To think that this book should not be sold to young girls?

[WandaWomblesaurus]

twitter.com/Waterstones/status/1623584986740953091?s=20&t=WU0D0fzc6ClGJC5R-gJnuw

Waterstones tweeted celebrating a book that is about transing girls. Here is one of the illustrations from the book.

AIBU to think that this is directly promoting self harm to young vulnerable girls?

As a young reader in the early 90s my school library had a novel called "Second Star To The Right" about a teenager with an eating disorder. It was extremely intense and I remember it vividly.

Crucially it was a book ABOUT anorexia. Although it technically described how to reduce your meals, the destruction and isolation this caused was acutely clear. In no way could it be described as minimalising or promoting that state of mind.

This novel appears to be trivialising the effects of puberty blockers (the drugs used to chemically castrate rapists) and dismissing the female half of the population.

Pop a few pills to neutralise your disgusting womanly body and then you can just hang out and play computer games all day!

I am not in favour of censoring of books in any form this is not handmaid's tale

This could be very helpful to some that are going through challenging times.

It's not for young children it clearly states that.

My brother is gay, reading books about heterosexual relationships from an early age did not make him straight, But some appropriate teenage reading definitely helped him when he was struggling with his sexuality.

No-one is suggesting this is a great stocking filler for all children

What’s “body dismorphorphia”?

If you mean “body dysmorphia”, then gender ideologists are at very clear pains to say that it’s offensive to compare trans identity to this, and that “gender dysphoria” is nothing at all no not AT ALL IN ANY WAY HOW DARE YOU THINK SO YOU TRANSPHOBE like body dysmorphia

(In fact the book is itself transphobic, since apparently being trans isn’t any longer about “gender dysphoria” and to suggest it is, is very offensive.)

Ridiculous straw man argument.

But generally books aimed at young adults do discuss more difficult and challenging issues. Whether it does do responsibly is another matter, and I doubt whether many people here have seen the full book, but are just responding to an anti-trans dog whistle post of an image posted out of context.

How is homophobia even remotely comparable to concern for the mental health and bodily safeguarding of girls?

Your analogy is, as usual when TRAs trot it out, unhinged from reality.

I remember that book too. It had a big impact on me. Unfortunately I did develop anorexia, and later bulimia - not as a result of that book alone, obviously, but I do remember the huge impact it had on me. I think young people, perhaps esp young girls, are incredibly vulnerable to this kind of thing. And even something like Second Star to the Right, which didn't glamorise or promote self-hatred like this does, could have a damaging effect on those already vulnerable. (Don't get me started on 'the best little girl in the world' or 'Wasted'!)

I would absolutely hate my daughter to see this. She is struggling enough with her changing body. This is appallingly damaging.

Would you be OK with a book aimed at young Black people that described their facial features in a similar way?

Yes of course. I hope there are books which explore why young people might be unhappy with the colour of their skin or their facial features.

It's not just one image though. Here's another page posted earlier in the thread by @LimeCheesecake

This calls puberty blockers a pause on puberty. That is a lie.

Presumably it's a work of fiction where you don't have to agree with the views expressed by the character within?

I think 14-18 year olds would be perfectly capable of realising that, same as when I was 9 and read the Beano, I didn't start behaving like the Bash St Kids.

It was perfect equivalency for the idea of someone printing books that suggest you could jump off a building a turn into something that could fly.

And my experience of comics and graphic novels is actually very wide, and I count a number of well known comic artists amongst my friends. And two kids that have gone through Y6 biology (and life studies) in the past few years.

I agree with this entirely.

It sounds like for the author, transitioning was a positive thing and I wish him all the best and hope he continues to be happy in his decision. Of course there will be others like him out there, but in relatively low numbers.

However there are many many teenagers out there who are vulnerable to gender ideology and could well end up going down a medical pathway and hugely regretting it later. The consequences of this are not minimal. They include being made infertile, loss of your breasts/penis, loss of sexual function, being a medical patient for life.

I think it's terrifying that teens (and young adults) are being set on such an extreme medical pathway when we don't know how many will regret it long term.

I am sure this book is telling the author's story in a genuine way, but I also think it unfortunately contributes to a dangerous narrative for young girls.

particularly if a young person feels lonely and isolated in their negative feelings about their body, would this book be like a light in the dark that the character felt the same? I’d want to read the book in full to see how the character develops and (hopefully) becomes more body confident.

Given that the character in the book goes on to take irreversible puberty blockers (often a pathway to surgery) it does not seem as it will be a light in the dark. It might encourage a girl who feels that way to think that this is her way forward. A light in the dark would be showing that it is an entirely normal part of puberty to feel discomfort and/ or disgust in our developing bodies but that our bodies are in fact wonderful and we should celebrate being women. Women can have short hair and leg hair if they want, and be attracted to other women! It doesn't mean they are 'men' - ffs.

Girls who mutilate their bodies at a young impressionable age risk lifelong distress at being unable to breastfeed or even to have children (if they remove their wombs) and being left with irreversible changes to their voices among other things. Imagine 'waking up' in due course like it was some kind of fever dream and realising what you've done. There is a lot of anger out there already from detransitioners who feel completely traumatised at what they have done and how it was allowed to happen.

Tell me you don't understand anything about racism or about child psychology without telling me you don't understand anything about racism or child psychology.

Oh, you did.

How did I know you will reply with your “credentials”? 🤔
Tell me more about the superheroes who acquired their powers (achieved their true potential) after being groomed into self-loathing and persuaded to mutilate their bodies?

You have two children but you don't understand the difference between fact and fiction?

What you seem to be (deliberately?) missing is that this book tells girls they are RIGHT to feel this way about their bodies, and that they should listen to the voices that tell them they are disgusting and hideous and revolting and ugly and sweaty etc.

You would approve a book telling young Black people that they were all of those things, and that the answer is for them to bleach their skin, straighten their hair, get nose jobs, etc.

Wow.

What's promoted is not harmless. From the link I posted upthread:

"How little patients understood what they were getting into was illustrated by a call we received at the center in 2020 from a 17-year-old biological female patient who was on testosterone. She said she was bleeding from the vagina. In less than an hour she had soaked through an extra heavy pad, her jeans, and a towel she had wrapped around her waist. The nurse at the center told her to go to the emergency room right away.

We found out later this girl had had intercourse, and because testosterone thins the vaginal tissues, her vaginal canal had ripped open. She had to be sedated and given surgery to repair the damage. She wasn’t the only vaginal laceration case we heard about."
www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-was-saving-trans-kids

It is wrong to lie about medicating children. It is wrong to glamorise such medication.

Jesus Christ that is horrific. This is so not ok.

And based on your post, you also think that the reason young Black people might hate their bodies is that they're really White people who have somehow been 'born in the wrong body' and should therefore have surgery and take drugs to make their outer appearance look 'White'?

Wow again.

I think need more men as well as women to stand up for their daughters. I am following James Esses on Twitter who has a court case coming up . He is doing his best to spread the word . Expelled from unversity for GC views

Dreadful book I give up now fatty hips I grew up in a family being told I was fat from 13 today I still hate mirrors.

Yeah, just carry on enjoying yourself putting words into my mouth. What a croc.