Conversation with DS17 last night about gender/TRA/women's rights

[CaptainAwkward]

Last night I had a brilliant chat with my 17 year old lad.

It started on the topic of religion and beliefs and how everyone had the right to have them but that shouldn't negatively affect other people's lives.

He has a good bunch of friends including a girl who identifies as trans. I explained to him the modern social trend of young girls transing and the issues with autism, sexuality and responding to trauma and he said "I just think of 'Bob' (not real name) as kinda one of the lads but I know she's a girl and everyone does but Bob's our mate and we just crack on"

DS is a boy who responds to facts and evidence but has lots of compassion as well as usual teenage gobshitery

He mentioned how, when he was little, he had long hair and loved dressing up in sparkly dresses with his sister and seemed really clear on how sexist GI was.

Ended up giving him stats about male offending still being the same for trans identifying men and he said it was obvious that women and children need safeguarding.
His sister (19) is autistic and suffered SA and she was, a few years ago, a prime candidate for falling down the trans wormhole. I spent a long time gently encouraging her to use critical thinking and questioning about the whole gender woo shit and she's now terf fucking tastic

Anyway, wanted to say that, like a lot of other posters recently, that lots of teens are seeing right through this nonsense that's been peddled for years by TRAs and the captured institutions. Plus I'm bloody proud of my lovely offspring (even though they can be nobheads sometimes like all kids!)

Sounds like you have a great relationship with your kids - well done!

Would you agree that at least some of the trans kids phenomenon can be put down to bad parenting, parents who don’t really listen to their children but prefer to think in terms of labels and how they look to the outside world?

I think it'd be a bit glib for me to say that. There's a lot of parents who are totally lost at what to do with their kids' being swallowed by the trans cult and helpless watching the car crash that's happening to their child.

Suppose it's like children who end up with addictions etc. like a spectrum. A lot of parents are great parents and have done everything possible to help their child, some parents have been a bit crap but misguided and some parents have been out and out abusive encouraging their child to be medicalised and harmed for their own agenda.

Me and my ex have always tried to model healthy male and female roles. He's always cracked on with the domestic drudgery and, bar birthing and breastfeeding, did everything with the kids growing up. I think it helps that DCs' closest friend also have parents who don't subscribe to sexist gender roles too.

It's also been luck and educating myself about stuff. Many years ago I was the 'be kind' type and thought that transwomen were basically camp, gay drag queen harmless folk.

I definitely feel that bringing kids up to question stuff is important, we encourage debates and conversations. My sons, in particular, have grown up being around breastfeeding, me being pregnant and giving birth at home, knowing about what their female friends/girlfriends might need re periods etc
Plus seeing both men and women basically cracking on with childrearing and household shit as a team so that's been normalised?

Plus the kids, like me, are nosey buggers so want to know the 'why' and 'how' about stuff before pledging allegiance to any cause

I think it might've been a different story if, for example, we lived somewhere like Brighton or an area where the TRA agenda was more prevalent than the northern town we're in.

I've seen posters on here who sound like fantastic parents and have presented totally rational and evidence based arguments to their own children only to be called a bigot by them so that's why I think a lot of my situation is just luck too

Sounds like a great discussion. And I think that it is getting easier to have discussions like these as the laws are clarified and sporting organisations fall in line with the law. Plus there is now open discussions about the Cass report.

It is good to hear that the teens are feeling they can discuss it now too.