Poor kid

[Pratchet]

someone should answer for this

I also think the fact the parents are parading their child in the papers is terrible.

"He said 'do you know what LGBT is?' And I didn't know what it was"

Chinny reckon.

The article drips with gender stereotyping:

Tom Boy, twirling in dresses, sole girl in a family of 5 kids, makeup on a 6 year old

Wonder when mum and dad spilt up too

It's a tricky old year for 10 year olds (when she started to reject stereotypically female clothes and hair cut) as they start to look out into the world and see what's expected of them.

Wonder whose idea it was to burn a bra? Whose bra - not little Gabriel's, certainly

It’s not exactly a convincing case study, is it? I also think that it shows poor judgement to publicise it in the press for a child that age.

What do you think TransplantsArePlants? The only girl out of 5, mum going over the top to feminise her only daughter deeply into stereotypes, the child rejecting that and using the other kids, her brothers, as a template for how to avoid being put into an unappealing and very narrow-looking box?

yes, that poor kid.

I wonder how the conversation around being "LGBT" really went. It's entirely possible that Charlotte wanted to tell their mum that they're a lesbian. But mum went straight to trans.

There is so much to be sad/angry about in this story. Who is advocating for that poor child? They are of no age to be making life altering decisions or to understand the impact of these decisions even when explained. Surely part of our job as parents is to protect our children from themselves until they are of an age to do it themselves? My daughter mostly dresses in a neutral way, at times wants dresses and make up, she is 6, her brother who is 4 rocks a princess dress and likes dolls, does this bother me? Does it fuck! Gender is a contruct, we are all free to perform/not perform it as we see fit. The idea that clothing toys or anything preference signals that somehow 'biology' is wrong is quite frankly ludicrous.

Tomboy here. Was horrified when I had to wear a vest and not go topless in my shorts like my 4 brothers when playing.

But at no point did I ever ever want to become one of them brothers.

Ffs what the shit is going on that a kid even has them thoughts in their head
Who is feeding them this crap
It’s an awkward time starting puberty for sure but they don’t need this sorta crap being fed them

Ffs

It’s not exactly a convincing case study, is it? I also think that it shows poor judgement to publicise it in the press for achildthat age

Which makes you wonder what kind of Dr agreed to do this. If I had to hazard a guess id also say a gender obsessed mum wanting to "enjoy having a girl" and possibly on the receiving end of some bullying or sexual comments/harassment at school or digs about her sexuality.

No protection at all for girls or lesbians

Could of course be wrong...

These are the sorts of threads that should be on the main boards.

There's a lot about this story that doesn't seem quite right. Most of the stuff has already been pointed out. The reporting is strangely uncritical (for the Mail) and the parents' examples of non-conformity are extremely trivial - all that stuff about the short hair, and the child refusing to wear make-up. The detail about the burning of the bra (wtaf?) was faintly disturbing. Claiming the transition (ie something that will render the child permanently sterile and unable to have a sex life) wasn't a "big deal" suggests someone who doesn't know what she's talking about.

The sentence that stood out for me was: "Gabriel's next big step is to undergo a hormone blocking procedure, and he is on a waiting list at a gender clinic in Leeds. It is hoped that will stop puberty before it started to allow him to transition into a boy."

There is nothing here to suggest that the clinic will actually put her on puberty blockers. It all seems to be happening in the mother's head. She seems to me that she's in her own little fantasy land with no understanding of the reality of what transition means. The very fact that she has gone to the papers with this story also suggests someone who is more interested in attention-seeking than the wellbeing of her child.

Yes exactly

hackmum

Yes. It's badly written. Amateurish.

So the poor kid can’t cope with going to school, but mum thought it was a good idea to broadcast it in the national news.

I find this thread upsetting there are so many assumptions being made from. This being in Leeds which it's not. The young person's gender clinic is in Leeds so everyone that is not down south goes there. Yes mermaids is a Leeds based organisation. They are not connected to the clinic other than they are a parents group and represent some of the parents who's children attend the clinic and support them. That is by no means all. The parents or young. People. Right mesmac there are a lot of good people who work really hard and do a lot for the lgbt community in West. Yorkshire yes there was a person who abused that. But the rest of the organisation is recovering from that and the therapy they offer is life saving..

But unless. You actually have any experiance of any of these organisations please do not make assumptions about them

I do worry that it is the very gender uncritical, “pink princess/tiara/unicorn vs Spider-Man and footy” stereotype accepting parents who will be taken in by this ideology. Those of us of a more feminist “oh I don’t mind if wee Tarquin wears a dress” bent are not really at risk... it’s a different world out there and I can see a lot of people clutching at “trans” as a solution when their children don’t conform and/or are gay/autistic say.... That’s why it’s so dangerous that the various “Guidelines” strongly discourage questioning from professionals such as teachers etc.

Dear goddess.

I honesty don't think I can comment without a deletion, so I'm remaining shtum 🤐

I thought Mesmac was a sexual health advisory service.

I may be way off beam here, but the acronym is something about Men Having Sex With Men (eg gay but not out), and they are about outreach into cruising areas, provision of condoms, HIV screening etc.

A vital service, but what has that to do with a 12 year old girl, why would they be getting involved, and why would that need defending?

Are Mesmac the ‘it’s OK to shag the clients’ one?

That's them, Ruby.

Shall we say they're...possibly problematic in relation to young people.

It’s taken pretty much word for word from the Hull Daily Mail so no wonder it seems amateurish!

Now I’m just very confused? What possible help could they be to this child?