I might add that to my list in the post, if you don't mind. That's a belief that straight people as well as LGB can model, too.

Sure, use whatever you want!

I hear that. I came pretty close to being transed, but fortunately the JK Rowling stuff went down at a crucial time for me and opened my eyes to the misinformation going on.

I'm glad that she spoke out and that it helped you. She's making this all much more visible to everyday people who aren't dealing with this on a daily basis outside the Internet.

Completely agree. I think you said this really well. There is a big parallel here as well between this and the end of u/HelloMomo's post.

Yes, I noticed that comment as well. It's a bit of a double bind: not dwelling on it is what helps the individual, but at a societal level, ignoring it obviously isn't the answer.

I'm really glad to hear you say this. I have often wondered at how little the influence of autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, or forms of psychopathology such as PTSD, are talked about in this community and other LGB ones. Do you think people would be open to posts about it? I have thought about posting about it but kind of balked because I've never really seen people talk about it in s/lgbdropthet before.

I've talked about it a little bit in other GC spaces, and JKR has definitely talked about autism a lot when it comes to this, which doesn't surprise me since many of her characters could easily be read as on the spectrum (esp. Hermione, Luna, and Newt from the new movies). She seems to have a good understanding of ASD and I think this is a large part of what peaked her, from what I've read.

As for LGB, I've thought about making a post about it here, but have been a little wary about doing so. I posted a while back about questioning my sexuality and got a lot of helpful answers, but I do think a lot of people here don't understand really how big of a disconnect there is between body and mind for people like me, and how things that seem simple to other people (such as, if you are attracted to so and so you are this, this, or this) are not for us. For instance, this isn't as helpful to me because I don't experience sexual attraction the same way most people do because of my ASD.

The same goes for transing these kids (and young adults - I think many, especially women, are undiagnosed). The disconnect they feel is completely real, so to just say "no one has an innate sense of gender" isn't quite tracking the same issue, because we experience and process the world differently from most people. That doesn't mean that what we're experiencing is actually a gender mismatch, but when the genderspecials are the only ones talking about anything remotely like what we experience, it makes sense why a lot of people like me would jump on board in search of a magical solution. I don't know, this is getting kind of rambley, but I think what I'm trying to get at is that some of this stuff might contradict some of the orthodox LGB views on this sub--which for the most part I agree with--but sometimes it's not so simple.

Either way, I think we need to be having these tough conversations. This is hurting GNC people of all sorts, whether they be LGB, neurodivergent, or whatever. And threads like this are a good place to start. If you want, I could post some more coherent thoughts and start another thread and see what people have to say about it. That could be interesting.