More Than a Women’s Issue

I am a licensed therapist who discovered how extremely wrong gender affirmative therapy is simply because it became so radical and widespread in the last 5 years. I took a hiatus from my profession due to a physical disability and when I returned, the changes were shocking. My views on gender ideology are not politically motivated.

I understand feminists have a large stake in the fight against this trans wave for two main reasons. 1. In more recent years, the trend is overwhelmingly impacting adolescent girls. 2. Women’s spaces are being invaded by “transgender women” (men).

These facts are absolutely true, but that does not mean the trans issue is solely a women’s issue. In fact, far from it:

Young Men

A male detranistioner named Abel Garcia had a very poignant tweet on 11/14/22:

Unfortunately, there are a few feminists that only care about girls and women being hurt, they could care less about boys and men being hurt by this ideology. We all need to understand that this ideology targets everyone & we need to protect & help everyone hurt by it.

Male detansitioner, Ritchie Herron, known as Tulip on twitter/x has been viciously attacked by feminists when he called for support for young boys who have fallen victim of trans ideology. He tweeted on July 20th, 2022:

I see a lot of rallying calls to protect women and girls, but why not boys too? Aren’t all children worthy of protection?

The threat to young males and boys has been overshadowed for too long. Your fury for what is happening to young women and girls should apply to them too. If no one stands for them, I will. And I will still be standing alongside women and girls.

Both men, and countless more have horrific stories about how they were victims of gender malpractice.

They deserve our support and their voices to be heard.

Parents and Families

But male detransitioners are not the only ones being hurt by gender ideology. Let us look at the parents, both mothers and fathers, who are estranged from their children because of the cult-like mentality that gender ideology preaches. The trans activists teach those who join the gender cult that their loving family and friends who simply have questions are bigots and transphobes. I receive countless messages from parents who are struggling with grief, fear, and anger because their child, who they care about deeply, will not talk to them. This includes mothers and fathers.

Here is a recent message from an anonymous parent: My daughter is 20. She began injecting male hormones at 18. I do not pretend to agree. Our relationship has suffered. I cannot sleep well. I cannot do much of anything well. I do not know how to help her. What to say. What not to say. My life is a wreck, and I feel like I am holding my breath every day. I cannot save her. I want to. I cannot find help. She is not going to be ok.

And let us not forget about siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and other family members who lost a family member because a trans cult told them they should be cutting off their families.

Siblings

Another group most people do not consider are the other children. I am talking about the kids who do not ride the ‘trans train’ but are subjected to speech policing and lose close relationships because their friends choose a glitter family instead. In addition, there are children who already struggle to fit in, do not have insight or confidence to stand up to uncomfortable lies. The way gender ideology is weaved into our culture is devastating for all children (and adults too).

I watched this dynamic unfold as I led teen therapy groups. I found the “pronoun game” just as damaging to the kids who were not trans-identified as those who were. Some enjoyed the feeling of “doing the right thing,” but this left them empty and less connected to their peers because it was superficial. Or some did not feel comfortable but felt peer pressure and disgruntled by compelled speech. Either way, these children had an extra obstacle from creating genuine connections with each other. (I never prompted pronouns when I worked there, but I did not directly confront the ones who did)

Society

And what about humanity? If we have an entire generation growing up with a fractured sense of self, an inability to trust others, inability to procreate, inability to have sexual pleasure, and some with devastating physical disabilities, this affects us all. Whatever happened to the cliche “The children are our future.” Now it is “Lets trans the kids, it feels good, and we don’t care about the future.” We need our children to grow up and thrive so our society can thrive. If an entire generation is suffering psychological and physical harm, we all suffer.

Plain and simple. This is a humanity issue, not a women’s issue.

Pamela Garfield-Jaeger is a licensed clinical social worker in California. She completed her MSW in 1999 from New York University. She has a variety of experiences in schools, group homes, hospitals, and community-based organizations. She has dedicated herself to educating parents, advocate for ethical mental health care, and emboldening other mental health professionals to challenge the ideological capture of her profession.

For more detailed information on how to empower yourself as a parent and navigate the mental health field, see the Parents’ Guide to Mental Health www.thetruthfultherapist.org. Pamela is the author of A Practical Response to Gender Distress, available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Response-Gender-Distress-Families/dp/B0CXMRGMBV And coming soon, a cute rhyming children’s book about self-acceptance called Froggy Girl. www.froggygirlbook.com

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