Another Mermaid statement: about Good Morning Britain and Caroline Farrow

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Apparently Farrow will be on GMB tomorrow.

There are some interesting bits in this statement:

Jackie is, of course, deeply upset by the reference to her as being mutilated, castrated and sterilised.

Jackie is also distressed at the assertion that this was something that was somehow done ‘to her’. The only people deliberately doing anything 'to her' are the online trolls using the most abusive language about her. She would like the online abuse to stop.

At 16, she undertook extensive psychological assessment from independent experts before she was cleared for, and undertook, gender reassignment surgery. Her competency and full knowledge of all the implications was clear.

At 25 she still considers that surgery, for her, was lifesaving, and is distressed at the implication that she was not capable and mature enough to make this decision.

My boys play with Lego (and soft toys) like my daughter played with soft toys (and Lego). Lots of mummies and daddies and babies and shops and fire swords and battles and zombies...

*Is it simple English to get to the point so the maximum number of people understand or is it deliberately loading language?

To suggest that all the alternatives are not as loaded is bizarre to me.

It's by far the most neutral term because its universally understood. Which is precisely why anyone trying to hide from the reality of it, wants to hide behind euphemisms or suggesting that a common usage term is somehow being deliberately loaded.*

This can be applied to all language used by trans idiologists.

happydappy2 Mermaids has got to be shut down. Children must be supported through puberty to mature and accept their bodies, an age limit of 25 should be set for sex reassignment surgery, and only then after lengthy counselling

This.

I know I'm probably not suppose to say this. It's awful but I've been pondering this a lot so I'm going to.

Jazz Jennings recently went though grs surgery. It was described as a brand new experimental technique. There were complications as we know and more procedures to be done.

What kind of grs surgery was available ten years ago. On a person who had been on puberty blockers since age 12 and would not have had much penile tissue to work with?

Why are the two extremes of the 'gender spectrum " represented by two dolls with no genetallia at all?

I was wondering whether today would bring another homily on how everyone else needs to be sensible and nice.

Not a dickie bird and already I'm missing the daily lesson of
St. Paul to the Corinthians Mrs Green's factotum

I ask because I feel 'gender afferming care' ot gnc children. Asking the whole of society to affirm and treat sometimes very young children as if they were actually the opposite sex to which they were born. Praising them, putting them on a pedestal, shielding them from any doubts or critique.
is asking the whole of society to be complicit in grooming children into going onto puberty blockers and on to full reassignment surgery.
If we are to agree to that, I think we need to know exactly what we are grooming children for.

Nightwitch
I agree, this whole issue needs to be closely examined, and all the possible outcomes for these children to be considered. A charity which purports to exist for the support of 'gender diverse' children should be at the forefront of asking the difficult questions and considering exactly what sort of future these children will face. Instead of that, they want to shut down any sort of discussion.

Children, and their parents, should be going into this with all the available information about what is and what is not possible, and what is known about the likely outcomes of any medical interventions. And wouldn't the best outcome of all be the child coming to terms with their body and not feeling they need any medication at all? Yet this wholly desirable outcome is seen as 'conversion therapy', so is not even allowed to be considered.

Given the number of kids on the autistic spectrum caught up in this, the use of plain English is essential.
Castration, sterilisation, mastectomy all straightforward understandable words.

YY.

Children must be supported through puberty to mature and accept their bodies, an age limit of 25 should be set for sex reassignment surgery, and only then after lengthy counselling

The operation should also be re-named/ correctly titled.
Sex is not 'reassigned' or 'changed' by surgery..
The medical profession should support the basis of extensive counselling which would be to ensure that any potential surgical candidates are absolutely clear about the nature of the operations and the consequences.
It cannot be informed consent otherwise.
When I had a total hysterectomy (gynaecological cancer) this was an important aspect ofthe surgical team's work with me despite there being an urgent medical need for the operation.

It seems at times that many medics & professionals working in this field are following different ethical principles/ standards / best practice etc than those well-established throughout the rest of health care.

the use of plain English is essential

Agreed. Those of us on the spectrum appreciate clear and unambiguous language. Using twee and misleading terms like "bottom surgery" and "top surgery" can be confusing and misunderstood.

Has Jackie Green ever actually gone through puberty? What sort of effect does that have on somebody’s cognitive abilities? I’m guessing there’s not been any research into that?

In the documentary about Jackie's attempt to become a pageant winner (linked previously), she describes how she sees the genital surgery as 'correcting a small birth defect'. She was 18 yrs old at the time of the interview I believe.

Jackie Green's Tweet from last year in response to Janice Turner uses same description.

Its such a common narrative that the child is reported as saying at a young age, 'God made me in the wrong body' as if this is proof of the child's knowledge. The comment is of course out of all context. It may have been that parents were explaining how perfect their child was made etc (with possible references to God?) & this is then a response typical of a young child.

The insistence on using euphemisms is worrying. Euphemisms are a screen that people hide behind to avoid uncomfortable thoughts.

'Smear test' has recently been renamed 'cervical screening' to help women understand it better.

'Female cutting' was is now called by its description: Female Genital Mutilation. Even that is too disturbing, so we use just the initials FGM. But when it is important that people understand, we use the whole phrase.

"Bottom surgery" - what's that? Removal of piles? Repair of rectal prolapse? Treatment for anal cancer?

Genitals aren't bottoms!

Yes. The imprecision around language has other consequences too.

When a transwoman or transman mentions having 'surgery', most people who aren't following this debate closely assume they mean surgery on the genitals. And of course there's widespread belief that if you call yourself trans you either have had that type of surgery or you're on the waiting list.

Hence some of the complacency of the general public about transwomen using female spaces - it seems often to be assumed that they now have something approximating to female genitalia, when we know that probably less than 20% fall into that category, and it's not a requirement to have that surgery before you get a GRC, and most trans people don't have or want a GRC.

However, 'surgery' often actually means various other types of cosmetic surgery.

FtM - double mastectomy

MtF - breast augmentation, facial remodelling, Adam's apple reduction, laser treatment to remove body hair

When a transwoman or transman mentions having 'surgery', most people who aren't following this debate closely assume they mean surgery on the genitals. And of course there's widespread belief that if you call yourself trans you either have had that type of surgery or you're on the waiting list.

For some male transpeople undergoing 'sex reasignment surgery' this might actually be having plastic surgery on their face eg nose, ears, forehead, chin etc (called 'facial feminisation surgery' / 'FFS') or having implants inserted into their chest (called 'breast augmentation')

MtF - breast augmentation

Males don''t have breasts.
The implant used is not the 'breast'

Men do have a small amount of breast tissue, naturally occurring.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/breast-cancer-in-men/

Also, one of the effects of taking oestrogen in a man is that the breast tissue enlarges, like the breast buds in a girl going through puberty, but as far as I'm aware they don't get much bigger than that no matter how long the transwoman remains on oestrogen.

Yes breast tissue.

I know this one is less clear but as we're discussing clarity of terms thought it was worth raising.

Breasts have function and are a female secondary sex characteristic.

Also, one of the effects of taking oestrogen in a man is that the breast tissue enlarges

Some treatments for prostate cancer cause this to happen.

Yes, total clarity well worth aiming for!

That Jackie Green tweet is disturbing - the focus on bloody Barbies and action men as a measure of whether a child has the right BODY is utterly horrifying! Is this what people actually believe? In 2019? Incredible.

the focus on bloody Barbies and action men as a measure of whether a child has the right BODY is utterly horrifying! Is this what people actually believe? In 2019? Incredible.

Some people.
Horrifying how much power and influence they have.