Chapter 3: COVID Lockdowns
-opportunity to prey on naive and easily manipulated young minds
-the lockdowns separated and isolated young people from their friends
-with so much free time-the transformations begins-new groups online peddling the trans ideologies
-leaving teens so isolated and withdrawn and the pressure led to breakdowns within the family
-young people exiting their bedrooms claiming to be gender fluid
-teen girls jumping on the bandwagon that they were non-binary or trans boys
-online teens influencing each other through peer manipulation
-Gender Dysphoria spiked during the lockdowns
-in increase of 4,555 percent rose by 2021-2022 report
-2021, 14 million college students identified in “gender-diverse”
-social stressors and internet immersion were 2 culprits of influence over impressionable teens
-false beliefs affirmed
-teens absorbing that if anyone who questions the transgender narrative is a bad person-biased and hateful
-teens turned on their families indoctrinated they were the enemy
Targets prior to gender distress:
-had already experienced psychological suffering
-had at least one mental health disorder
-had neurodevelopmental disability
-has suffered from social anxiety
-poor ability to handle negative emotions productively
-had lives shaped by trauma or stressful event
Ex. divorce, death of a parent, rape, a bad break-up, bullying, psychiatric hospitalization
“These kids may have rapidly adopted a transgender identity as a maladaptive coping mechanism to avoid feeling strong or negative emotions”
American Psychiatric Association (APA):
-2012, task force on treatment of gender identity disorder advised teens be screened carefully before diagnosing and ensuring the teen is not gender confused
-this policy wasn’t applied but transitioned kids almost instantly
-and if the family didn’t get on board they were labeled transphobic
-it became the fast-tracking of gender-affirmation and transition
-a new demographic of girls with mental health issues believing that medical transition will solve all their woes
-alarming amounts of “cluster outbreaks” of gender dysphoria started
***social contagion is a shift spread of activities, behaviors, or even emotions through a network usually driven by by peer groups
***dysphoric after binging on social media
***the online adopts ideas of intersectionality
Make the story fit the transition:
-believing that transition is the only solution
-teens seek ways to get past parents and sound clinicians so they simply lie
-social media posting how to self-diagnose to make sure the criteria for transgender to a make the story fit
-teens only see that being trans is a positive way to gain attention
-teens told that “anyone that is critical about being transgender (even just asking a question) is either ignorant or filled with hate
-parents called transphobic or bigoted
-accused for your transgressions if not using sex specific pronouns, calling a child by his or her birth name, or even for calling for more time to think about gender issues
-the mocking of cis people
-pronoun police pounce
***Intersectionality: a combination of factors like race, gender, and sexual orientation make one privileged or marginalized
***the privileged cause the world’s problems
***the marginalized are the victims
“Heterosexual white girls often despise what makes them “privileged”
-they can’t change their sexual orientation or race but they can change their gender
-transgenderism offers a way for adolescents to be absolved of privilege and join the ranks of the oppressed
“instantly transformed from oppressing, entitled, evil bigoted, selfish, disgusting cis white scum into a valid trans person who desires celebration”