I often baulk eye roll when Hayton is published on matters which concern women and children, and Hayton is published SO often, but this is a good piece and Hayton has some very valid points to make. Nothing new here really, but to a new-comer it sets the story out matter-of-factly.
www.spectator.co.uk/article/keira-bell-s-victory-is-an-important-one-for-trans-teenagers
"But I do wonder if we are now reversing out of the enlightenment. It’s not traditional religious dogma that is captivating society – not in the West at least – but postmodern ideologies that are every bit as strong. Ideas such as gender identity are presented as accepted truth with little in the way of evidence to support them. Indeed, gender identity cannot even be defined without circular reasoning, and reference to sexist stereotypes. Dissenters are persecuted by the true faithful with an evangelical zeal that bears an uncanny resemblance to religious persecutions of the past, as JK Rowling and Rosie Duffield found out earlier this year. The Trans Inquisition is no joke; it is all too real."
Debbie talks about the curse of the internet; where teens are being told about the available treatment (blockers, hormones, surgeries) to alleviate their discomfort - and Debbie said that if they had been of that same age had this been available would have pursued it themselves.
"If I – as a middle-aged teacher, with a PhD in atomic physics even – could fall for this, then children setting out in the world have little hope of resisting it. For them, becoming transgender is not only a promise of salvation from their troubles but, crucially, a cause of further troubles. Why? Because humans cannot change sex. Human beings – like all other mammals – are sexually dimorphic. We are either male or female, and that is determined by our biology. It is certainly not 'assigned at birth' by some mysterious process, perhaps involving one of JK Rowling’s sorting hats. We may be unhappy with our bodies but changing sex is not the answer because changing sex is not possible."