Read it and loved it. Social contagion explains part of it, but the overwhelming support from one political party, the medical establishment and educational indoctrination have to be factored in. It’s dangerous to speak against it; you could lose lots of friends, business customers, and be pilloried socially. This is an orchestrated campaign.
The GOP is on the side of the angels in opposing "gender affirming care", but it seems to be going along with the trans ideologues' false conflation of trans and gay. Tacking the T onto the LGBETC abbreviation was part of the political strategy strategy prepared for them by a major London law firm, to attach the the movement to a successful cause, i.e. gay equality, as a sort of parasite. Only now, it's in the process of killing its host. (Edit function on Substack reader sucks rocks.)
I had friends who were long-time Republicans who described to me how lost they felt after their party went full-out insane (culminating in 2016, but with years leading up to it) and how they no longer feel that they have ANY political home. I'm starting to feel very much the same way. I cannot and will not vote for Republicans, ever. I loathe and detest their positions on almost every important issue that faces us. But it is becoming more difficult for me to identify as a Democrat now, when the Democratic party seems to unquestioningly support the chemical castration and surgical mutilation of teenagers, housing rapists with intact male genitalia in women's prisons, etc. etc. I will still vote for the Democratic candidates because I think it is essential to keep the reins of government out of the hands of the Republicans, but I will do so with real unease.
Very pleased to see this. I am hoping at some point your article comes free of the paywall so that many more of us can read the whole of it (though I understand it validly may not). For now I just want to say that your conclusion offers an excellent, light bulbs going off everywhere insight: there is SO much more about this that is engineered than that simply arises organically from the ground up.
Penny, I haven't read the article since it's behind a paywall, but I will say that perhaps that line doesn't mean that the snowplow parenting caused the transgender identification directly, but rather that modern-day parents are likely to try to eliminate pain from their kids' lives, and therefore the children are less able to handle uncomfortable feelings. Some kids, then, think they may be trans when they feel discomfort with their changing bodies and places in society. Some adopt a different coping mechanism - latching on to a victim identity, or becoming swallowed up in video games or other numbing activities. I read about this in "The coddling of the American mind" where the authors suggest that the current "liberal intolerance" on college campuses is *in part* due to snowplow parenting.
As for the fact that hormones and risky surgeries don't "protect kids from pain" - I agree wholeheartedly. I think you will agree with me, though, that for many kids who declare a trans identity, the danger and risks of hormones and surgeries are not at all apparent. They are escaping the pain of being a human in their sexed body, and they view the medical interventions as "pain alleviation". Your son is sort of a rare case - a person who is aware of the risks and is making a conscious decision to assume the risks because the alternative is worse in his judgment. Most teens, though, are simply running away from psychological pain.
I absolutely agree that parents of trans kids should not be stigmatized. I know all of us are constantly wondering if we did something to cause our children to identify as trans (at least I was doing that for a while for sure), and it's too complicated an issue to have been caused by one thing. But the issue of kids who are so fiercely protected by their parents that they have no experience of confronting and overcoming suffering is a real one, and one that is becoming increasingly visible in our society as these kids grow up and enter post-secondary institutions.
Read it and loved it. Social contagion explains part of it, but the overwhelming support from one political party, the medical establishment and educational indoctrination have to be factored in. It’s dangerous to speak against it; you could lose lots of friends, business customers, and be pilloried socially. This is an orchestrated campaign.
The GOP is on the side of the angels in opposing "gender affirming care", but it seems to be going along with the trans ideologues' false conflation of trans and gay. Tacking the T onto the LGBETC abbreviation was part of the political strategy strategy prepared for them by a major London law firm, to attach the the movement to a successful cause, i.e. gay equality, as a sort of parasite. Only now, it's in the process of killing its host. (Edit function on Substack reader sucks rocks.)
I had friends who were long-time Republicans who described to me how lost they felt after their party went full-out insane (culminating in 2016, but with years leading up to it) and how they no longer feel that they have ANY political home. I'm starting to feel very much the same way. I cannot and will not vote for Republicans, ever. I loathe and detest their positions on almost every important issue that faces us. But it is becoming more difficult for me to identify as a Democrat now, when the Democratic party seems to unquestioningly support the chemical castration and surgical mutilation of teenagers, housing rapists with intact male genitalia in women's prisons, etc. etc. I will still vote for the Democratic candidates because I think it is essential to keep the reins of government out of the hands of the Republicans, but I will do so with real unease.
Very pleased to see this. I am hoping at some point your article comes free of the paywall so that many more of us can read the whole of it (though I understand it validly may not). For now I just want to say that your conclusion offers an excellent, light bulbs going off everywhere insight: there is SO much more about this that is engineered than that simply arises organically from the ground up.
Lisa, can you post the entire article here for subscribers? I’m not a paid subscriber to RLS.
Sorry, I can't do that—it's on his site! But maybe the paywall will come off at some point. I'll ask!
Maybe he can unlock the paywall for your subscribers?
Can't read the piece without subscribing, unfortunately, and I don't want to subscribe to another site. Ah well.
My subscriptions are through the roof! I feel you!
Penny, I haven't read the article since it's behind a paywall, but I will say that perhaps that line doesn't mean that the snowplow parenting caused the transgender identification directly, but rather that modern-day parents are likely to try to eliminate pain from their kids' lives, and therefore the children are less able to handle uncomfortable feelings. Some kids, then, think they may be trans when they feel discomfort with their changing bodies and places in society. Some adopt a different coping mechanism - latching on to a victim identity, or becoming swallowed up in video games or other numbing activities. I read about this in "The coddling of the American mind" where the authors suggest that the current "liberal intolerance" on college campuses is *in part* due to snowplow parenting.
As for the fact that hormones and risky surgeries don't "protect kids from pain" - I agree wholeheartedly. I think you will agree with me, though, that for many kids who declare a trans identity, the danger and risks of hormones and surgeries are not at all apparent. They are escaping the pain of being a human in their sexed body, and they view the medical interventions as "pain alleviation". Your son is sort of a rare case - a person who is aware of the risks and is making a conscious decision to assume the risks because the alternative is worse in his judgment. Most teens, though, are simply running away from psychological pain.
I absolutely agree that parents of trans kids should not be stigmatized. I know all of us are constantly wondering if we did something to cause our children to identify as trans (at least I was doing that for a while for sure), and it's too complicated an issue to have been caused by one thing. But the issue of kids who are so fiercely protected by their parents that they have no experience of confronting and overcoming suffering is a real one, and one that is becoming increasingly visible in our society as these kids grow up and enter post-secondary institutions.