Are some professions more likely to have trans-identified children?

[Niminy]

Do some occupational groups have a higher percentage of parents of trans-identified children? Following on from Sunderland Minster thread I was thinking that I could immediately think of five clergy with trans-identified children. I'm sure there are more but I got kicked out of a big fb group for being a Terf. Actors, journalist -- this is well known. Are there others? Academics, perhaps? And what makes some groups more susceptible?

Actors. Politicians. Union workers = Politically correct/ideologically susceptible.

Plus IT workers (unfortunately) = early and unrestricted and unregulated access to the Internet and all and any porn.

Is it not the case that actors, journalists and celebrities are more likely to be in the public eye and therefore you’re more aware of those with trans kids?
You wouldn’t necessarily hear about the nurses or parking wardens whose kids are trans.

I think there has been a second group of trans kids identified that don't have high flying parents but who come from more chaotic backgrounds.

The common denominator there seems to be a lot of input from social workers.

If you believe the evidence that autism is genetic, and that particularly autistic girls are more likely to be trans, then isn't that a more likely common denominator than some of the near-conspiracy theories suggested here? Especially with regard to STEM careers, academics, possibly the clergy etc.

I don't have any skin in the game here at all (I don't get Mumsnet's obsession with this), but I just don't believe any parents are 'choosing' to have trans-identifying children.

I very much doubt it.

As PP have said, it’s largely middle class families this is happening in. You don’t see many cleaners or dustmen (my parents occupations) with children wanting to be Trans.

When he was small it would have been incredibly easy to have persuaded my very effeminate, “girl coded” son that he was in fact a girl, especially given his autism. Luckily he had sensible parents who didn’t turn a hair at his particularly “girly” behaviour and interests and when he was 14 he came out as gay to nobody’s surprise.

IF he had pretended to be a girl we would of course have stuck to facts - that he’s not a girl, just a boy who has interests that are more common in girls than boys and that he’s amazing just the way he is.

We would have behaved exactly the same as we would if he’d insisted he was black, or an armadillo - ie we’d NEVER have lied to him no matter what, but would have got him help from whatever sources were appropriate.

I know several trans kids. Their parents are from a variety of professions.

The only common markers I can see is that they were all unhappy/overlooked in some way and becoming trans/non binary has allowed them to gain quite a bit of positive attention from family members, teachers and peers.

More than one was from a very large family, one was in a family where a sibling had severe health issues and parental focus was naturally on the ill child, another was overweight and lacking in
self esteem. All the children were immediately the subject of lots and lots of focus/discussion/attention.

I’m not at all suggesting it’s a simple as “attention seeking behaviour” because obviously there will be a number of factors at play in each case.

Of all the children I know impacted by gender ideology, none of them were happy, socially stable, outgoing or sporty.

It’s distressing to think that as a society we might be allowing unhappy vulnerable children to become more vulnerable by dint of this ideology.

What is it that makes you think you are so much better at parenting than I am? I didn’t persuade my child about anything. I have not shown them lots of attention about it. We barely talk about it. I really dislike the tone of this board. So smug that this has not happened in your family and believing it’s all down to your excellent parenting. Guess what? I thought I was a brilliant parent too.

I will leave the thread now so you can talk about the families with trans children you know.

Fine, you're allowed your opinion and I'm allowed mine 🙂

The attention thesis is interesting. I sometimes look at noted misogynist Joylon Maugham and wonder how little attention he gave his daughters that two of them had to pretend to be boys to get his attention

Sadly I know some mums that are a biology teacher and a nurse. They are the ones who are the most excited by it all, one of them has 4 boys and a trans identifying daughter. She incessantly goes on about her ‘boy/son’ and never mentions her actual 4 boys.

In my work experience damaged girls will identify as non binary and then distance themselves from all the other students.

I’m very sorry that this thread has distressed you. I think the OP’s intention was to look at the broad impact of gender ideology across society as a whole, not to criticise individual families or parenting.

Our children aren't blank slates on which we impress our parenting ideas, otherwise children from one family would always turn out the same and that’s obviously not the case.

This is a complicated subject and hard to discuss, we are none of us perfect parents.

Sending unMumsnetty hugs 💐

Too many big pairs of judgey pants on this thread. If you’ve not been on the inside you have no idea. So unnecessary and unpleasant. What about parents of anorexics? alcoholics? Self harmers? EBSA? Care to do an armchair analysis of their jobs too? Got any hard stats or just an excuse for gossipy tittle tattle? Am with @0livesandcheese

The 3 trans kids I know of are all in west end creative ‘bohemian’ families

Tbf, there is good evidence to show siblings of seriously ill children are at a much greater risk of anorexia than other children. Nothing to do with parents jobs, bug lits to do with (subconscious) need to be noticed.

I'm sorry, @0livesandcheese I really didn't mean this thread to be a personal one, and I'm sorry it has upset you. I was thinking sociologically, about general trends, not about individual stories. Of course every family is different and so is their story.

We are all part of wider trends that we are often not aware of. For example I thought that having children in my forties was simply because of all the stuff that had happened to me, and not meeting someone till I was older -- and that was true. But it was also true for loads of other women in my age cohort. We are all individuals making our own decisions but we are also part of wider social trends. That's the kind of thing I was thinking of. I apologise for not having made it as clear in my posts as it was in my own mind.

But if you want to study that data you need to be in a position to collect that data accurately. This is just a load of randoms on the internet saying ‘I know a load of tans kids whose parents are bohemian’ and ‘I know even more whose parents are ambulance drivers’. It’s all too Arthur Miller.
You may think you know all about a family of you are aware their child is trans, but you have absolutely no idea of the conversations that have been going on within that situation, so aren’t in a position to draw any meaningful conclusions, only gossip and hearsay. It’s unpleasant. So stop.

It's never the sort of high energy, decisive, efficient parents who will have encouraged their kids into sports, hobbies and being busy and pushed them out their comfort zones. Some parents would view them as too much, their parenting not child centred enough.

It's the kind of parents who would spend a whole afternoon encouraging their toddler to decide what to have for dinner. Some parents would see them as tiresome and the parenting as giving a child an inappropriate amount of responsibility.

Different types of people would gravitate towards certain careers, so I'd guess you see less of it in the trauma surgeons, professional footballers, retail workers, finance etc and more of it in the jobs with long meetings like charity worker, academic, therapist. Doing people versus talking people.

Does anyone have any sources for any of this?
It seems like there are a few sweeping statements with nothing backing them up.

Probably because celebrities are in the public eye so you hear about their personal lives, whereas you don't tend to know anything about the kids of your butcher, baker, plumber etc unless you know them personally.

Likewise the answers anyone gives here are going to be biased by their own circle of acquaintance.

Some professions seem to be more likely to announce to the media that their children think they are trans.

I regret starting this discussion now. I can see that the thing I was wondering about has opened the door to anecdata and opinion. Perhaps there isn't any way to ask if social contagion could operate across generations without either people feeling their parenting has been criticised, or others taking the opportunities to air their criticisms of others' parenting.

GIDS did publish data on the parents at one time including measures such as educational attainment and household income but I can't find it now.

As well things like autism and ACEs, GIDS noted how few children they saw from ethnic minorities