Butterfly - anyone watching

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Opening sequence got pretty much all the stereotypes in...

What is wrong with being a gay boy? Jes do kids really think its a big deal when in reality most 'trans' kids are gay.

If you were affected by issues raised in this programme...

Mermaids
Stonewall
Scottish Trans Alliance
Samaritans

I want to know where all the trans kids where when I was at school?
Why now and why so many?
I started secondary in 1996, there were 1200 kids at that school.
I have a theory, and that is, instead of being trans, all the kids with 'problems' be it family break down, autism, confusion about sexuality whatever, were anorexic, self harming, smoking drinking.
It just looks like a new way of lashing out and taking control to me.

I mean gay in the loose sense of a boy not really conforming to masculine image, not the adult stuff. If people were more accepting the trans thing would be less an issue.

Thanks to those who took one for the team and watched it. I just couldn’t. Dad HIT him for wearing pink? wow Surely the general public will think abusive/homophobic when they see that? Won’t they?

I wanted to be a boy late 70s/early 80s due to thinking boys got to do better things and also probably an abusive family life. I just grew out of it because being trans wasn't an option.

Bluntness Really? You are going to watch the next 2 episodes?

Anyone who grew up through the eighties will surely be thinking, er, boys and makeup, fine, boys and dancing, fine, boys and pink, fine...how has an entire generation reverted to fifties style sexism of the only boys who like this stuff are actually girls inside?

@Bluntness100

What did you think of all the sexism?

I wanted to be a boy too. My brother got bigger portions of food, first dibs at seconds of cake and much better birthday presents than I got.

Three pairs of itchy bobbly nylon pants is not a suitable birthday present for a girl of 7. Just saying.

When I was at secondary school (starting in the eighties) we had male goths who got to wear make-up and a few girls who wore Doc Martins and men's clothes and cut their hair short. None of them have grown up to be trans. There was never any suggestion they were trapped in the wrong body.

Lily Maynard's take:

lilymaynard.wordpress.com/2018/10/14/butterfly-a-view-from-the-cocoon

Oh, and my brother got to go out at nights as a teenager. I wasn't allowed.

I wanted to be a boy because boys were less catty and got to do more fun stuff that I wasn’t allowed to do, like camping out and making fires and climbing high on playground equipment. Also I’d read The Famous Five and wanted to be George because she was tough and spunky, and had a dog and a private island. George was clearly transgender.

Also "we were told to keep it in check".
Because boys who like dresses are horrifying? It's a nasty habit that needs suppressing? What?

Also that comment at the beginning he made to his sister about periods - what the heck was that about?

Equally good take from Transgender Trend: www.transgendertrend.com/butterfly-a-mermaids-tale/

I really hope at least some other people watching see it as the regressive sexist crap it is.

It's interesting though, all these trans identifying people saying how accurate and authentic it is - if that's the case I'm even less convinced by the whole thing.

What an absolute pile of wank. Do the TRA really think this will turn out in their favour?

So many indicators to point to other issues that are plain as day to see. Or is it just me?

George was clearly transgender.

George was adamant she was a boy and got upset when people treated her like a girl and called her Georgina. It was obvious why - when Julian and Dick reminded her she was a girl, it was to keep her away from the adventure and put her in her place. Docile domestic Ann was the model of femaleness, and George didn't want that. These days... some doctor would be prescribing puberty blockers without even having met her, it seems.

Thanks to you who took one for the team.
23 minutes to get to suicide.

I hope the Samaritans have a statement prepared.
When my DD was a teen Hollyoaks did a self harm storyline.
I am 100% convinced that it gave her the idea to self harm

And Mermaids take (of course):

www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/butterfly.html

George was my role model!

I watched a snippet - if the bit I watched was anything to go by, it was appallingly badly acted and had all the dramatic tension of watching paint dry - magnolia paint. And it wasn't that I happened in on a boring moment - I happened to flick channels just as they got to the slap to the face moment. All I could think (apart from "that's bloody shocking and ooh look you're putting it in the context of minimizing it...") was "that's crap direction - why the wooden statue act then the totally unconvincing reaction?"

It is bad because propaganda rarely makes for good drama, and because of the terrible way the theme of suicide is being handled, but also because as TV it's shite.

Taking away the central premise it was a very poor piece of tv drama. Poor acting, weak script, clunky narrative.

With the central premise it was a thinly disguised advert for Mermaids. The "story" was just a vehicle to signal and include their beliefs and propaganda.

The child is clearly 'feminine' and with a nascent gay orientation. His father is portrayed as hyper-masculinised and expects his boy to be so too. The grandmother is not very helpful, nor sensitive to the child's innate temperament.

The parents have separated and the boy feels the separation was really because of him: because he has disappointed his father by not being the boy he wanted. If only his father could love him for who and what he was......He comes across pro-trans websites and the deal is sealed.

Honestly, this is all so obvious. Childhood emotional health and well being issues; family breakdown; gendered expectations. I just want for this child, and his family, to accept himself for who he is, and how he wants to express himself - not for him to be put on some damaging medical programme which may well result in bodily mutilation - and even more intensified mental and emotional health issues going forward.

The whole trans narrative has coincided with modern the emergence of pharmaceutical' and surgical 'solutions' to mental health issues. It is not healthy; it is not progressive; and it is not breaking down gendered constructs. Quite the opposite.