Six year old trans girl ‘tries to cut off her penis’ after Guide ban

[JonesTown]

Quite a disturbing article in this morning’s Observer regarding the impact of the Guides’ ban on trans girls following the Supreme Court ruling.

It reports on the experience of one six year old trans girl named Emily after hearing she could no longer attend Rainbows:

Emily’s parents decided to be honest with their daughter about the situation, and explained that she was no longer able to take part in Rainbows because she was trans. A few hours later Curt said they found her “sobbing in her room” and were “shocked” to find her holding a pair of plastic scissors to her penis.

AIBU to find this a distressing consequence of campaign by anti-trans activists or is it a natural result of allowing such young children to change their gender identity?

The parents may have handled this badly - e.g. 'you can't do Rainbows because you have a penis', as opposed to 'all six year olds can do Scouts '.
We don't have the full story though and we what do have may have been misrepresented so should be interpreted with some caution.

I don't think it's fair or helpful to describe the parents as abusive, as many PP have. Gender dysphoria (if that's the right term here) is a very real thing. I have close family friends whose very young child (below the age of six) repeatedly referred to his penis with loathing and wanted to remove it. This was 30 years ago, way before transgenderism became such a hot topic. The issue was within the child, not an external force.

Let's stop playing the blame game and remember that there are in some cases distressed and confused kids involved, and they and their parents are navigating highly challenging waters.

If it were a genuine case of gender dysphoria, I doubt the parents instinct would be to write a self involved blog post complaining about the impact of the SC judgement and telling everyone what 'they' want to see (everyone 'being kind' and stfu about women's rights.)

No one normal has.

As a general comment, it’s worth reiterating that distress with genitalia, especially in young children can be a sign of sexual abuse.

Given that the NSPCC estimates that 1 in 20 children have been sexually abused it would seem the mostly likely explanation.

Sadly, it is now being obscured and potentially mis-attributed as ‘gender dysphoria’. Some of the people pushing that idea clearly have an agenda.

It's a six year old.

Cut the crap.

We didn't have a problem with six year olds doing similar even just a few years ago.

It's 100% down to parents putting adult ideas into the heads of children who can't cope with it.

It's a form of child abuse at age six.

For older children I would have a different conversation due to what they are being exposed to in their lives that parents are struggling to cope with for various reasons.

But at age six. No. Absolutely not. I'm not buying it for a nanosecond.

Apologies in advance, I haven't rtft but - since this year old boy would not be eligible to go to Brownies until he reaches the age of 7 anyway, has the thread had any description of his tactics for sorting that little problem?

According to the article they told the child he couldn't go because he was trans. I imagine the first time this child showed an interest in a doll or a dress he was told he is a girl with a penis and girls with a penis are called 'trans'. Because there is no conceivable way they'd be in this position otherwise.

Excellent post. I have every sympathy for those with body dysmorphia and truly hope they get the help and support they need.This kid had been tragically let down by their family .
If an anorexic child tried to cut off part of their stomach in order to reduce it , we would help them to understand that it was unnecessary and caused by their illness. Not pander to their misguided desires. I hope he’s ok.

The abusive part is the parents agreeing that his distress is because he is ‘really a girl’ though. And then enrolling him in Rainbows knowing that moves are already afoot to make GG comply with the law.

In agreeing that he is really a girl inside and just needs to make his body match his feelings, they have not only set him on a path to extreme body modification and medication but have written a cheque that society is not prepared to cash.

They have set his expectations that he is actually a girl and are encouraging him to socialise as if he was a girl. Every time reality intrudes it will cause him even more distress. This is obviously the situation currently being described. What happens when he hits puberty? He either goes through a process that will totally turn his life on its head, or he has to take medication which will cancel his puberty and ruin his health.

Given his age and their reaction, it is very unlikely that they have investigated the most likely cause of his distress with his genitals which is child sex abuse. That is also a serious issue.

Exactly. And if the boycott is true, the poor child is now being made to feel responsible for others leaving the group! A completely inappropriate and unnecessary amount of pressure on this kid. This will increase his risk of potential self harm and mental health issues. Its abuse.

Any child who wants to remove his penis needs psychological help, not a rush to 'gender dysphoria'. I would be asking what has happened that a child hates any part of their body and particularly if it's a sex organ.

however you feel about the supreme courts decision and Girl Guiding’s approach- to have signed your trans male child up to Rainbows after the SC decision was cruel.

Parents being deliberately cruel and setting out to trigger distress in their child to make a political point should not be getting a flowery write up in a national newspaper, they should be getting social services involvement and questions being asked about their ability to parent their child.

@RedToothBrush As I said, I was very close to a family with lived experience of this, 30 years ago.
Just because you didn't hear of these cases that doesn't mean they didn't exist.

Setting aside the possibility that Zoe Williams has ever made a sensible suggestion in her life - there exist organisations for children that cater to both sexes but there are also ones that cater to only one sex. You are allowed to choose.

You cannot force the pretence that a body belonging to one sex belongs to the other.

Most people accept that overwhelming gender dysphoria exists. The problem is that a couple of decades ago, the rate in the population was around 0.01%. But now, in some schools among the children, the rate is 1000 times higher. Or even more, maybe 5000 times higher in some schools.

This. They put ideology above the welfare of their child.

The boy is still only 6. God knows what age he was when they first started lying to him. This isn't a teenager searching the internet and stumbling on 'trans' and deciding that is the answer to his feelings of disconnect with his body. He's 6. The idea he can change sex and be a girl can only have come from his parents.

It is the parents responsibility to ensure their child understands he can NEVER change sex and that's he is and always will be a boy.

It is his parents responsibility to ensure they help him understand that he will always be male and get him access to mental health provision if he is so distressed about his penis.

It is his parents responsibility to help him understand that some things are just for girls and some things just for boys.

It is his parents responsibility to help him understand that outside of his house and his little friends everyone else sees him as the little boy he is.

It is his parents responsibility to help him understand that the world does not revolve around their son.

Instead they lied and lied and lied to their little boy.

You are right gender dysphoria is a real thing, but instead of helping him work through his distress and feelings so that he could come to terms with reality they decided to make their little boy into a little girl.

Then they act all surprised and blame everyone but themselves when their carefully constructed bubble of nonsense they've surrounded him in pops and reality comes flooding in.

Looks like abusive parenting to me. So yes I'm going to blame his parents.

And I think cases like this take away from the very real struggles those people have. It has now become some sort of “fad” with the focus being on these daft things rather than how those who geneuinely struggle can be supported.

Just because you knew them and were friends with them doesn't mean they weren't still the problem...

The word "truscum" has come from trans rights circles as a slur against people who believe you have to have real gender dysphoria to be transgender.

It's by no means empirical, but from what I've seen, the kinds of people described as "truscum" very often do realise and accept that they are not the sex they want to be and they recognise it's a dysphoria.

Sure, in much the same way as sensible solution to prison overcrowding would be to decriminalise everything.

So this child age 6 has decided their future before reaching the age of reason (which is age 7).

The problem here is not rainbows it's the parents.

The dad is delutional. Whe the heck didn't he explain biology to his son. Stating she is a girl when he isn't us very cruel and will kead to a life of confusion. Why would he do this to.hus child?

"I am a father. My daughter is six years old. She is transgender, happy, bright and full of life. She didn’t learn to be a girl — she simply is one, in the same natural way another child might know they love drawing or dancing."

Even if they had the right hat! 😂

yup