The abolition of boys and girls

boys and girls THE ABOLITION OF by LIAM GIBSON

Few people ten years ago could have predicted the speed and ferocity with which transgender theory has taken hold of the public imagination. This theory insists that gender is a social construct and that human beings can have a gender identity radically at odds with their biological sex.

While the media fawns over celebrities who decide to raise their children as gender-neutral, public figures who question this ideology are denounced as bigoted and “transphobic”. And although they receive far less attention, in the last five years dozens of academics and university students have faced similar accusations often resulting in them being subjected to harassment or facing disciplinary action.1 Many members of the medical profession have also spoken to journalists off the record about their reservations regarding the policy of automatically affirming all cases of gender dysphoria. Not surprisingly, however, they are fearful of voicing those concerns publicly.2

Yet, despite the power of the transgender lobby, concerns over the effects of the current policy among the political and medical establishment seem to be growing. In June, leaked documents indicated that the British government was backing away from plans to allow “trans” people to change the sex on their birth certificate without a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. And in May the National Health Service quietly adjusted its position on prescribing gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues or “puberty blockers” to children, acknowledging that the effects are not fully reversible as it had previously claimed.3 While the entertainment industry seeks to normalise transgenderism, the effect of social media and the internet has been described in terms of social contagion, a phenomenon recognised to spread mental health problems such as depression or eating disorders within peer groups.4 But it is also likely that transgender ideology within schools has had a considerable impact. When primary schools, including Catholic primary schools, encourage pupils to question their “gender identity” then rush to “affirm” those who show signs of confusion, it should come as no surprise pro-life action

that there has been a 400 per cent increase in referrals to the gender identity service at London’s Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust since 2015.5,6 In 2018/19 alone the total number of referrals in England was 624 boys and 1,740 girls.7

But why are children in primary schools being subjected to transgender ideology? One answer to this question is to be found in the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe’s Convention on combating domestic violence. In signing the Convention in 2012 the British government committed itself to take:

“…the necessary steps to include teaching material on issues such as equality between women and men, non-stereotyped gender roles, mutual respect, non-violent conflict resolution in interpersonal relationships, gender-based violence against women and the right to personal integrity, adapted to the evolving capacity of learners, in formal curricula and at all levels of education.”8 [emphasis added]

At first, promoting “non-stereotyped gender roles” may seem innocuous – few people would object to a little girl being told that she could grow up to become a motor mechanic if that’s what she wanted. In fact, treating boys as boys and girls as girls is considered a form of stereotyping which the Convention commits states to end. Instead boys and girls at all levels of education (this means as young as six) are to be challenged to question whether they are boys and girls at all. Their parents may have treated them as either one or the other but inside they might actually be different. Girls might really be boys or vice versa, or they could be “two-spirited” or perhaps “gender fluid” or “genderqueer”. They are encouraged to decide for themselves what they want to be and told that no one has the right to contradict that decision.

In When Harry Became Sally, Ryan T. Anderson describes the explosion of the trans agenda in the United States and warns of the potential damage done to children who are being left deeply confused by transgender ideology.9 He states:

“Parents are told that puberty blockers and crosssex hormones may be the only way to prevent their children from committing suicide. […] And never mind that ‘transitioning’ treatment has not been shown to reduce the extraordinarily high rate of suicide attempts among people who identify as transgender (41 per cent, compared with 4.6 per cent of the general population).10 In fact, people who have had transition surgery are nineteen times more likely than average to die by suicide.”11

As shocking as these figures are, these are not the only victims. When children are taught from the age of six that they alone can decide their sexual identity, then no one can tell them that they can’t engage in sexual activity, including sex with adults. A direct result of the trans agenda will be the rapid sexualisation of a whole generation of children.

Due to the disruption caused by Covid-19, the imposition of England’s new relationships and sex education curriculum has been delayed. But transgender ideology can be promoted throughout the school by way of its equality scheme and even its dress code. Most parents are aware of the need to monitor their children’s use of the internet and social media but it is becoming increasingly important to find out exactly what sort of ideas their school might be spreading about gender identity.

ENDNOTES:

1. Academics and others at British universities targeted for questioning transgender orthodoxy, http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sfos0060/GCtargets.shtml. 2. Marcus Evans, “Freedom to think: the need for thorough assessment and treatment of gender dysphoric children”, BJPsych Bulletin, FirstView, published online by Cambridge University Press, 21 July 2020, https://www.cambridge.org/core/ journals/bjpsych-bulletin/article/freedom-to-think-the-need-for-thorough-assessment-and-treatment-of-gender-dysphoric-children/F4B7F5CAFC0D0BE9FF3C7886BA6E904B/core-reader. 3. James Kirkup, “The NHS has quietly changed its trans guidance to reflect reality”, The Spectator, 4 June 2020, https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-nhs-hasquietly-changed-its-trans-guidance-to-reflect-reality. 4. Lisa Littman, “Parent reports of adolescents and young adults perceived to show signs of a rapid onset of gender dysphoria”, PLoS ONE 13(8), 16 August 2018, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202330. 5. Marcus Evans, “Freedom to think: the need for thorough assessment and treatment of gender dysphoric children”. 6. In February, the Irish Independent reported that at least three Irish doctors had expressed “grave concerns” over the service provided by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust at the Children's Hospital in Crumlin, Co Dublin. Two hundred and ninety-one Irish children have used the service since 2015. Shane Phelan Irish Independent Doctors in row with HSE over claims children's transgender care is “unsafe”, 3 February 2020, https://www.independent.ie/ irish-news/health/doctors-in-row-with-hse-over-claims-childrens-transgendercare-is-unsafe-38920159.html. 7. The Surge in Referral Rates of Girls to the Tavistock Continues to Rise Transgender

Trend: Questioning the Narrative, Blog post published 1 July 2019, https://www. transgendertrend.com/surge-referral-rates-girls-tavistock-continues-rise/. 8. Art 14 – Education Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, Istanbul, 11 May 2011. 9. Ryan T Anderson, When Harry Became Sally, Encounter Books, New York 2018. 10. Anne P. Haas, Philip L. Rodgers, and Jody Herman, “Suicide Attempts Among Transgender and Gender Non Conforming Adults: Findings of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey”, Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, January 2014. 11. Cecilia Dhejne et al., “Long-term follow-up of transsexual persons undergoing sex reassignment surgery: cohort study in Sweden”, PLOS ONE 6 (February 2011): e16885.