The "queer" was anyone holding the ball, that's how I remember the game being played. Much like football, except there were no teams.
An advisory note was sent by the administration to public schools that it is recommended that transgender children be allowed to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify. It was accompanied by threats of pulling Federal funds for non compliance. (Bad move for many reasons.)
The response has been astounding: visions of young men deciding they want to shower with young women announcing they feel like women so they can enter your daughter or grand daughters locker room, shower with the sweet innocent girls who are there, sand flash their "equipment.
We of all people understand how silly this is.
Transgender children probably represent less than 1/2 of 1% of the population. Some are actually hermaphrodytes but most have simply had a bad biologic trick played on them and trapped them into the wrong gender's body.
These children are often bullied and ridiculed and rejected by parents and grandparents. More than half of them attempt suicide before adult hood.
What is needed is neither an administration dropping a bombshell on local schools in an off handed way nor the crazy response the move has provoked. What is needed is early recognition of these children. Evaluation by well trained professionals, work with their families to help facilitate acceptance, and a recognition who they are so they can be fairly and respectfully accommodated in schools and other places.
Sensitivity and common sense...a powerful combination
Laws like what was passed in North Carolina are unthinkable in the 21 century, but so is this overreach by the feds. What ever happened to a little common sense and flexibility where it comes to "special" cases?
The "right" has a point about allowing a person with male "equipment" to shower and/or share a locker room with the girls. The left most certainly has a point about forcing a TS "girl" to use the boys room. Can any of us forget just how cruel kids can be? TS teenagers are vulnerable enough, forcing them into a situation where they are subject to emotional and possibly physical abuse is unthinkable.
Both sides have gotten this issue so incredibly wrong, I honestly can't decide which side fucked up worse.
You are right on this one Dr. J
when i was little the last thing that was on my mind was to make those type of decisions. I let my parents decide for me because honestly, i didnt know any better. These type of decisions are best left to well trained professionals.
Kudos Dr.
I'm addicted to TED talks, and came across this a while ago. I hope we see more physicians treating these children with the respect and compassion that they deserve.
Along with earlier evaluation and emotional/physical/educational counseling for the child and their family, we need more education around the subject in general. The vast majority of the population has a complete misunderstanding of the subject all together. I'm not claiming to be an expert at all, but I have done my best to become educated about the subject matter.
I think I've posted this before, but it is worth sharing again. I like to share it with people who need a simple place to start with how complicated a matter sex/gender identity/sexuality can be.
As we’ve witnessed with other human rights issues, a systemic shift can aide in holding space for diverse peoples. It’s so wonderful we live in a time where more non-discriminative space is being held for diverse peoples. Understanding lies within our ability to trust our children in their declarations and how they choose to present themselves. Some people think children are not equip to fully express themselves, yet children are the most creative and aware amongst us.
So it makes me cringe when I hear worse-possibility arguments like young boys lying about their gender identities to take showers with young girls. How often does that happen? And why are we sexualizing children?
-- Modified on 5/15/2016 5:25:32 PM
Raging hormones make boys especially very likely to do all sorts of stupid and hurtful things. Not to mention that kids in general can be VERY VERY cruel to those who are "different"
There is no simple answer to this very complicated issue, nor should there be a bunch of overly rigid rules handed down from the Federal Government. Once again the Government is making a complete mess of this.
One other thing, "young" boys and girls don't have this issue by and large, but teens and even preteens most certainly do. We aren't "sexualizing" them, their raging hormones are.
Yes, children are very cruel, but I am not talking about the children who are harming. I am talking about the children who may get teased. Those are the children we need to trust.
What if transgender preteens and teens are on hormones to acquire an appearance in accordance with their gender identity? The raging-hormones argument might be of a cisgender nature. I can't say for sure because I'm not a transgender person. And I assume neither are you. I've heard the argument tossed around quite a bit, and often times from cisgender people. So be mindful that you may be speaking from an experience that isn't yours either.
-- Modified on 5/15/2016 6:42:25 PM
I don't mean hormone therapy, I mean the raging hormones that control almost every action of a teen aged boy. The lengths a teen aged boy will go to to get even a glimpse of pussy would move mountains.
and it's not the actual transgendered children we need to trust, once again you've gotten what I said all wrong. It's the truly transgendered children/preteens/teens that are the ones who typically need protection. Kids can be cruel, horribly cruel and someone who is "different" and vulnerable can be teased literally to death, to force a child into the lions den is completely irresponsible on the part of the Obama administration.
Okay, let me ask this as a clarifying question: who are you referring to when you say "raging hormones": do you mean the teenage boy/trangender girl or teenage cis-boys in general?
I also take issue with the focus of attention on the children who harm. Yes, transgender children need protection. But the onus shouldn't be on that the child to use a restroom that's not in accordance with their gender identity just children won't tease them. Those kids are going to be cruel regardless. The onus should actually be placed on the school, the parents, and everyone who engages with transgender children to recognize and eradicate their biases. Children don't learn biases naturally. They learn them from their environments: school, TV, family/parents, etc.
It's natural, its part of puberty and we ALL go through it.
and you need a reality check, kids don't need to be taught biases, although it doesn't help when they are reinforced, Kids naturally pick on kids who are "different" Even back when I was a kid, there was a game called "smear the queer" and the "queer" wasn't always an effeminate boy, anyone different was fair game, especially if he/she was weak and couldn't fight back.
The "queer" was anyone holding the ball, that's how I remember the game being played. Much like football, except there were no teams.
I can't remember not being able to control myself as a teenage boy, I remember wanting to fuck every sexualy attractive female I laid eyes on, however I was always able to keep my hormones in check.
I was struck by a man who had undergone change from female to male. She was saying what had happened when she was receiving large doses of male hormones. (These are typically very large doses at first. Many times physiologic.) She had been a lesbian as a woman and said she would sit on the subway and admire attractive women and think how nice it would be to approach them and get to know them. With the raging levels of male hormones on board, she would see an attractive woman on the subway and just think about fucking and eating her. She was amazed at how strong these feelings were. I thought o myself "welcome to the world of teenaged boys."
You'd think a TG teen hormones would tell them to act their biological gender and not the opposite gender.
How do hormones come into play when it comes to TS/TG people?
I'm a guy, so I'm accustomed to gang showers, side by side urinals and stuff like that. When I found out that the girls locker rooms had private stall showers, I was surprised and expressed the obligatory "That's not fair!" (Locker rooms were the same size but the girls were complaining that they needed more showers. I couldn't understand since there were more men using the facilities than women. I forget ratio, but when you go from gang showers to stall showers, you lose a lot of shower heads.)
Today, even men's locker rooms are shifting to stall showers.
Why don't we just go all the way to unisex bathrooms (and, to some extent, locker rooms)? Bathrooms are easier. All the plumbing is in one place and you make separate private stalls and do away with or put up a barrier to isolate the urinals from view.
When kids go their school bathroom, all they see are feet and bunched up clothing under the barrier. The only time they see the other person is when washing their hands at the sinks.
In the locker room, it's a bit trickier, but that might be something like Rows 1-10 XX only, Rows 11-15 anybody, Rows 16-30 XY only. XY guys who want to hide their weenie from an XX transgender choose a locker far away from Rows 11-15. XX gals who don't want anything with a Y chromosome ogling their slitty bits or tits choose a locker far away from Rows 11-15. What I'm not sure about is the mixing of trans and non-trans in Rows 11-16. If you're an XY with a penis but live life as a girl, it doesn't matter if a XX gal sees your package but does it matter if an XY guy sees you in the locker room? I don't know how it works.
One more recollection. I remember a place a long time ago that had some locker room problems. Their solution was to shut down the locker room and shower room and let people go home or to another gym to shower. (Bathrooms remained open.) The problem? MONEY! The water bills, heating bills, etc. were too high so the shut down the showers! Maybe that's the best solution
America has more starving children than transgender children, but this is the "problem" the government wants to address...
Not that it's the government should be feeding starving kids.
they are distracting us from? Or maybe President Obama wants me to forget that I had to give myself a raise this year, not that I could keep any of it but to be taxed higher so I can afford to pay my fine for not paying for scam health insurance 2017.