Children and Sexual Identity- New York Times Controversy
The New York Times raises a controversial and extremely alarmist issue: supporting children who deviate from the gender norm. Don't get me wrong, indulgent support for a four year old boy who thinks he's a little girl is to be expected. The problem is when parents or teachers take it too far, and think they can already identify the gender confusion typical in transexual adults.
The New York Times reports that "As their children head into adolescence, some parents are choosing to block puberty medically to buy time for them to figure out who they are - raising a host of ethical questions"
I ask you dear reader, what have we come to?
I understand that for some children, gender confusion is not just a whim, a fad that passes in a few months to a year. According to the New York Times, there are girls who slash their wrists in desperation when they get their first periods. However, I do think the parents should not be further messing with their children. There is support and support.
Parents have gone so far as to have their children's gender changed on the birth certificate.
"The Los Angeles Unified School District, for instance, requires that students be addressed with "a name and pronoun that corresponds to the gender identity." It also asks schools to provide a locker room or changing area that corresponds to a student's chosen gender."
How common is true gender confusion in young children? How many of these children have been influenced by outside factors such as media, parents, friends and are really regular children at their core?
PC has reached a new level, what with teachers being told to line up children not by gender, but by sneaker color. The tradionalist in me whispers 'this is impossible, they are just children, who gives anyone the right to mess with their hormones?' and the tentatively PC part of my brain holds back, scared to say too much, mumbling 'You're so backwards…it's a new era and gender doesn't matter…children are more precocious, of course a 5 year old knows what he or she wants to be!'
This is a profoundly disturbing issue that is bound to raise infinite controversy.
Published by Elisa Nova
Recently married and living in the NYC area, Elisa has been writing and translating for the past 10 years. She currently work as a legal proofreader, in-house and freelance. Elisa was born in Italy and is pe... View profile
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4 Comments
Post a Commentearly warnings of transexualism as a 'natural phase' of childhood or some other sort of traditionalist rationale.
As someone who's had personal interactions with transgendered people, I can tell you that it's certainly better to be safe than sorry when it comes to the body's maturation - there is little worse than going around in a body that is in total conflict with what you feel inside.
The real controversy is in defining gender - what is it to feel like a man on the inside? A woman? What schemas are we using in our defining of gender roles and identities?
Those are the deeper, more fundamental questions that should be asked of the general public to reflect on.
A teacher perhaps, but you're no teacher of English - what a poorly written article.
Your ignorance and blatantly opinionated 'presentation' of this issue is desperately unsettling. Articles like these are what pose such obstacles to the transgendered movement.
What ethical issues are we raising by stalling puberty with hormones? Is this the trite "playing God" stance that's been thrown around so often?
Sure, suppressive hormones at age 5 can seem ridiculous, but transgendered kids do realize it that early; I have no knowledge of how many false alarms there are, but I've never met any kid who claimed to want to be the opposite gender without them growing up to be transexual.
There are so many parents that are so stubbornly opposed to the idea of gender transitioning that they'd rather renounce their children altogether than admit they are transgender. It's refreshing to know some parents are so open minded, and I completely reject the motion to demand these parents wave off these
*dies* what ado about nothing! why are little kids gender-confused? Are they reading PlayBoyGirlIdon'tKnowWhich by age 4 or 5?? My mom didn't let me have a copy until aged 12! I feel so deprived! Kids today! When I went to school, "Boys had a penis, girls had a vagina!" It's ridiculous now.
Fascinating. I have no idea what to even think about this. I have a good friend who is transgendered and transitioning, and he says he knew from early childhood he was in the wrong body. On the other hand, what about highly impressionable kids already prone to confusion? I think you identified the inherent problems with this issue perfectly.