Hi, Marnie: good point, and true for me also, actually, although please note that Stock co-founded The Lesbian Project, and I think you'll see, if you look into this, that it's a very important part of who she is and she talks and writes about it a lot. But that's not the point I want to stress here in response to your comment. I think w…
Hi, Marnie: good point, and true for me also, actually, although please note that Stock co-founded The Lesbian Project, and I think you'll see, if you look into this, that it's a very important part of who she is and she talks and writes about it a lot. But that's not the point I want to stress here in response to your comment. I think what's at issue is more a matter of helping young people know there are alternative ways of thinking about what they are experiencing. I know how much it helped me sort out my sexual orientation, for example, and, from what has been conveyed to me of the experiences of younger people, being aware of older lesbians helped them, too. I also want to stress that this for certain does not always end up with young women determining they are lesbian themselves. The key thing is freedom of exploration, and I trust parents here that they will know best how and whether to use the information I’ve passed on as possible resources.
At least in most parts of California, gender identity is taught in middle school. I've heard from a mom of a 12-year-old deciding after a middle school class on gender identity that she was "pansexual". This 12-year-old child then declared to her heterosexual mother that she was a "dinosaur" because she had a "cis" identity.
Certainly, there were the dark days when LGB orientation was unacceptable. There are probably a few corners of North American where that is still the case. However, based on my observation of my daughter's high school in San Francisco, the social pressure now for girls is to choose a lesbian, non-binary, or trans identity. And when a girl does that, she often gains greater social approval.
In many cities like San Francisco, New York, Portland, it seems to me that this kind of ideology is as confining as the anti-LGBTQ ideologies of yore.
Very interesting, Marnie. It is always good to get on the ground observations like yours. What I have been hearing (I am in NYC), is that being lesbian is utterly uncool, and that it is much more trendy to be trans. But that is really an aside to the main point, which is that I agree with you, totally, that the effort must be to leave the possibilities wide open. No young person should be pressured into any particular way of being. The point of being young, it seems to me, is to spread your wings, fly every which way, and land whenever and wherever makes most sense and brings you the most joy and fulfillment.
Hi, Marnie: good point, and true for me also, actually, although please note that Stock co-founded The Lesbian Project, and I think you'll see, if you look into this, that it's a very important part of who she is and she talks and writes about it a lot. But that's not the point I want to stress here in response to your comment. I think what's at issue is more a matter of helping young people know there are alternative ways of thinking about what they are experiencing. I know how much it helped me sort out my sexual orientation, for example, and, from what has been conveyed to me of the experiences of younger people, being aware of older lesbians helped them, too. I also want to stress that this for certain does not always end up with young women determining they are lesbian themselves. The key thing is freedom of exploration, and I trust parents here that they will know best how and whether to use the information I’ve passed on as possible resources.
At least in most parts of California, gender identity is taught in middle school. I've heard from a mom of a 12-year-old deciding after a middle school class on gender identity that she was "pansexual". This 12-year-old child then declared to her heterosexual mother that she was a "dinosaur" because she had a "cis" identity.
Certainly, there were the dark days when LGB orientation was unacceptable. There are probably a few corners of North American where that is still the case. However, based on my observation of my daughter's high school in San Francisco, the social pressure now for girls is to choose a lesbian, non-binary, or trans identity. And when a girl does that, she often gains greater social approval.
In many cities like San Francisco, New York, Portland, it seems to me that this kind of ideology is as confining as the anti-LGBTQ ideologies of yore.
Very interesting, Marnie. It is always good to get on the ground observations like yours. What I have been hearing (I am in NYC), is that being lesbian is utterly uncool, and that it is much more trendy to be trans. But that is really an aside to the main point, which is that I agree with you, totally, that the effort must be to leave the possibilities wide open. No young person should be pressured into any particular way of being. The point of being young, it seems to me, is to spread your wings, fly every which way, and land whenever and wherever makes most sense and brings you the most joy and fulfillment.