The Sun 'is changing gender the new anorexia?'

[HandsOffMyRights]

www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/7362652/changing-gender-new-anorexia/

It would be interesting to know if cases of anorexia and pro ana spaces have seen a sharp decline in parallel to gender dysphoria and pro trans spaces rising.

Fucking hell if all her friends talked about was dream weddings and must-have dresses no wonder the poor kid was distressed. I think she just needed new friends. Most of my friends were boys at that age and my wardrobe was jeans, band tees and DMs like them, but it never occurred to me to think I was a bloke!!

A surprisingly rigorous article from The Sun.

You know what? The Sun publishes some bloody good articles, particularly in its Fabulous magazine. For years I've been sniffy about the Sun and the Mail because of their right-wing bias and their often deplorable attitudes to women and immigrants. But both publications have excellent journalists working for them who write well-informed, well-researched articles. On an issue like this, they leave the Guardian standing.

When I was at school people used to self harm. There was a social contagion element and we used to meet in the loos and "ooh" over the marks. Obviously there were some serious MH issues too, but at no point was any child told to "do what you need to do to be your authentic self", bought illegal razor blades off the internet by parents or encouraged to keep it secret.

Many of the children I read about who are now under the trans umbrella have very similar co morbid MH / ASD conditions and sexual assault / chaotic lifestyle history to my friends who self harmed.

Excellent thoughtful piece of journalism. In The Sun.

hackmum I know a couple of the journalists who write for the Sum and DM and they are good people. The DM journo is hoping the new editor will change things quite dramatically.

The Guardian and the BBC have a massive blockage in their ability to make links between sexism, sexual assault, girls' mental health (all of which they report on ) and transgenderism. A chasm. And I can only assume it's because they are hard-of-thinking or they have a large number of TRAs in their employ

Oh God, yes though! Mermaids and Stonewall linked at the end

When I was a teen I frequented a lot of pro-ana sites, most notably a
Xanga and Livejournals groups and blogs.

When I started to revisit trans issues I didn't go to GC websites. I visited pro trans blogs and forums. I was really struck by how they reminded of "pro-anna" websites which I had visited a few years earlier (to check if it was a moral panic over the internet)

Interesting article. There are parallels between having a sense of gender dysphoria and being anorexic (the article alludes to it but doesn't seem to expressly state it). Some girls become anorexic due to hatred of their body during puberty and a desire to get rid of developing breasts and 'curves'.

Having now read the article I agree it is excellent.

Just one complaint, it quotes Susie Green on the process and official guidelines with Green's emphasis that we are worrying about nothing because of these strict guidelines.

No mention on how Green followed a completely different process with her child.

This needs to be reported everywhere.

Not just The Times and The Guardian, but everywhere.

We can't quibble when Rod Liddle, the Daily Mail and The Sun publish reports, when this is what the issue needs.

Ordinary members of the public, not just those who have an axe to grind, need to be made aware of this issue.

To be aware means the start of education about something which could affect/be affecting their children, grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

When transgenderism appears in the red tops, it means the TRAs can't work in secret and push through policies and legislation in relative secrecy.

I have thought along these lines for some time.

I have two girls, not teenagers yet. Can anyone who had teenagers tell me if it is realistic to try and keep them off social media until they are older, more solid in themselves?

Opal I have a 13yr old daughter - I can't keep her off social media but I have challenged her to always question what she sees - who's saying it, why and what's their evidence. They're going to live out their lives online whatever we do - robust critical thinking is the best skill we can teach. (She's naturally argumentative so that helps!) She's pretty gender critical now and not afraid to challenge the views of others.

I have two girls, not teenagers yet. Can anyone who had teenagers tell me if it is realistic to try and keep them off social media until they are older, more solid in themselves?

I've got teen boys. Luckily my only DD is much older and the internet/phones were very much still in infancy when she was younger.

It's a really difficult quandary because to be one of the only kids that doesn't have a phone etc... immediately marks them out from their peers and it really is how they all communicate now.

I've found the best way (for me) is to allow devices, have parental settings (imperfect but better than nothing) and most importantly be able to talk to them about the issues that arise from social media and the internet.

The latter is probably the only really effective weapon because as I discovered with my very tech savvy teen boys they quickly learned to bypass settings and blocked sites with VPNs. One of them is studying IT and the other isn't far behind, my mediocre skills are not up to the job of total prevention.

I wasn’t anorexic as a teen. But I was extremely uncomfortable with my changing body. I hated my periods and it took a long time for me to manage them effectively and get the right sanpro and painkillers (codeine and pracetamol!) right.
Body hair, sweat, weight gain etc....non of it felt feminine to me. I think that teaching girls that this is all perfectly normal part of becoming a woman should be taught in schools!

So pleased to see a mainstream publication picking up on this. Anyone who's ever been a teenage girl knows how infectious ideas and trends can be - I remember eating disorders spreading at school. I was a relatively stable teenager and I look back at some of the crazy shit I thought then and thank goodness none of it had a permanent impact on my body.

But of course, most TRAs never were teenage girls.

ChrysanthemumsAreMums Your comment about the BBC & the guardian are bang on. I sneer at the radio daily. I used to love radio 4 but it & 5LIVE are nothing but propaganda machines.

Since the Daiky Mail started publishing the truth I’ve tried to buy a copy everyday in support. I’m off for my Sunday Times (same reason) shortly but can see I’ll be throwing a copy of the Sun in my trolley too (and leaving a FPFW leaflet in the trolley when I’ve finished.

Excellent article. Pubescent girl ashamed of the male attention that her body brings. Again, where does the problem lie? The whole trans-issue is a mass of stocking plasters
trying to stem the haemorrhage of male violence.

Bump.
They should see their GP, not Mermaids.

There was a really interesting discussion and explanation about this at the Bristol, 'We Need To Talk About Sex' meeting from the Jam Jar.

Nicole's speech starts 52:30

Its really worth watching:

I’ve got a colleague with a teenage daughter who goes to a girls’ private school.

About three years ago he said to me, DD tells me nobody’s anorexic at her school any more, they’re all trans now.

I always thought she was a particularly intelligent and perceptive girl.

I have a teenaged DD - we were talking this week about trans issues and she said "why on earth would anyone want to be a woman" From where she is, she'd rather not have to worry about her personal safety, or have crappy periods, or any of the other crap she's started to go through.

About three years ago he said to me, DD tells me nobody’s anorexic at her school any more, they’re all trans now.

That’s reminded me of a Mumsnetter who, quite some time ago now, spoke of a London girl’s private school/sixth form (can’t remember which one now) that was notorious for its cohort of anorexic girls, implying there was definitely an element of social contagion/affirmation going on there. Apparently that school was now overwhelmingly “trans”.

Having been teenage girls ourselves, it makes perfect sense doesn’t it? I can imagine several of my eating disordered/self harming friends in the late 90s being seduced by trans ideology.

The pressures on teenage girls are so terrifying now, so much more so than 20 years ago. I didn’t have to worry about Instagrammers or Youtubers, I didn’t have to obsess over my eyebrows or learning make up skills a drag queen would be proud of. I didn’t have porn culture teaching me that girls needed to be hairless and totally OK with anal sex or being ejaculated over. If I’d been facing those pressures I would have gladly hopped on the trans train.

I also have that moment of sinking dread where I know any "woke" people would say, "but it's The Sun".

I tend to counter with "I assume people are intelligent enough to see past any bias and take note of the facts."