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[–]fuckingsealions 57 insightful - 3 fun57 insightful - 2 fun58 insightful - 3 fun -  (8 children)

I have been tweeting about surgeries on teens in the vein of Abigail Shrier's book and so far two people have unfollowed me and made sure to tell me I am transphobic without any discussion of what my actual views are or why. I've decided not to unfollow anyone for now because I don't really give a shit, and one woman spent all morning subtweeting me, which was kind of entertaining. If you're trans anything and you're just living your life, or you're a supporter, fine, I don't actually really care. But this seems to be an extremely touchy topic for some people who I have been tweeting with for over 10 years. Wow. Instant policing and shooshing. Meanwhile my more resilient friends are asking me questions or just ignoring me. Others have come out to me as undercover GC like I used to be.

[–]gparmesan[S] 41 insightful - 1 fun41 insightful - 0 fun42 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

I just finished Abigail Shrier's book yesterday evening. Tore through it and I will be recommending it to many women IRL, even if that means buying them a fresh copy. They can be mad all they want. I would rather have an unpopular opinion right now than sign on to a vast unethical medical experiment (for big profits!) on young women and girls.

[–]fuckingsealions 33 insightful - 1 fun33 insightful - 0 fun34 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

That's the part that definitely upset me the most! How can people not see that teen girls are at the bottom of the shitpile? I feel like they're the canaries. Something is affecting them as a group and gee...I think it's society.

I love that Shrier hit so many things head on like AGP and the deal with microsurgery.

I was also interested in the parts about smartphones and self harm. I had to see a specialist for something around 2015 and she noticed my old old scars from my teenage years. She commented that I was "ahead of the curve" and I wondered what she meant until now.

[–]gparmesan[S] 40 insightful - 2 fun40 insightful - 1 fun41 insightful - 2 fun -  (5 children)

Teen girls aren't given the spotlight on this topic, at least not yet. Jazz Jennings is probably the most common name associated with youth transition and the human interest fluff pieces I see are heavily weighted towards tims. I appreciate that the book was so focused on girls struggles and feelings. The crossover with eating disorders and autism should be something we can discuss without being shouted down. How many girls will have to be medicated and operated on so the adults surrounding them feel woke and good?

[–]fuckingsealions 35 insightful - 1 fun35 insightful - 0 fun36 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

It's so fascinating to me for this craze seems to be a tangled web of internet niches, gay pride (yay, but here comes trans people under that umbrella), and anti bullying rhetoric in schools. These are all good things on their own, but they seem to have been the catalyst, but trans expression seems to only be the symptom.

I wonder what will happen after the backlash. Kids with true lifelong gender dysphoria will probably go back to being ignored. I admire that parents are trying to be supportive, but they're obviously in for a rude awakening.

Girls in my kid's high school are on T now, and many are non binary. I'm not patting myself on the back at all but I've raised my kid to be media skeptical and kind of everything skeptical, heh. We talk about the sucky and good parts of being a woman and she's not transitioning as far as I can tell. I was so disappointed when I encouraged her to GET OUT into the exciting world, and we discovered that none of her friends left their houses and I was negligent for teaching her to ride the city bus, lol.

I am so old I remember when there was a moral panic about even considering giving children antidepressants.

[–]gparmesan[S] 31 insightful - 1 fun31 insightful - 0 fun32 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

oh my god right?? when I was growing up there was huge debate about Ritalin. Now you're the hateful bigot if you don't think it's a good idea to hand out double mastectomies to teenagers. Unreal

[–]SameOldBS 15 insightful - 1 fun15 insightful - 0 fun16 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I'm so old I can remember the thing we worried most about with our daughters was getting caught up in thinking it was cool to starve themselves.

[–]fuckingsealions 14 insightful - 4 fun14 insightful - 3 fun15 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

Yes! I was in high school in the early 90s and I remember all the girls around me chewing gum at lunch and watching me eat. I was hungry, dammit. I went to a sleep over and everyone took turns weighing themselves. Ugh. I refused. I have been doing it wrong from a young age. 😄

[–]Thatstealthygal 17 insightful - 1 fun17 insightful - 0 fun18 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Surely anyone aware of Jazz Jennings can see that kid is being exploited regardless of their stance on child transition? If there's something any teen does NOT need it's a reality show in which people focus on their genitals and sexual function for all the world to see. That show has surely backfired and Jazz is the collateral damage.