Relationships are different from how Hollywood portrays them to be. To succeed, they require sacrifice and duty fulfillment more than the insistence upon one’s rights, especially when children are involved. The overturning of Roe v. Wade should signal to us that it’s time that we put the youth’s well-being at the center of all debates pertaining to the family, especially in the context of same-sex marriage (SSM).
Regardless of where you stand on SSM, we need to agree on one thing: children should be raised according to their sexes upon birth. I’m writing about this issue on a lifelong learning blog because the safety of children’s learning environments depend on recognizing their biological sex differences. They will affect the parents’ choices about school enrollment, extra co-curricular activities, and child care providers.
Basic Safety Measures
It’s dangerous to make decisions primarily based on what the child thinks his gender is. A 10-year-old girl’s parents should enroll her either in a private girls’ school or in a co-educational institution even if she wants to attend the Ateneo Grade School because she feels like a boy. A 15-year-old male should not be allowed to use his female teachers’ comfort room even if he claims to be a woman inside a man’s body. These situations can lead to sexual assault and unwanted pregnancies because biological men and women will always have the potential to be attracted to the opposite sex even if they initially feel incapable of it.
Boys shouldn’t be allowed to compete in girls’ sports because hormonal differences give males physical advantages over females. Not only will boys consequently win the majority — if not all — of the competitions, they will also get the accolades and scholarships that go along with it. Moreover, it’s dangerous to compel girls to compete with boys in contact sports due to the latter having far greater levels of aggression.
Sex differences also matter when training children on how to take care of their bodies. The parents need to teach them the hygienic practices that will promote reproductive health based on the reproductive organs that they have. And while male and female adolescents can both see urologists, teenage boys don’t go to an OB-gynecologist even if they’re convinced that they are teenage girls.
Facts versus Feelings
Finally, confusion about one’s sexual identity is natural during childhood due to kids’ underdeveloped cognitive abilities. A 6-year-old boy may claim today that he’s Cinderella waiting for Prince Charming only to say next month that he’s Blippi because of his propensity for fantasy play that facilitates intellectual development. That’s no reason to transition him to other genders!
Kids also don’t have the abstract reasoning abilities to foresee all the possible consequences of lifestyle choices. An example would be the lesbians in the high school that I attended. It used to be an all-girls’ school, so the ladies of the upper batches that didn’t have male students lacked opportunities to socialize with boys. By the time they finished college, a lot of those “lesbians” got boyfriends and married them because experience eventually taught them that they’ll be happier in heterosexual relationships.
On the other hand, I concur as an occupational therapist (OT) that some children suffer from gender dysphoria. Certain professionals argue that sex reassignment surgery’s potential to alleviate the distress over one’s biological sex is a justification for allowing kids to get a sex change. The problem is, we don’t know for sure what causes gender dysphoria. So it’s dangerous to use children’s feelings as a basis for taking drastic measures to address an issue with root causes that we don't fully understand.
In the face of uncertainty, the most ethical and scientific course of action will be to conduct thorough assessments and implement interventions with sufficient evidence of effectiveness, such as behavioral management and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Treatment strategies like these can help children cope with the fact that they have a biological sex. They can empower kids to overcome the traumatic experiences that might have caused the gender dysphoria.
Sex reassignment surgery should therefore only be allowed for adults who are capable of giving their informed consent to undergo such a life-altering procedure.
Whether we’re single or married, it’s our duty as adults to ensure that our communities are safe spaces in which the youth can grow up to be healthy, responsible, and productive citizens. Let’s keep that obligation foremost in our minds when developing policies. We must stop being so obsessed with virtue-signaling and expanded entitlements that we end up pushing children towards behaviors that will lead to humanity’s demise.
(Photo by Sharon McCutcheon)
It may sound simplistic but ... the conservative view that there are only 2 genders, male and female is the only way to liberate a dysphoric mind. Great write up again Annie! Keep on writing!