Children's Social Transition

[MalagaNights]

Given the closing of the Tavi and the conservative leadership candidates both speaking about concerns about puberty blockers, I've started to think more about social transition and how we challenge and change the assumption that this must be supported.

It is now totally assumed and supported by all professional organisations who work with young people that the correct practice is to use the pronouns young people request and to refer to them as the sex or gender identity they choose.

These assumptions of practice are now deeply ingrained.

They are shared by teachers, psychologists, social workers, mental health professionals. It is just stated as fact mostly now, without comment or challenge.

The assumption is underpinned by principles, or slogans, such as 'lived experience' 'young person's voice' and the idea that your identity is central and must be protected.

Understandably the focus has been on the devastating impact of medicalisation, but I'm wondering how we are going to change the embedded assumptions and practice around social transition which now exist within schools and all professions who work with young people.

Yes. I hadn't read this before my second post, but this is what I was then thinking was needed a an overarching agreement within guidelines.

They were socially transitioned, parents re-wrote history as if it had come as a bolt out of the blue, entirely unprompted. The mum had spent 6 months telling me how the answers changed and evolved, when I suggested that maybe 6 months of "I'm a girl, I don't know, I like dressing up, I'm a girl, I'm a girl who likes boy things..." should count for more than one "I'm a boy" the mum cut me off and I found myself here!

Hopefully once this has ceased being taught in schools as a civil rights issue, akin to gay rights, there will be far fewer of these confused children.

And given that most of them are girls, I would really like to see feminism taught under the civil rights banner. Because females make up over half the population, and historically haven't been able to vote, manage their own money, have mortgages, professions or education. It's a massive civil rights issue.

Girls (and boys) who understand why gender stereotypes are imposed upon females will have a far greater understanding of why transgenderism has been allowed to thrive.

WarriorN · Today 14:28
@OldCrone here's one example.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26895269.2022.2081645

I started to read that. Is this statement below legally correct?

Trans children’s rights in England, Scotland and Wales are protected under the Equality Act 2010, with “gender reassignment” one of nine protected characteristics (Wadham et al., 2016).

I queried that too. I think that's when they twist it to the "intending to" transition is a protected bit?

Children have good equal rights under the UN and also KCSIE in school. (The latest version has emphasised issues around county lines, extremism and also sexual assaults and sexual attitudes as a result of everyone's invited.)

So basically it's affirmation for a child, which is outside U.K. practise.

This is what I mean; they're inventing a narrow rigid concept of a 'trans child' (which Prof M Moore et Al have demonstrated tirelessly in their book of the same name) from
which everything, research, policy suggestions, hyperbole is then based.

That self / parental ID concept needs to be challenged in terms of open ended questioning for the child, appropriate MH support and as Cass says, a more rounded holistic approach.

I think that's when they twist it to the "intending to" transition is a protected bit?

I don't know what legal standing a HoC briefing paper has, but the idea of a 'trans child' is firmly embedded in this one.

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9078/

In England, Wales and Scotland, the Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination against transgender children in all schools. The UK Department for Education (DfE) guidance on the Act says protections apply to those who are undergoing, have undergone, or are proposing to undergo, a process (or part of a process) of reassigning their sex by changing physiological or other attributes.

The dfe really can't issue guidance until the nhs guidance is established and evidence based.

It will be seen as 'transphobic' otherwise.

The other issue is the strangle hold that Universities have on research that breaks the current status quo. Obviously and often only affirmative research has been encouraged and allowed.

For example, Shereen Benjamin, an experienced teacher and eyfs trainer was stopped for delivering certain courses as they weren't trans inclusive enough. That doesn't sound like a climate where watchful waiting observational research articles are encouraged. We know about James Esse. Stock.

Cass is so important.

Clearly @OldCrone, everyone needs to establish what a "trans child" is. And urgently.

"The dfe really can't issue guidance until the nhs guidance is established and evidence based."
I think this is what is bothering me @WarriorN

Whilst the Tavi closing and the mood music from the Cass report is positive in terms of medicalisation, we're still a long way from being able to clearly challenge the ideology in schools.

Although nearer than we were maybe.

At the Tavi - would it be a child that started puberty blockers? But they were supposed to be a a pause to allow time to think? However, clearly they nearly alway led to cross sex hormones and I doubt that parents denied the child was trans to school?

Is it the child referred to a GIDs? The child I taught was not diagnosed with GD.

As soon as you're in the adult services you get what you want.

Now, it's before any referral.

It's all self ID and suggest selling as H Joyce described Charlie Bentley Astor's experience. twitter.com/gbnews/status/1553452070610636806?s=21&t=eoE1nPCjz0hYTRo-cmUJyQ

It bothers me too but I can't see how it can happen otherwise? It may be able to evolve hand in hand but there's a lot of erroneous beliefs and training and books and research that slt/ teachers will look at and not understand how the guidance fits - and dismiss it. Ofsted need to be clued up asap too. If they look for something, schools do it.

If being gender critical is classed as a belief then isn't believing in trans identity? We can't have this being about beliefs. Beliefs are protected (bar fgm). It has to be evidenced. All safeguarding rules have sadly occurred as a direct result of lessons learned in awful situations. I started teaching right at the beginning of the introduction of formal education safeguarding training, sadly seeing the examples and key guidance being added to as the years have gone by.

All the stuff around sexual assaults and misogynistic attitudes was whipped into KCSIE very quickly though, and we've been told Ofsted will be asking questions about this. So we can but hope...

I agree with you.
All children's professionals will only feel confident to take a line on this when they've had the guidance on clinicians that this is their advice.

The mental health professionals have been hugely cowardly in avoiding taking this role. They've either colluded or gone into hiding till it's all over.

The Cass report needs to give some leadership in the treatment and guidance to other professionals.
There's a lot hanging on that report.

As a teacher the scenario I hate the most is "x is now known as Y. Y's parents are not aware so please call them X should you need to contact home"

Completely ridiculous. Schools won't let children change their names without parental permission for any other reason.

One of my dc had two Alex-s in their class. They were both registered as Alexander known as Alex, and the short name was on the registers. One wanted to change from Alex to Xander, but school refused until his parents made the request.

Oh this staggers me!
I’m a serving Head (special school) and I would hit the roof if I saw an email like this! We have dealt with these issues in school, and it has been on a case by case basis with the family.
If I’m honest it has taken a couple of courageous conversations with external professionals wanting to ‘assist’ us in being inclusive (we are a special school, inclusion is what we do), but I am horrified that fellow professionals feel under pressure to take steps like the above. Totally crossing the line in our role as educators.

Such an interesting discussion.
I wonder if the Sex Matters / Transgender Trend guidance for schools is a useful way in to this? It focuses on ensuring that equality / anti-bullying policies don't inadvertently undermine safeguarding, isolate children from their parents or put them at risk while ensuring that gender dysphoric children are not treated less favourably in education:

sex-matters.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Boys-and-Girls-and-the-Equality-Act-May-2021-England-and-Wales.pdf

According to this telegraph article, there were ideas to get guidance into schools soon but the new Ed secretary is dragging heels...?

archive.ph/r5DzX

Teachers guide to the Cass review which may be useful for any teacher trying to challenge this.

teachersguidetosexandgender.org/2022/07/06/a-teachers-guide-to-the-cass-review-interim-report/

Thank you WarriorN.
That review from Teachers for Evidence-Based Education is very helpful. Somehow we need to ensure that these resources get into schools and to teachers that we know.

WarriorN · Today 16:08
Teachers guide to the Cass review which may be useful for any teacher trying to challenge this.
teachersguidetosexandgender.org/2022/07/06/a-teachers-guide-to-the-cass-review-interim-report/

Thank you WarriorN, that guide is clear and well written.

I noticed this:

Teachers may not, for example, present, as fact, childhood gender incongruence as an inherent and immutable phenomenon as this is a contested idea rather than an established evidence-based fact.

Yet this is effectively what is being taught when ‘gender identity’ is made part of RSE
lessons. If you are no longer just your sex, but also have a ‘gender identity’ this implies the identity could be different.

There is a petition to the Government to remove references to gender identity from RSE teaching, but it doesn’t seem to be getting all that much support.

Link to petitions noticeboard

RSE content on gender vs sex | Mumsnet

www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4585082-rse-content-on-gender-vs-sex

Hopefully these types of guidances are what will be recommended, and it looks like they are involved in advising whihc is great!

The problem is at the moment, they are dismissed as transphobic with Mermaids et al being the assumed go to.

We really need clear governemnt guidance whihc schools have to adhere to to replace the mermaids affirmation only seen as correct practice.

It is positive that the guideliens are in the pipeline at least, but we need it soon.
This teacher guide is really helpful!!

Maybe one thing we can all do is every time some stressed parent pops up on here asking for help re a school transitioning their child is to reference these 2 documents?
Or maybe reference the thread.

I know a child who socially transitioned aged six. I found it horrifying - the child was somewhat gender nonconforming and expressed an interest in being the opposite gender. Immediately they were affirmed (and, frankly, rewarded), immediate social transition. School joined in - read the class an awful book about a child changing clothing and voilà they're the opposite sex.
I used to know said child well (and one of the parents, who initially was also horrified but seems to have got sucked in) and they had no problem with their actual sexed body. But for a few years they have been told they're the opposite sex, so presumably they do now. (In fact another GC parent who knows them has confirmed this.)

Aged six, sex stereotypes ARE the difference between girls and boys. The bits between your legs aren't really relevant, that's not what children see. Someone has to explain it to them at some point, that's how they learn. And if you don't, and tell them they can change to the opposite sex, they believe you.
Only later, once they know more and have the ability to understand more about the world, will they realise the truth. Having spent precious, irreplaceable years developing a sense of self and identity that is based on a lie.
It's so fucked up.