LucyLeader, I was so moved by your concluding words...You struck a chord. I felt them inside, like one feels a big truth.
This is worth repeating:
“I reject the concept of the transgender child because without adult indoctrination, an imperceptible number of mainly boys might feel that a mistake was made somewhere in their existence. The veritable tidal wave of traumatized young girls seeking relief from our hypersexualized society would not be making decisions that are so incredibly harmful and irreversible. It is not enough to dismiss their regret as a byproduct of allowing them to choose a destiny they don’t understand or appreciate.”
I literally just canceled my NYT subscription because of that op/ed, and mentioned in my reason for canceling that I refuse to support any publication that promotes children being chemically castrated as a good thing.
There is a book about him (yes him) called ‘I am Jazz’ that apparently is read in elementsry schools. So problematic. There should be a follow up. Called look mom you destroyed me.
One small point, though: SInce you correctly decry Polgren's "sloppy terminology," you might want to rewrite the sentence where you say, "when I talk about sex, I am referring to biology and physiology, which are immutable and can never be changed."
IMO, it would be better to say, "when I talk abou sex, I am talking about biological sex, which in humans is immutable. "
Coz whilst it's true that human sex is immutable and can't be changed, that's not true of all aspects of human biology - particularly not the anatomy and physiology of individual humans.
Human beings' anatomy and physiology can and does change - a lot - over time, from conception in one of our mother's Fallopian tube, development her womb through birth, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, old age, death, burial or other forms of disposal and inevitable decay.
But none of the myriad bodily changes human beings inevitably go through over the course of time changes our sex. Ever.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, which I largely agree with. Of course, our physiology changes over time, and one of the life stages where this is most obvious is puberty. But during puberty all these changes follow one of two predictable and well-worn paths, depending on whether we are female or male. What I should have spelled out is that how we develop from girls to women and boys to men is physiologically different from each other and predetermined from conception. People who come to a realization that they are same sex attracted don't deviate from their adult (body) destinies just because they are outside of a heterosexual norm.
And interfering with this process has consequences that are always harmful and largely irreversible, as many detransitioners are finding out now. It is heartbreaking to hear them say that no adult supported them to not hop on the gender woo express.
You make a good point, and you got me thinking, which I always appreciate :)
Does human anatomy actually change, or does it just evolve? Do the organs we end up with in our old age keep anything at all from our baby ones?
I don’t mean to antagonize—I just find the question very interesting!
It is known, for example, that an optimally breastfeed girl will be less likely to develop breast cancer later in life (as will her mother). Does that mean that her mother’s milk has a strengthening effect on her little organs, which will continue to develop optimally? Can we really say that one organ has changed to make room for another?
LucyLeader, I was so moved by your concluding words...You struck a chord. I felt them inside, like one feels a big truth.
This is worth repeating:
“I reject the concept of the transgender child because without adult indoctrination, an imperceptible number of mainly boys might feel that a mistake was made somewhere in their existence. The veritable tidal wave of traumatized young girls seeking relief from our hypersexualized society would not be making decisions that are so incredibly harmful and irreversible. It is not enough to dismiss their regret as a byproduct of allowing them to choose a destiny they don’t understand or appreciate.”
Thank you for speaking up!!
I literally just canceled my NYT subscription because of that op/ed, and mentioned in my reason for canceling that I refuse to support any publication that promotes children being chemically castrated as a good thing.
thank you for your sensible analysis and wise words. this whole business.. no words... just silently screaming.
Well said. And that pouting dude with the 5 o clock shadow can feck off.
Just look at Jazz Jennings misery as a young adult and realize what a shit show this is.
There is a book about him (yes him) called ‘I am Jazz’ that apparently is read in elementsry schools. So problematic. There should be a follow up. Called look mom you destroyed me.
Thanks for writing this.
One small point, though: SInce you correctly decry Polgren's "sloppy terminology," you might want to rewrite the sentence where you say, "when I talk about sex, I am referring to biology and physiology, which are immutable and can never be changed."
IMO, it would be better to say, "when I talk abou sex, I am talking about biological sex, which in humans is immutable. "
Coz whilst it's true that human sex is immutable and can't be changed, that's not true of all aspects of human biology - particularly not the anatomy and physiology of individual humans.
Human beings' anatomy and physiology can and does change - a lot - over time, from conception in one of our mother's Fallopian tube, development her womb through birth, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, old age, death, burial or other forms of disposal and inevitable decay.
But none of the myriad bodily changes human beings inevitably go through over the course of time changes our sex. Ever.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, which I largely agree with. Of course, our physiology changes over time, and one of the life stages where this is most obvious is puberty. But during puberty all these changes follow one of two predictable and well-worn paths, depending on whether we are female or male. What I should have spelled out is that how we develop from girls to women and boys to men is physiologically different from each other and predetermined from conception. People who come to a realization that they are same sex attracted don't deviate from their adult (body) destinies just because they are outside of a heterosexual norm.
And interfering with this process has consequences that are always harmful and largely irreversible, as many detransitioners are finding out now. It is heartbreaking to hear them say that no adult supported them to not hop on the gender woo express.
You make a good point, and you got me thinking, which I always appreciate :)
Does human anatomy actually change, or does it just evolve? Do the organs we end up with in our old age keep anything at all from our baby ones?
I don’t mean to antagonize—I just find the question very interesting!
It is known, for example, that an optimally breastfeed girl will be less likely to develop breast cancer later in life (as will her mother). Does that mean that her mother’s milk has a strengthening effect on her little organs, which will continue to develop optimally? Can we really say that one organ has changed to make room for another?
Thank you for this great discussion! We need more like this!!
Yup: https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/looking-back-from-the-future