I read a news story about a person named Dylan Mulvaney who documented transition over TikTok on a series titled “365 days of being a girl”. Intrigued by the photos of a perfectly sculpted/coiffed “woman”, I looked for the series on TikTok (first time on the app). There are many aspects of the series I find disturbing, especially as I assume many of the millions of “likes” are impressionable teens.
Two particular concerns:
(1) the beauty of Dylan today is due entirely to “feminisation surgery” which transformed the face into an idealised expression of what a “female” face should look like, at a cost that most people could never afford
(2) Day 1 of “being a girl” has the following stereotypical text: “Day 1 of being a girl and I have already cried three times; I wrote a scathing email that I did not send; I ordered dresses on line that I couldn’t afford; and then, uh, when someone asked how I was I said “I’m fine!” when I wasn’t fine. Yeah. How did I do ladies?! Good? Girl power!” All while dressed in a bright pink jumper, in a room with floral wallpaper, while applying lip gloss.
what I see is a very disturbed person, with a strongly binary, stereotypical view of gender and gender expression, who has found a way to exagerarte and monetise these views (and thus fund ever more extravagant “transition”) — and with a platform that can influence our children in potentially dangerous ways.
if I could turn the clock back, I would do everything possible to shield my children from social media — or at least sit with them to watch similar “feeds” so we could discuss what they were seeing. Too many parents (myself included) have lived completely in the dark about what are children are consuming on-line.