Finally, it has been said. It needed to be said. I can't thank you enough for saying what so many parents know. Parents and therapists have been so undermined by activists. Some were even duped. Then the activists moved on, capturing institutions such as the entire medical field and the education system. Then onto political parties. Everywhere has the tentacles of this destructive ideology and its need to dismantle and destroy everything it touches. People are sick of it and are finally standing up to it. It will take years to clean up the mess this harmful ideology has caused. I thank you and everyone dedicated to exposing the harm and then working to protect kids (and vulnerable adults) from entering the pathway of this medical scandal. I appreciate your efforts to help those in distress to receive the comprehensive care they need, not a hormone prescription and a surgery to remove a healthy body part or reproductive organ.
This is why I do not think of myself as gender critical. I’m a sex realist. Sex is materially real and it matters.
Gender itself is a nothing burger made of ephemera: bits of stereotype, social roles and conventions, and porn tropes. I do not have a gender identity. I live in a sexed body. Yes, of course there are infinite genders in social circulation — binary, non-binary, mushroom, furry, whatever, pending one’s belief system and budget.
Gender non-conformity is a nothing burger too, or it should be. What happened to what we all knew in the 1970s: that anyone can play with Barbie dolls or Tonka trucks, be a hairdresser or a fireman, behave more or less stereotypically feminine or masculine?
The only thing that remains terribly, wonderfully real is biological sex. We live in and through our immutably sexed bodies — we are unchangeably male or female — no matter what gender identities we have or don’t have, or purchase on Amazon or at the local Planned Parenthood. Wearing floral dresses, Injecting hormones or cutting off body parts and sewing simulacrums of others on doesn’t change that reality.
Thank you so much Stella for coming to the ultimate conclusion and saying it so clearly.
This essay presents the central tenet of the gender-critical perspective. It goes to the heart of the issue: not only is there no such thing as being “truly trans,” but the assertion of a trans identity is itself a manifestation of psychological distress. This idea will be highly controversial among those who promote, support, or take refuge in gender identity ideology. It will resonate differently with different populations—particularly between adolescent girls and young women who long to escape their sex by identifying as male, and boys and men whose desire to be female is intertwined with their sexuality. Compassionate, exploratory therapy will need to be carefully tailored to the unique circumstances of each group—and of the individuals within them.
A humdinger of an article. Thank you Stella! I can’t wait for the conference and very much hoping there will be more on how to help young people who have internalized homophobia accept their sexed bodies and develop a healthy self-concept rather than trying to operate as members of the opposite sex.
Finally, it has been said. It needed to be said. I can't thank you enough for saying what so many parents know. Parents and therapists have been so undermined by activists. Some were even duped. Then the activists moved on, capturing institutions such as the entire medical field and the education system. Then onto political parties. Everywhere has the tentacles of this destructive ideology and its need to dismantle and destroy everything it touches. People are sick of it and are finally standing up to it. It will take years to clean up the mess this harmful ideology has caused. I thank you and everyone dedicated to exposing the harm and then working to protect kids (and vulnerable adults) from entering the pathway of this medical scandal. I appreciate your efforts to help those in distress to receive the comprehensive care they need, not a hormone prescription and a surgery to remove a healthy body part or reproductive organ.
Your work and words are much appreciated.
100%.... thank you so much for your clarity!
This is why I do not think of myself as gender critical. I’m a sex realist. Sex is materially real and it matters.
Gender itself is a nothing burger made of ephemera: bits of stereotype, social roles and conventions, and porn tropes. I do not have a gender identity. I live in a sexed body. Yes, of course there are infinite genders in social circulation — binary, non-binary, mushroom, furry, whatever, pending one’s belief system and budget.
Gender non-conformity is a nothing burger too, or it should be. What happened to what we all knew in the 1970s: that anyone can play with Barbie dolls or Tonka trucks, be a hairdresser or a fireman, behave more or less stereotypically feminine or masculine?
The only thing that remains terribly, wonderfully real is biological sex. We live in and through our immutably sexed bodies — we are unchangeably male or female — no matter what gender identities we have or don’t have, or purchase on Amazon or at the local Planned Parenthood. Wearing floral dresses, Injecting hormones or cutting off body parts and sewing simulacrums of others on doesn’t change that reality.
Thank you so much Stella for coming to the ultimate conclusion and saying it so clearly.
This essay presents the central tenet of the gender-critical perspective. It goes to the heart of the issue: not only is there no such thing as being “truly trans,” but the assertion of a trans identity is itself a manifestation of psychological distress. This idea will be highly controversial among those who promote, support, or take refuge in gender identity ideology. It will resonate differently with different populations—particularly between adolescent girls and young women who long to escape their sex by identifying as male, and boys and men whose desire to be female is intertwined with their sexuality. Compassionate, exploratory therapy will need to be carefully tailored to the unique circumstances of each group—and of the individuals within them.
So helpful. Restacked about four times - so far. 😀
A humdinger of an article. Thank you Stella! I can’t wait for the conference and very much hoping there will be more on how to help young people who have internalized homophobia accept their sexed bodies and develop a healthy self-concept rather than trying to operate as members of the opposite sex.