I was recommended Mermaids when my eldest son was small. He loved dolls, wearing fairy dresses, wanted to be a princess, doll, and was often mistaken for a girl. As a feminist, I had resisted gendered toys and was happy with all of his behaviours, as it was clearly who he was.
#Mermaids was sold as a playgroup for gender non conforming kids. I thought it would be boys in frocks running around, girls digging holes & climbing, and some fairy princesses driving imaginary steam trains. Great!
Other parents to chat to, maybe have a moan about how people expect kids to behave a certain way, and normalise not being normal for the wee ones. It was only because one person warned me that I clocked on
Not through what @Mermaids_Gender told me. They reassured me that their group would be great for my son. Even though they knew what my expectations were. Not the local LGBT centre I was peripherally involved with. They thought it was great.
So I resisted. And resisted people asking me what my son’s pronouns were. Resisted people questioning if he was ‘really a girl’. But I was tempted. I was tempted to trans him. I almost believed it. So I can see why people do.
Parents often mean well, but get sucked into the lies that get spun. ‘I’d rather have a trans daughter than a dead son’. Yes. Yes of course you would, but why are they the only options? It’s scaremongering.
It’s true that many parents would rather have a trans child than a gay child, but I would prefer that all children are encouraged to be happy in their own bodies, and that we celebrate their difference.
Those of us who resisted in those early years have teenagers now. Being a teenager is traumatic. Puberty is rubbish. We all know that, but we get through it.
But life for a gender non conforming teen, who’s been told at school there’s a pill you can take that magically changes your sex, in a society that valorises organisations like @Mermaids_Gender. Well that’s even tougher.
@Mermaids_Gender you do not help gender non conforming young people. You make things more difficult for them. And for their parents and families. You have helped to create an unstable environment to grow up in. #ShameOnYou #MermaidsOut
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