Anyone else hearing of backlash against trans ideology among their teens?

[KnittingDiva]

My 14 year old DS has been telling me that among his age group now there is no tolerance for Trans/NB TikTok influencers and that they are being ridiculed etc..

This is a very different attitude than when my older two (17 and 19) were at that age and it was the start of that trend and they would have been overtly respectful on that issue (would have avoided it mostly but not ridicule).

It seems it is now seen as being an 'older' person trying to be cool with the kids and a bit creepy.

Anyone else noticed this change or is it just here (Rep of Ireland)?

My friend's daughter attends a very working class area city centre Glaswegian secondary and it seems rife there.

I'd be very happy for Tik tok influencers like Dylan Mulvany and Jeffrey Marsh to be held up for ridicule.

My older DC (25) has no time for any gender nonsense. Younger one (18) has been exposed much more to it, with one friend coming back after Covid as a social media obsessed TW. But I wonder if they're beginning to fed up with it all - there was much eyerolling at the bloke on Only Connect last week.

It is mostly the preserve of the privileged, middle class teen with clueless #bekind parents or status-seeking parents. In my experience, anyway.
I was with you until you got to the parents. I can assure you I'm neither of those. I do have an autistic child who has swallowed the gender myth and is trying to be a boy. Much to my displeasure and objection.

I agree with this too, to some extent.
I work in education in a deprived area of London. My teens go to an average London state school with predominantly working class kids.

I can say categorically that the majority of BOYS in these settings think it’s all weird, niche BS. The girls have been more captured by the ‘be kind’ stuff, but I do see a change in the last few months - definitely. Also more awareness among parents of the problematic nature of some of the issues.

DD13's eyes roll whenever the topic comes up. She is particularly scathing about furries, as apparently that is rife in her class/year. Not much tolerance for they/them pronouns either.

Friend's daughters who are 16 and 18 are completely TWAW/TMAM though, but I don't know how much of that is generational and how much is just that they live and attend school/college in a more right on area than we do (not saying this to be critical - I would love to live there - i just can't think of another way to describe it).

I think each school has it's own culture, 'looked after' children seem very vulnerable to this and they're less likely to be middle class. Apparently it's rife in Blackpool which has the highest proportion of children in care in the country.

Perhaps now the 'trans influencers' are getting older they don't appeal to children so much?

As this thread is trending I'll just ask if anyone who see this and hasn't already to please consider signing and sharing the Government petition to strengthen the Equality Act to protect women's rights. Link to petition on MN petition board below

www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4722618-petition-to-update-the-equality-act-thread-2

Thanks

It's sad about the high rates in children in care. I think it said something similar in the Time to Think book about the Tavistock clinic.

Perhaps now the 'trans influencers' are getting older they don't appeal to children so much?

I noticed that transman influencer ‘Jammidodger’ who has over a million subscribers now rarely gets over 150k views on a video.

Yes I am.

Think there's a lot of domestic abuse in the background of trans kids. Care kids likely to have experience of abuse of some sort. Also- hear about a lot of "used to be trans kids". So kids do dabble and then change their mind.

Yup. The two or three trans kids I know are all offspring of writer and journalist friends.

Ah, maybe I'm wrong then. Just in my experience working with older teens in college, you can see an obvious class divide in identities.

My son is on the fence, torn between having a terf mum and “JK is a transphobe” among his friends.

my 15 year old niece thinks gender ideology is total nonsense.

Yes, DD (14) commented that TikTok is suddenly full of teen girls objecting - seems that Dylan and Jeffrey succeeded in peaking them with their period shenanigans!

Oh, gosh, aye, OP. Been like that among teens here for a while (rural Scotland).

I really hope that it will become mainstream for teens to agree with biology and recognise trans ideology for the glitter polished lies that it is.

And I hope this can be done with humour and grace. I don't wish there to be any backlash against the teens who were persuaded by it - many of whom are vulnerable. Let's allow them a dignified exit.

Yes, lots of trans women on tiktok speaking out against the term cis women, chest feeding etc. Stating they themselves are not biologically female and wont have the same experience as women generally.

Yep, my DS14 and DD12 have very little tolerance for it and often say they identify as a millionaire/ yacht owner etc.

DD in particular gets very riled about stereotypes 'oh if you're a girl who likes building, you must be trans - just stupid'.

I suspect it’s regional and nuanced. A NB or trans member of school staff can be hugely influential too (in my DD’s school it’s a NB counsellor).

The over representation of looked after kids on GIDS’ list far predates the ROGD generation (and Zucker has talked about it in regards to his Canadian patients too).

The ROGD girls do seem more likely to be from more affluent/middle class areas (but parents are just as likely to be skeptical or terrified as they are cheerleaders, some schools make it near impossible for skeptical parents to object to name changes etc).

The school with the most transboys near me is a super selective girls grammar that has long had problems with eating disorders and self harm via cutting. There are so few students on roll who qualify for FSM that it’s topic of dark humour in the less affluent neighbouring communities.

’Gender Dysphoria’ in children and adolescents clearly isn’t one thing but rather a symptom of something else. Gender as an identity group (eg like goth) is something else again, with some kids overlapping between the identity group and the serious symptom group.

Thankfully children aren’t going to be funnelled to an NHS gender service any more, but instead (fingers crossed) will see professionals who can offer differential diagnosis.
The fashion aspect should sort itself out in time, leaving the symptom aspect to be dealt with by properly qualified professionals working in multi disciplinary teams (to avoid the ‘one influential staff member’ issue).

My class were surveyed a few months ago about things they would like the government to do for their age group. Making medical transition easier was one of the options, and not one person in my class voted for that. Most chose basic first aid to be part of the curriculum.

What is sad is that there are a few 'trans' identifying kids in the local high school, and I'm told people just steer clear of them to avoid getting into any sort of bother. Everyone knows what happens if you speak up on these issues. They just stay well away, and say nothing.

It is definitely not trendy anymore amongst the teens

My DS (17) has been eye rolly for a good year or so about "the attention seeking"

I am actually at the point where I feel incredibly sorry for the people who have made transition moves - this will be a period of their life they cannot erase easily and people are shits for remembering things forever

I agree with this. Its not about ridiculing a person, its about ridiculing the nonsense and the position. There is nothing wrong with that, it happens in politics all the time, but suddenly with ridicule is applied to belief systems like ideology or religion it becomes inappropriate

Ridicule is a human response and system for checking and progressing inappropriate behaviour or nonsense.

‘Ridiculing’ among themselves in person. Am not going to or able to monitor what my kids say to their friends.