When I was in teacher training I had an idea for a cruel experiment, teach children who didn’t already know their left and right the opposite and see how it affected them growing up.

I very quickly realised that it would be straight up child abuse, as even that small lie would leave them unable to cope in the world.

But having thought that through brought me to the realisation that as a teacher (or parent) you have a responsibility to teach the children in your care about the world as it is and not the way you think it should be or wish it was, because doing anything other than that is giving the child a handicap.

I still joke with children in class, but when I have jokes with them I always ensure that I explain the joke just in case there are children that don’t understand (there are always children that don’t understand).

Thats a long way of me saying, yes, to wilfully mislead children about their sex, or about whether it is possible to alter one’s sex, is indeed child abuse.