Should We Introduce Children to the Concept of Transgender People?

[VanOcc]

Should We Introduce Children to the Concept of Transgender People?
by Joanne Herman

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joanne-herman/should-we-teach-children-_b_805133.html

"Should we introduce children to the concept of transgender people? The answer is yes according to an article published in the December 2010 issue of the peer-reviewed Graduate Journal of Social Science.

The article by Natacha Kennedy and Mark Hellen, entitled "Transgender Children: More Than a Theoretical Challenge," was developed from a paper presented at the November 2009 conference "Transgender Studies & Theories: Building Up the Field in a Nordic Context" held at Linkoping University in Sweden."

[Vicky]

 Where were these guys 55 years ago when I needed them??  As sad as it makes me that they could not include the views of the children themselves, I see where there could have been transgender children discovered, and the authors powerless to do anything about the discovery.  Bruises to a body can be reported, but the violence done mentally to such children is legally and ethically invisible to all but the child, and maybe a researcher who is also shattered by their finding, and as powerless as the child.

[Miniar]

Ofcourse, there's the predictable, "OMG! NO! YOU CAN'T CONFUSE THE CHILDREN!" comments from the shooting gallery, but it seems that children of that age really aren't made confused by this at all.
It's adults who get their panties in a twist, kids just go "yeah alright" and then go with it.

[Janet_Girl]

They teach about Transgendered people like they teach about GLB people.

[Miniar]

They teach about Transgendered people like they teach about GLB people.

You mean that they don't teach about it at all, unless they have reason to talk about how they're going to hell?

[xAndrewx]

You mean that they don't teach about it at all, unless they have reason to talk about how they're going to hell?

Exactly and once the kids get to high school and they can't avoid it anymore they speak briefly in textbooks about the "disorder"  Seriously they teach kids about murderers and stuff without fear of messing up the kid but god forbid they teach them about a trans person. Sorry for the sarcasm.

About the post- I think there is a time and a place. Obviously the kids need it thoroughly explained at a reasonable age, not like when they are 6 and think "I wanna be an astronaut, I wanna be a cowboy, I wanna be a boy (or a girl) so I wanna be transgender!" I do however think that life would've been way easier if I had heard the word transgender before I was a sophmore in high school. I think if a middle schooler can hear half the words they hear and learn about the stuff they learn then they can handle it. I don't see it happening though.

[Julie Marie]

Should we introduce children to the concept of transgender people? The answer is yes according to an article published in the December 2010 issue of the peer-reviewed Graduate Journal of Social Science.

Critics will cry that introducing all children to the concept of transgender people will cause children to "become transgender." But the authors found that schooling has little impact on gender identity development in children. In fact, children who develop a transgender identity seem to do so in spite of often unwitting but nevertheless pervasive efforts by schools to enforce gender conformity.

FULL ARTICLE

While the article is a positive one regarding the subject, the idea of even asking the question compels me to want to ask, "Should we introduce children to the concept of inter-racial marriage?".  The point being that at one point in time, people would have actually asked a ridiculous question such as that.  Today it sends chills up our spine at the thought such bigotry exists.

I guess it does though.  And it seems we have to ask the question the author did to make people stop and think.

I've always seen the "we need to protect the children" excuse as a lame attempt to hide the fact that the parents and teachers have taught the kids "trans is bad" and instilled in them an irrational fear.  Teaching them acceptance would be admitting the fear, prejudice and bigotry came from what kids were taught rather than a natural reaction.