Gender Ideology & the Gender Recognition Reform Bill
A Perfect Scottish Storm: What Parents Need to Know
Carolyn Brown (Educational Psychologist)
Hi! I'm new to Mumsnet so I'm just finding my way about the different parts of this excellent website. I wrote an article in November in The Times about a related issue re schools & gender ideology which Mumsnet picked up. From a professional point of view I feel compelled to try to reach as wide an audience as possible. I hope readers find this article helpful.
Regarding recent gender legislation controversies in Scotland, there have already been various Alice in Wonderland references to the country having disappeared down a dark rabbit hole so perhaps best not to persist with that analogy. But suffice to say that Scotland is approaching a very dark place indeed. The Scottish Government was asked to pause the Gender Recognition Reform Bill (GRRB); to take advice from objective experts; to listen to the concerns of women from all walks of life but still it blunders on blithely. And so societal misogyny continues meantime. Women will continue to be attacked in prisons by men pretending to be women; women will continue to be threatened and harassed for stating biological facts; they will continue to be prevented from attending women only meetings and events by threatening males, and generally, they will continue to be treated as second class citizens because it suits some politicians’ self-seeking agendas. There is little doubt that the Scottish populace needs to wake up and put a stop to all of this.
But arguably, the most worrying aspect of all is the plight of our schools. Parents really do need to be aware of what may be happening in their primary and secondary schools. Parents really do need to have an overview of whether schools, either knowingly or unknowingly, are indoctrinating their children and teenagers with queer theory and gender ideology. This means that at a very basic level, parents need to be assured that their children are being taught biological facts such as there are two sexes: male and female, and that a boy cannot physically become a girl and vice versa. Parents need to be assured that their child or children are not being informed that by some magical process, they can become the opposite sex. Gender ideology states that you can choose to be male or female, it states that some children are ‘born in the wrong body’. This is entirely misleading and harmful to the healthy psychological development of children and teenagers. The influence of gender ideology and queer theory encourages suggestible children - and all children are suggestible - to think they have a choice of what sex they can be. Instead of supporting children and teenagers to be at ease with their bodies, this ideology encourages children and teenagers to be ill at ease with their bodies. What teenagers, especially girls, do not already feel self-conscious about their bodies? This ideology is encouraging girls we used to call tomboys to think they must really be boys and boys we might have previously called effeminate to think they must be girls. How have we come to this regressive approach in the name of being progressive?
The Scottish Government Guidance Supporting Transgender Pupils In Schools implies that any pupil can be ‘trans’. The guidance claims it is inclusive and helpful for all pupils. This is a blatant lie. If adhered to and followed, this guidance will impact negatively on vulnerable children, girls in particular and schools themselves. The guidance is not based on robust research about childhood sexual and psychological development.
This is a time for parents to be vigilant; the evidence to date, indicates that the concept of ‘trans’ in childhood is pretty much an invented concept. Ten years ago, the idea of a ‘trans’ child did not exist. Yes there were occasional cases of ‘gender dysphoric’ children but these children were rare and mostly grew out of their distress during puberty. They were a different prospect to what we now think of as ‘trans’ where it is considered fine for a child or teenager to self-identify via TikTok or peer influences because they think that they can. There is a significant body of research which has, using the Tavistock’s own data, highlighted the fact that the concept of ‘trans’ children has been contrived to bolster an unproven ideology (researchers include: David Bell, Michael Biggs, Roberto D’Angelo). Scotland should be taking note of why countries like Sweden and Finland and of course England with the closure of Tavistock via the Cass Interim Report, have withdrawn from gender affirmation and treatment services for children and young people. Those decisions have been made because -and Scotland take note - of evidence, or at least, the lack of it, in terms of any successful outcomes of gender affirmation and treatment.
Various Scottish politicians have chosen to ignore many voiced concerns about the GRRB with regard to reducing the age from 18 to 16. They claim that this will be helpful not harmful to children and teenagers. And yet there are already numerous examples of parents who have been placed in the position of conflict with their child who declares they are the opposite sex and seek affirmation of their new identity. Hadley Freeman (Sunday Times January 8th 2023) points out that rather than affirming a young person’s new identity as the opposite sex, a more sensible approach by the adults nearby would be to look into why they might be making such a statement and what mental health issues and other concerns might be relevant. A legal age reduction enabling changing sex alongside school guidance such as the Scottish Government school guidance, creates a dangerous climate for the healthy psychological development of all children and teenagers.
Schools should be at the forefront of supporting children and young people to build their resilience, challenge magical thinking and support understanding. The school environment is an important place for children and teenagers to grow up both physically and emotionally. It needs to be inclusive, supportive, honest and promote the genuine safeguarding of children. And yet, the Scottish Government seems to want to rebrand school environments so that they promote a dangerous and unevidenced ideology which states that children can change sex for all purposes. Additionally the Scottish Government, on the advice of its so-called ‘expert’ Equality Committee, is aiming to call any alternative approach which seeks to explore possible causes of children and teenagers identifying as ‘trans’ as conversion therapy which they hope to ban. There are recommendations too for removing children from the parents who do not support their children being called ‘trans’. Such a proposal can only be conceived of as wicked and completely ill-informed. This is conflating conversion therapy as previously used to persecute gay individuals with appropriate and helpful support of children and teenagers. Teenagers have always wanted to experiment with their identity: to be goths, punks, hippies, gender benders and so on. This was always fine and part of growing up. But now far too many institutions including schools have embraced a new ‘flat earth’ belief which says that any individual can change to be the opposite sex. This is, quite simply, a lie.
What parents need to look for
Check and monitor if your child’s school knows about and is using the Scottish Government guidance. There are much better alternatives eg Sex Matters, TransgenderTrend. Check what is actually being taught regarding biological sex and sex education, is it being conflated with the concept of gender? Check that your school has single sex toilets not unisex or gender neutral toilets; teenage girls in particular, need privacy and dignity away from their male peers. It is also worth asking about LGBTQ youth groups and the materials being used by them. It is also worth asking if school managers have an overview or who is delivering services into your school; there have been previous horrific cases of pedophile rings in Scotland linked to various youth groups. And schools should already have a protocol for managing a situation where any pupil seeks social transition to the opposite sex. As a caring parent, you need to know what the school protocol is and what it looks like; it should not be to affirm automatically the pupil’s self-identification. Remember the apothegms: ‘Do no harm’? ’It’s everybody’s job to ensure I’m ok’? In the face of a range of reality denying beliefs being adhered to by the majority of our Scottish politicians, now more than ever, we really need to hang onto statements like these.
Carolyn Brown is a retired Depute Principal Psychologist of a Scottish Educational Psychological Service
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