Exploring your gender identity should be seen as a GOOD THING! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 How great to be able to have the space and support to figure out who you REALLY are. Social transition should be made EASIER, not HARDER. 1/6 - ThreadSky

mimmymum.bsky.social • 3 days ago

Exploring your gender identity should be seen as a GOOD THING! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

How great to be able to have the space and support to figure out who you REALLY are.

Social transition should be made EASIER, not HARDER.

1/6

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mimmymum.bsky.social•3 days ago

The more stigmatising people make it, the more you have to fight to be able to even use a different name or pronoun, the HARDER it makes it to say “actually, that’s not me, I don’t actually think I’m trans!”…

2/6

mimmymum.bsky.social•3 days ago

Instead, in making it SO DIFFICULT for young people to explore their gender, forcing them (and their families) to FIGHT for every little bit of acceptance, it makes it emotionally hard for the young person to change their direction…

3/6

mimmymum.bsky.social•3 days ago

Feelings of “I’ve fought so hard for this, I can’t ‘go back’ now”, or “I can’t put my parents through that after everything they’ve done”, or “Everyone is going to tease me”….

4/6

mimmymum.bsky.social•3 days ago

If it was made EASIER to socially transition - and YES, get PUBERTY BLOCKERS (with the same ease that people get the pill) - then it would mean that young people could spend their energy exploring their gender, rather than fighting for the opportunity to get access to puberty blockers…

5/6

mimmymum.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yes, it would mean that more young people might ‘desist’, but it would ensure that those who go on to medically transition would be even more sure, and the already TINY % detransition rate would be smaller still!

6/6

lulachthesimple.bsky.social•2 days ago

💯 this.

With a wee note of caution that there are some people (pastors, "therapists" etc) out there who practice conversion therapy on vulnerable (often young) people, but falsely describe it as exploratory therapy - a kind of "exploration" which assumes only one, cis, outcome as "normal".

joannahorrocks.bsky.social•2 days ago

There was an article some years back - poss. the NYT Magazine? - abt a summer camp for gender-diverse youth where they were free to be themselves. At a follow-up some years later, some were trans, some cis, some NB, some gay, some straight, some bi. Demonstrates your point very nicely.

chrissy0161.bsky.social•2 days ago

Forthdid?!

petpluto.bsky.social•2 days ago

YES! It should be commonplace for people to play with gender, gender identity, and gender expression the same way people play with any other identifying markers (make up, music, clothing).

Making identity fraught and monumental creates and reinforces stress and pressure where there should be none.

annlee14.bsky.social•2 days ago

After asking to wear a skirt, blouse, and long-haired wig for a day, my son gave them back and said, "Thanks for letting me experiment. I feel more confident about being a guy though." Now he doesn't have to go through adolescence afraid and uncertain. Now he knows.

mimmymum.bsky.social•2 days ago

Also, if he hadn’t been given the freedom to explore his gender, he quite possibly would still be focused on it - possibly fixating on it to the exclusion of other things.

By letting him ‘get it out of his system’ he’s been able to clarify his feelings and easily move on.

freemind62.bsky.social•2 days ago

Having many trans, NB, genderfluid, etc. friends made me more open to allow introspection. It's allowed me to be comfortable with myself, and shed false ideas about what it means to "be a man". Men aren't defined by being brave, strong, or loyal. That's a choice a person makes for themselves.

sylvie-62.bsky.social•2 days ago

Thirded!

tilly.bsky.social•3 days ago

Seconded !

subether.bsky.social•2 days ago

PLUS INFINITY!

I didn't start exploring my gender until my mid-40s, several failed relationships, and a gargantuan amount of depression and despair; I almost instantly went "yep, I'm decidedly not male" and I'm slowly recognizing that I'm some variable point between the two binaries.

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