Talk About Anything!
Open Discussion for Premium Subscribers
There’s so much going on in the world of gender right now, we can barely keep up. But since it’s a holiday in the US today, we’re going to take the day off and leave the conversation to the rest of you.
Please, use the comments section to talk about anything from the WPATH scandals to your favorite barbecue recipes.
And don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for a great episode with comedian Arielle Isaac Norman.
Hi all, we are three weeks out from having fled the U.S. for Europe with our 19 year old daughter, for good. The hell we have been through back in the states regarding heath care was absolutely horrendous. The neighbors and friends around us were fully captured and I knew staying put was going to cement my daughter into her new identity. They were practically preying on her. I want to thank Sasha and Stella for planting this seed in my brain three years ago to try a big move. It took tons of work to make it happen but I want to report on how it’s going. So far, it’s amazing! She has her hard moments but she is genuinely happy to be here. We don’t see any miraculous flipping of identity but there is suddenly a wide open space to not feel compelled to conform to a caricature. All of the paperwork for visas, applications etc has to be in her birth name and actual sex. I’m watching her sign her ’dead’ name without cringing and no complaining afterwards. Her room is the most feminine I’ve seen it. But what blows me away is how gender is just not a thing here. Everyone is just themselves, guys are guys, women are women. There is no effort to prove you are something else, no one cares. You wear clothes that are comfortable. There is also much less stress. People are cared for by the government, no one is walking around angry, and things just work, and work well! The move has certainly been stressful but really in some ways not. If social contagion is a thing, and we know it is, I suspect our daughter will be relaxing her identity soon enough. Regardless, we have breathing space again. If you are considering a big move, I would say go for it.
I took the plunge and bought a ticket for the Genspect conference in September… big step for me; I’ve gone so deep on this issue, and want desperately to be as effective as possible in helping right this rocking ship of over-medicalizing adolescence. I’ve been telling my kids that this is a moment: that this repression of dissent is undemocratic and anti-intellectual, and I need to find a way to network with others who have found their voice to speak truth.