"The majority of these parents have a daughter aged 14 or 15 - an age at which teens are particularly susceptible to peer influence. These teens often have one or more of the following factors that contribute to their social struggles: they are academically gifted; they are on the autism spectrum; they are same-sex attracted; they have experienced trauma or major disruption; they have other mental health diagnoses such as anxiety or depression; they have a learning disability. Parents often report that their child made a sudden announcement about being transgender after spending increased time on social media sites focused on trans issues, and/or having one or more peers come out as trans."

Describes my "nephew" to a tee.

Another interesting voice Amy regarding rogd is @docamitay

I am appalled by how fad driven psychologists and MDs are, and that's half of them, and the other half appeared to be cowards.

When people see me or hear my name, they usually assume I'm a woman and go by she/her pronouns. But they'd only be partially right. I do identify as a woman, but I also identify as non-binary (yes, you can be both -- more on that later) and go by they/them as well. Unfortunately, this is an identity that many people still misunderstand.

You're boring, and unless we know each other well it's of no interest or consequence to me.

"...a number that has doubled in the last decade..."

Show an environmental cause for this, and I'll believe it. There are models that support a continuous fraction of the population being gay very well, and these acknowledge that various cultures force the affected to conceal themselves.

Today there appears to be a large number of people who simply refuse to cope with any difficulties in life, and they are abetted by those who say there shouldn't be any difficulties. This is a way to gain power and attention in a society where the individual, for all their screaming and kicking, is worth less daily.

[1.] I don't understand this sudden and shameless engagement by the left of the locution "identify as." You don't have to be much older than I am to remember that language in terms of the Holocaust, the 20th century's signal demonstration of industrialized evil. Not carrying correct "identity" papers, or even carrying those papers, made one subject to the some of the most Hellish torment mankind had ever seen. Why do lefties think it's cute?

[2.] I have some trans friends nowadays, or at least, the first that I know of. They're nice folks. In one particular instance, the person's life has included passages of tremendous sorrow. Like, Biblical. The appropriate response is humble patience... Same as towards most anyone else.

But how is it that a fussy and tuxedo'd concern for the feelings of trans people is now regarded as the sine qua non of human sensitivity? Shouldn't we be learning to repair the hearts of the children of divorce, or to repair the hearts of children of alcoholism, when their numbers are almost incalculably greater? Wouldn't the yield of human happiness be inestimably higher?

(Or have we decided that alcohol and divorce are problems that have already been solved? Because I hadn't heard....)







I think this lapidary attention to trans people is posturing, and indicates a desperation for intellectual engagement and ironic comprehension of which its distant proponents are essentially incapable. They're bullshiting.

In boys (assigned gender)

Quick question, can any trans activist explain the quantum mechanics of how assigning gender at birth metaphysically reverberates the wrong direction in time to force the egg to accept the right kind of sperm to create the right gender at the time of birth?

In boys (assigned gender)

Quick question, can any trans activist explain the quantum mechanics of how assigning gender at birth metaphysically reverberates the wrong direction in time to force the egg to accept the right kind of sperm to create the right gender at the time of birth?

Rather than say, “I’m not binary,” why don’t we expand our definition of masculine and feminine. I am a woman. I have no question about that.

I didn’t play with typical girl toys in a girly way. With dolls, I focused on building homes for them out of books. Later, I designed on sewed clothing for them. I never “babied” them. I loved playing roughhouse, running, and doing daring things like climbing telephone poles and jumping off the roof.

I fear that today, as a girl, I would be viewed as transexual. Of course, as a boy, I would not have been typical either.

Ironically, a loved pretty clothing. I remember asking for a pink lacy dress. While probably would have wanted to wear it with shorts so I could do cartwheels and hated any itchy lace, my mom said I couldn’t have it because I was a tomboy. I remember saying repeatedly, “I’m not a tomboy, I’m a tomgirl!” I really think I had it right. Girls can like a variety of things-even other girls.

Perhaps there is something in my DNA. My grandmother told me about her grandmother. My grandmother said that she was the only old woman in the family so as she grew older, she found herself modeling after her. Evidently great, great grandma was a tough old broad. She wore a calico dress, wore army boots, and smoked a corn-cob pipe. She wouldn’t put up with any crap either. When two of her boys were shot, she planned a massacre.

I remember listening to a hermaphrodite on a talk show. He urged people not to alter their children’s genitalia to make it conform to one sex or another because it altered the ability to enjoy sensation. It’s not necessarily about the way the genitals look but about the way they feel and the capacity for pleasure.

Let kids make any decisions to alter when they are adults. So many in the hermaphrodite community struggled with the after effects of parents trying to do the right thing but causing harm.

It seems that the same thing should apply to transexual children, with those kids getting more control over the situation as they get older, in a case by case basis.

I may not be your typical woman but I’m happy with myself. I would be a horrible man. I’m glad no one suggested to me that I really should have been one.

Recent statistics estimate that six in every 1,000 adults are transgender....

That's almost two million people in the US alone, given a 2016 US population of 323.1 million.

Parents, in particular, are told that 41 per cent of transgender people have attempted suicide [at some point in their lives]

That's 41% of 0.6% or 0.246%. Roughly 795,000 people transgender Americans will attempt suicide at some point in their lives.

The US had 44,965 deaths by suicide in 2016.

So, the US has an annual suicide death rate of 0.014%, but a multi-year suicide attempt rate in the transgender community of 41% (0.246% of the overall population).

Given that many suicide attempts are cries for attention (or help) and that we're speculating here that transgenderism in children is often a cry for attention (or help), is there a correlation?

In accommodating transgenderism are we being open and accepting people as they are, or are we enabling mental illness?

Today there appears to be a large number of people who simply refuse to cope with any difficulties in life, and they are abetted by those who say there shouldn't be any difficulties. This is a way to gain power and attention.... ~ Radwaste at March 3, 2018 3:26 AM

Raddy and I have disagreed about a few issues lately, but he may be onto something here.

Telling everyone you're gay or transgendered allows you to externalize your difficulties, to blame them on someone or something else.

And it allows you to gain power and attention as a disadvantaged minority, forcing society to adjust itself to you, rather than doing the difficult work of adjusting yourself to society.

This is not a new problem.

The reason it's not new is because "gender reassignment" is nothing more than a special case of cosmetic surgery. And it has been known for decades that some of the patients who get, or want, face lifts, tummy tucks, or liposuction have grossly unrealistic expectations that the operation will work miracles on their social life or just make them feel better and have more energy.

This is a major problem for the doctors, too, because a patient who gets one of these operations and then regrets it is very likely to sue the doc for malpractice. And to some degree he is right -- the patient's unrealistic expectation is one the doc should have expected and looked for. Which is why any responsible medical practice that offers cosmetic surgery will insist that the patient go through a pretty thorough psychological screening which attempts to identify and weed out those who would regret the surgery.

The same is true in the sex-change business. But it's becoming a big enough business that there are irresponsible providers out there.

I don't approve of making even hormone therapy available to minors because they are especially likely to regret it afterward. Let them grow up and then decide what they want to be.

It's a push to normalize pedophilia.

If a child is old enough to consent to a sex change, the child has to be old enough to consent to sex.

I think our culture needs to desexualize people under the age of 18 and they need to do it PDQ. Start with mandatory unisex uniforms for all public schools and go from there. It would end a great deal of this attention seeking behavior.

There have been no positive effects froom shifting our cultural focus from producing the next genertion (and educating them to be productive citizens) to what everyone’s personal plumbing parts look like, where they want to stick them, and what they want to call them.

Until a person has experienced a fair amount of sex, they cannot possibly be clear on their sexual identity. Therefore, it is unethical to transition anyone under 18, since they cannot legally have any sexual experience. Also it has been shown that some 80% of those who feel transgender later decide they are simply gay. A man attracted to men is not necessarily a woman--he is far more likely to be gay, statistically speaking. And if he transitions, he screws up his sex life because then most men and most women will not find him a suitable partner. Gay men are not attracted to men with breasts. Normal men cannot have normal sex with a trans person.
There is also a big fad on college campus' to declare that one is "queer"--by which they mean simply non-conformist or anti-society--or bisexual or nonbinary. It is a quick and free way to show how revolutionary and "woke" you are. but it is idiotic.

It's pretty obvious that the Left's sudden obsession with Transgenders is motivated by their desire to harass the normies and further meddle in everyone's personal lives.

I've honestly never seen a social movement that has been so reflexively hostile and adversarial towards innocent people.

All they do is attack and degrade people while claiming that they'll kill themselves if we don't accede to their demands. But don't dare question their mental state!

When people see me or hear my name, they usually assume I'm a woman and go by she/her pronouns. But they'd only be partially right. I do identify as a woman, but I also identify as non-binary (yes, you can be both -- more on that later) and go by they/them as well. Unfortunately, this is an identity that many people still misunderstand.

No, you can't be both, because non-binary isn't a thing. You are male or female, and it is generally permanent.

> Until a person has experienced
> a fair amount of sex, they
> cannot possibly be clear on
> their sexual identity.
> Therefore,

Back up, BunnyBiscuit.

Says who?

Non-binary sex educator and therapist Aida Manduley, MSW

That "MSW" is all you need to know. It's an honorific that means Master's in Social Work.

In a field like Social Work, a Master's is de rigueur and as common as butterflies in a field. It's the minimum degree needed to do anything but scut work in the field. It's the same with the EDD. Have you met even an elementary school principal lately without one?

This is why government is able to brag that it has a better-educated workforce than the private sector. It's people have EDDs and MSWs and all kinds of non-rigorous advanced degrees.

Not only that, but the fact that she puts the "MSW" at the end of her name is uber pretentious.
_____

Howard: I have a master's degree!
Professor Gablehauser: Who doesn't?

The fun comes soon in California with the choice of Non-Binary on your driver license and what insurance companies will charge for the Non-Bi choice.

I think you'll see an explosion of Non-Bi for those with their first license. A newly licensed male driver costs more (auto insurance rate-wise) than a newly licensed female driver (though the females are getting closer to the males in cost), and the insurance companies will have no actuarial tables to determine Non-Bi rates. Many parents of males will think they'll get cheaper car insurance by the use of Non-Bi rather than male. I think that until there is enough data on Non-Bi, the insurance rates will be higher for Non-Bi than males (and I think that the insurance companies will factor in the males who pretend to be Non-Bi just to save money in their rates).

The fun comes soon in California with the choice of Non-Binary on your driver license and what insurance companies will charge for the Non-Bi choice. ~ Jay J. Hector at March 4, 2018 3:32 PM

Can't wait to here the police BOLOs going forward. "Be on the lookout for a white, non-binary, possibly male suspect with black hair and...." Sergeant Joe Friday is rolling over in his grave.

Boy, I'm on a real roll here. It's not "here," it's "hear the police BOLOs."

"That definition's pretty broad because being non-binary means different things to different people. To me, it means that I reject the whole concept of gender. "

She's not "rejecting the concept of gender". What she's doing is declaring herself to be of a special magical gender, one that us ignorant hoi-polloi are incapable of understanding. Therefore, she has status, and you'd damn well better mind your P's and Q's when she is in the room. She knows where you work.

When heterosexuals think about sex, rarely, if ever, is the focus on anything but "I'd like to get a little today." There is no concern about things like pronouns or being odd (in deference to those who claim the "queer" label) sexually. They may fret about their penis or breasts being too small, but they don't worry about sexually "fitting in" because they know that "the stars align" sexually.

Homosexuals have come to terms with the fact that they are a sexual variant, mentally. They're fine with their bodies and don't have a "sex versus gender" issue. They acknowledge that their difference makes them a social minority as well as a sexual minority and most are willing to separate their sexual-social life from their work-social life just to avoid confrontation.

Then there are those who are sixth sigma sexually who are so mentally disabled sexually that they resort to self-mutilation in order to seek some semblance of feeling normal. Unfortunately, that course is generally a fool's errand. Those who claim "transexuals" are not mentally ill simply cannot accept reality.

"Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population. Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric and somatic care after sex reassignment for this patient group." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043071/

I postulated above that one cannot be sure of your sexual identity without some sexual experience. My comment was derided. Of course some people are clear about it from an early age (Amy being boy crazy for example). But many young people (14 yrs old say) are confused. Some girls (and even boys) may not yet feel particularly attracted to anyone or have feelings that are friendship which they interpret as sexual. Gays may be particularly confused until they figure out what floats their boat during actual sex. I have heard many accounts of gays "discovering" their sexual orientation in their late teens. This is what I was referring to.

"but they don't worry about sexually 'fitting in' because they know that "the stars align" sexually."

I don't know that I buy this. It's too close to saying that sex is a "one size fits all" thing for heteros, which it definitely is not. (And I'm sure it's not for gays either.) Nearly everyone has had awkward sexual experiences, and the first time with a new partner is seldom the most satisfactory. What one person considers exciting, another person might consider distasteful or even deviant, even though both of the people in question are straight.

"No, you can't be both, because non-binary isn't a thing. You are male or female, and it is generally permanent."

Odd. This isn't supported by actual case studies. There are those who have both or neither set of sexual organs, being at the ends of the bell curve.

They are still citizens, which I mention because some are apparently eager to say they don't exist, or should be punished.

Trivia note: I came across a discarded 1939 copy of Webster's "Twentieth Century Dictionary, Unabridged." It's about 5 inches thick - made with cheap paper, of course, otherwise you'd have to struggle to lift it!

Guess which word does NOT appear, even in a dictionary that thick?

"Homosexual." (Despite the fact that that word had existed in English for nearly a half-century!)

From an etymology website:

homosexual (adj.)

1892, in C.G. Chaddock's translation of Krafft-Ebing's "Psychopathia Sexualis," from German homosexual, homosexuale (by 1880, in Gustav Jäger), from Greek homos "same" (see homo- (1)) + Latin-based sexual.

'Homosexual' is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it. It is, however, convenient, and now widely used. 'Homogenic' has been suggested as a substitute. [H. Havelock Ellis, "Studies in Psychology," 1897]

Sexual inversion (1883, later simply inversion, by 1895) was an earlier clinical term for "homosexuality" in English, said by Ellis to have originated in Italian psychology writing...

homosexual (n.)

"homosexual person," by 1895, from homosexual (adj.). In technical use, either male or female; but in non-technical use almost always male. Slang shortened form homo attested by 1929.

(end)