I feel quite haunted by this account by a detransitioned young woman.

[BlytheSpiritsSpirit]

GNC Centric / Ben is a young woman who has detransitioned and talks about her experiences.

In this video, she summarises her journey, which started at age 13.

By the time she was in her late teens, she was attending an LGBT social club, and the stories she tells are deeply concerning.

Lots of very young, vulnerable FtM girls being sexually groomed/exploited by older MtF's.

All the kids came from difficult backgrounds of one stripe or another.

No room for questioning the narrative, acceptance without exception - so in what was labelled a "safe space" the kids weren't actually safe at all.

I don't remember what the supervision aspect of this club was; I think she's Canadian so rules/expectations of such clubs would be different I suppose.

But extrapolating this one person's experiences (she says this set-up was very normal/expected in her circle) onto a societal level, and it's terrifying.

Sexual exploitation of minors is happening in plain sight.

I've peaked again. I have no words.

Please watch the video and draw your own conclusions - I'm desperately hoping I've got the wrong end of the stick here.

You haven't got the wrong end of the stick.

GNC Centric is fantastic - an articulate, forthright, painfully honest woman. She's on Twitter. Well worth following. I absolutely love her.

Ben is fantastic. In such a short time she has found her voice and each video gets better and better.
I love her to bits too.
She's gonna go places.

I'll be watching more of her videos.

Thank God for brave women like her!

...but what are we doing to our children?

I know.

'What about the poor trans children' wokes cry.

1. What is a trans child?

1. What are we doing to children when we tell them / teach them that you can be 'born in the wrong body?'

This particular video is absolutely must see viewing if you're going to in any way attempt to discuss transgender issues in relation to teens and children.

Ben /GNC Centric also wrote this important article, published by 4thWaveNow. Its important reading as she identifies a number of serious Safeguarding issues:

'My Trans Youth Group Experience with Morgan Page'
(extract)
"I remember one day, there were three MTFs over 40 who were hitting on the teen FTMs, very explicitly. It was obviously making us uncomfortable, but almost no one ever said anything, only changed the topic or tried to engage them in a conversation away from us. The only time I remember them being asked to leave was when Morgan was away and the group was led by an FTM substitute.

It was very common for the group to discuss the logistics of sex before and after SRS, kinky sex, and erotic fanfiction. I remember Morgan asking the three teens in the room, including me, if we were comfortable talking about this, but obviously we weren’t going to say no now that the conversation had already been started by these older people. I know of at least three FTMs who entered into relationships with older MTFs while in this group, all of which seemed very unhealthy to me. To me, FTMs under 18 dating or sleeping with (usually kinky) MTFs over 20 seemed very sexually exploitative. Healthy boundaries between adults and minors were foreign to this group, much like in the greater queer and trans community.

Morgan didn’t present herself as someone to emulate, but as someone to share her trans experiences with us. She spoke of her time as a teen prostitute, her SRS, her art, her writing, and her connections in the queer community. I think most of the teens saw her as someone to just give us advice and support, since she could recommend which clinics or doctors to see to start HRT and tell you what you needed to say to doctors so they’d sign off on SRS. She’d talk about what to expect after SRS. She knew the MTF side personally, but she also was intimate with a fair number of trans men so she told us about the FTM side too. At the time, to me, she seemed like the magic key to accessing all the medical transition resources I wanted. This was a trans support group, so one might assume this was normal—and it may have been for such a gathering—but in retrospect, I find elements of this concerning.

Unsurprisingly, most of the teens seemed to be there without their parents’ knowledge (as I was), but there was unquestioning support for all of them to medically transition as soon as they wanted. There was one male nonbinary who complained about how they had to perform more femininity in order for their doctor to get them a prescription for estrogen. To us in the group, this doctor was evil for trying to deny our friend what they needed. Looking back now, the only thing that made this person “trans” was their clothing and nail polish. They made no attempt to pass as female, so I understand why a doctor might have been hesitant.

One of the most memorable experiences I had there was when I was 16 and had brought my 15-year-old non-trans female friend with me. We were hanging out, talking about the usual stuff, when Morgan mentioned she was going to be a judge at the Porn Awards that night and invited my friend and I to go with her for free. We said no—I knew right away I would probably see penises, and that would make my dysphoria worse. At that point in my life I had only seen porn once, and since then had only talked to porn actors and cam girls in the queer/trans community online. I honestly thought it was all empowering and fun. Still, my gut reaction was “no,” thank god." (continues)
4thwavenow.com/2019/01/26/my-trans-youth-group-experience-with-morgan-page/

recent thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3507109-Pique-Resilience-Project-young-detransitioned-women-sharing-their-personal-stories

I don't remember what the supervision aspect of this club was; I think she's Canadian so rules/expectations of such clubs would be different I suppose.

When single issue support groups for young people are set up by activists rather than qualified youth workers etc with a thorough grounding in Safeguarding etc, questions should always be asked.

This particular video is absolutely must see viewing if you're going to in any way attempt to discuss transgender issues in relation to teens and children.

Actually, this is the video by Ben I saw first and really shook me to the core:

Nope, try again!

This one!! Technically by Benjamin Boyce

Final try!!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWY4G8KvJtD-QiCcV2eo22KCNomP9SdW3

Ffs!

Ben is wonderful! Smart, brave and warm. I watched the Boyce interview a while ago and felt just heartbroken for her that her parents didn't/don't appreciate & love & support her just as she is. Any sane parent would be bursting with pride to claim her!

I'm half way through that interview with Benjamin Boyce (Coercion and Abuse in the Gender ID Community). Words fail me. Ben, well she is just ... wonderful. But that community ... The way she speaks about sexism in the trans community tells you everything you need to know about why it is seen as part of the MRA movement. I am so angry.

I once heard a Teen transitioned MtF (Male attracted) talk about their experiences with older (autogynephile) MtFs and how they groomed and sexually and emotionally exploited young vulnerable trans folk. Will see if I can find it.

So those looking for access to vulnerable teens they can influence without parents knowing now have a surefire way. Of course nothing would ever thats untoward.

Really brave and admirable young lady, speaking the truth.

those looking for access to vulnerable teens they can influence without parents knowing

Ben called it "tumblr come to life" - and we've all seen how the internet can be used to groom children. This is the inevitable conclusion.

Couple this with the fact that the majority of online child sex offenders do not pretend to be children or hide their identity when grooming children (FOTD courtesy of Jessica Eaton) and this is a huge scandal waiting to blow up. Huge.

Just for clarity I'm not for a minute saying any LGBT groups are setup for grooming purposes, most are probably well intentioned (if blinkered at times). But the potential they can be used this way must surely shine a light on the dangers, unregulated and in a cloud of secrecy.

Just for clarity I'm not for a minute saying any LGBT groups are setup for grooming purposes, most are probably well intentioned (if blinkered at times).

People who are well intentioned but naive and/or reckless as to Safeguarding frameworks/ duty of care best practice represent a significant additional risk to children & vulnerable adults.

Agree that Ben is a fantastically important voice and an all around inspirational young woman (and Benjamin is doing valuable work too).

Whenever a new poster pops up to tell us off for being nasty terves who don’t care about vulnerable trans identifying kids/teens/young people, we should probably just post a link to one of GNC Centric’s videos.