. You have a specific board to use and people are well aware of its existence.

Not sure about the vegetarianism and communism - I think it is more veganism and off American style liberalism ... but otherwise I totally agree OP!

And the monitors will likely ask this to be moved because they are shit-scared of even more women finding out the ways and extent to which women and children are being fucked over.

As demonstrated by @Chr1stmasCarole.

I deliberately put the thread here because it potentially affects more parents and children than you might realise or like to admit.

I apologise if it offends sensibilities!

@Imdreamingofapeacefulxmas It's likely the YouTube access - even kids YT seems to contain quite questionable philosophical content, and the algorithms are set to feed more if the same, once that rabbit hole is discovered.

Wow that's astonishing!
Double I 100% agree with children being given the time and space to discover who is they are without undue influences and pressures.
My dd last school seemed to kick off in year 7 with so many girls (all girls school) changing sex etc

@MysteriousMonkey Yes, it's all too easy to dismiss as a phase - schools seem to. I find that to be quite dangerous though, particularly with this very badly thought out muddle of a bill.
At the very least, children are being pressured into deciding their sexuality and 'identity' at far too young an age, and put into a position of emotional and psychological conflict, on top of all the existing enormous pressure of adolescence and educational achievement.

Inclusivity and anti-bullying is extremely important, but undue influence and pressure is way beyond what's acceptable and it's time to push back.

@NothingSafe

interested in Communism and vegetarianism - it seems to go together.

"Is YOUR child saying they love animals and think capitalism is bullshit? Beware, they might be being turned trans!"

I did raise an eyebrow at this

@Imdreamingofapeacefulxmas Yes, odd that my daughter and some of her friends have gone from being happy silly 11yr old mighty girls, to where they are now, and we have found some toe-curling practices in the first term at senior school, with which we are dealing, formally.

Having focussed on her more, and not gone along with any of her requests, she is far more relaxed and connected to me again. She knows I love her and will support her, but over my dead body would I allow harm to come to her. I get the impression she feels she has freedom to explore, with that safety net. I hope so.

@LittleMG Yes, well the wrong end of the stick was got

I stated those aspects as it seems to be part of the package.

I am supporting my daughter in her desire to be vegetarian. That is really not an issue.

Is your dd at an all girls school?
What on earth is going on.

It's not the same as Section 28

It is EXACTLY the same as Section 28 - it transes away the gay. It wipes lesbians off the map.

Like girls, you must be a boy.
Like trains, you must be a boy.
Like anything 'boyish' you must be a boy.
Like girls, this penis is a girl dick.

It is Section 28 disguised with glitter and rainbows.

James Esses explains this very well. There is a real risk that counsellors therapists and psychologists who attempt to explore the possibility of trauma, neurodiversity, rather than immediate affirmation and medical/surgical transition, will be criminalised.
The outcome, if this bill goes through, is that there will be no psychological services for gender questioning children because therapists will simply refuse to offer the service.
James explains his situation in the second half of Graham Linehans latest video, "The Mess We're In" released yesterday.

@Shedmistress

@endofthelinefinally Exactly this, thankyou

Unreasonable to lump in vegetarians with gender ideology.
Vegetarian food is safe. It doesn't actively harm anyone. It may play a part in saving the planet.

And I thought communism died a death and was largely replaced by socialism. Or are the young ones all calling eachother comrade.

There may be a slight correlation. Vegetarian people largely like to be empathetic so I can see them supporting other causes they believe are kind.

Autistic people are prone to seeing things in black and white so may have more polarised views like vegetarianism.

But again, vegetarianism in itself is not a harmful ideology and I resent the implication.

As a vegan I am very much a feminist as I know that female animals are far worse exploited than male animals in the egg and dairy industry.

I also know women are far more exploited than men and deserve single sex provision etc.

If it was just vegetarian socialists causing these safeguarding failings they would be a very small group with no power.
Alas, it ain't so.

@Goldilocks99 Again, that has been removed from context. It was cited as part of a common pattern in sudden belief sets that seem to stem from certain social media influencers, and an indicator of having been influenced as a package of belief sets.
That's all.

@HarrietsChariot

To me it's just that as something becomes more socially acceptable, more people reflect on their own circumstances. For a long time the concept of changing your gender did not exist, and until very recently it was not widely accepted. A hundred years ago, even twenty years ago, most people who had doubts about their gender would have ignored their feelings because the benefits of changing gender had to be weighed against the risks, both physically/surgically and in terms of the social backlash one might get. Now, the idea of changing gender is widely accepted as valid and real, so it's no surprise people who in the past might have kept quiet are now much more open.

25 years ago, whilst I was at school, literally no child was openly gay. Not a single one. Homosexuality was legal but still heavily frowned upon, it was seen as wrong and commonly used as a playground insult. Nowadays it is increasingly accepted in school, every year group has a few pupils who see themselves as gay, quite openly. Is homosexuality among children more prevalent, is this generation more likely to be homosexual? I'd say it's more likely children of my generation were more fearful of coming out, that children who were homosexual decided it was better to pretend to be straight. After all, school is all about fitting in.

I think the same situation applies with transgender issues in school. It's not that it's more common now, it's that as society increasingly accepts the idea of same sex relationships and of changing gender, it's inevitable that children who in the past would have kept quiet are now happy to be more open.

I don't think there's any avoiding this even if you wanted to. Tolerance and acceptance goes hand in hand with increased prevalence. Children are impressionable and it's natural that by seeing transgender or gay people living successful lives they are more likely to want to investigate those routes themselves.

I don’t think children should be recognised as being trans accept for the evidence of a thorough psychological evaluation of all factors which may be affecting them.

The trouble with that kind of argument is that it suggests that there is something inherently wrong with being trans, that being trans is a symptom of trauma and by extension it's not a real "thing". You are starting from the point of view that a child who says they are transgender is misunderstanding things or is only saying that because of there being something else wrong in their life.

The more a behaviour is accepted by society, the more common it will be. Society can't promote LGBTQQIP2SAA rights and enshrine them in law and then be surprised that more people explore these aspects of their personalities. Sure, there will be casualties along the way, people who chemically and surgically changed their gender in their teens may regret it down the line, just as someone who explores their sexuality when younger might come to realise they are heterosexual after all.

The choice is, accept these things and everything that comes along with it, or reject them and regress a few decades.

Can I ask what you mean by gender here?

And how it can be changed?

Well, I think you are better off sticking to the facts rather than lumping in other factors. It makes you sound very unreasonable to say that something as mundane and harmless as vegetarianism is associated with something sinister.

Don't do the 'guilt by association' thing. It's lazy.byour argument stands on its own merits.

@Goldilocks99

Well, I think you are better off sticking to the facts rather than lumping in other factors. It makes you sound very unreasonable to say that something as mundane and harmless as vegetarianism is associated with something sinister.

Don't do the 'guilt by association' thing. It's lazy.byour argument stands on its own merits.

It is a useful pattern for parents to look out for though so forgive me if I don’t agree with you. Becoming a vegetarian or vegan on it’s own would not be a red flag!

My understanding of the Op was a reference to the role of social media in influencing all kinds of trends.

Well, I would like to say more but I don't want a strike.
So I respectfully suggest that you focus on each individual 'trend' on its own merit.
Not that veganism is a trend. Plant based is a trend. Veganism is a lifestyle and ethical stance. Virtue signalling bacon scoffing vegans aren't vegans.