(ConservativeInsider.org) – In recent years, activists have grown their demands for access to gender-affirming surgeries for children. Some have even gone so far as to claim transgender kids who do not have hormone therapies or body-altering procedures available to them will take their own lives. However, one expert in the field is calling for this rhetoric to end and highlighting that it is actually doing more harm than good.
In Finland, trans activists are asking lawmakers to consider legislation that would allow kids to change their legal gender. The NGO Seta claims this would align with a child’s right to self-determine their gender. However, Tampere University Professor of Youth Psychiatry Riittakerttu Kaltiala said this proposed legal change is not a good idea.
Kaltiala highlighted that adolescence is a time when kids are trying on different identities to determine who they are. Similarly to how one can change clothes and hair, some kids now try and choose a different gender to see if it fits them better. However, during one’s youth, most people are very “prone to suggestion,” making any criticism or encouragement surrounding gender undesirable.
Trans activists pushing "purposeful disinformation" with "transition-or-suicide" narrative about "trans kids"https://t.co/EA3fgf4MP9
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 13, 2023
As a trained youth psychiatrist, Kaltiala believes the best way to treat kids who may be transgender is to help them accept themselves as they are and just “see what happens when you grow up.” Most children actually outgrow their transgender tendencies in later life. She noted that when kids struggling with their identity constantly hear people saying that trans children will end their lives if not given life-changing treatment, it could actually push them to consider such a drastic measure. One academic shared more about this disinformation:
"Give them hormones or they'll kill themselves" is a perfect example of what the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention calls a "simplistic explanation" for suicide. It warns that such explanations can themselves fuel suicidal behavior. pic.twitter.com/GngDasgIi8
— Leor Sapir (@LeorSapir) February 13, 2023
Kaltiala has gone so far as to call associating transgenderism with taking one’s life “purposeful disinformation that is irresponsible to spread.” As governments all around the world legislate transgender issues during this moment of history, there may be far-reaching repercussions in the lives of those children and adults who are struggling with their identity.
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