The relentless tide of sex stereotypes

Another day, another article about a child who is being taught that she is the opposite sex because she likes the wrong things. May 18th’s victim of gender roles is Shanice/Shane, who is a girl who likes “boys’ things,” and is therefore being transitioned to a boy. The 1950s-style sexism in this article is enough to make me vomit. I swear, somebody somewhere is being paid to churn out these articles daily and they’re required to include as many sex stereotypes as possible. It’s all part of the public relations campaign for traditional gender roles and expensive surgeries.

From the Daily Mail:

“Shane was just six-years-old when he first told his mother that he hated his long hair and girly dresses. From an even younger age, mother-of-two Leanne, 31, noticed he would never play with toys designed for girls and preferred the likes of dinosaurs and Lego. As he grew older he shunned dresses and his mid-length locks, and even begged his mother to let him wear a suit instead of a bridesmaids dress to his sister’s wedding. He finally broke down in tears two years ago explaining that he hated his life because he was a girl on the outside but a boy inside. Now 12 and he goes by the name Shane and goes to school in male clothing.”

So she doesn’t like long hair and dresses, big deal! Let her cut her hair short and wear pants. That doesn’t mean she’s a boy. For heaven’s sake, millions of women and girls walk around wearing pants every single day. Are all of us men? And lots of women have short hair—even heterosexual women sometimes cut their hair short! What are “toys designed for girls”? Like, seriously, are we admitting out loud now that girls should only play with dolls and tea sets? Are we that open about our sexism? I was a normal girl when I was a kid (meaning no gender dysphoria) and I played with Legos. That’s because Legos are fun. Remember this Lego ad from the 1970s, created before the religion of gender roles was forced down our throats?

This little girl from the 1970s wore pants and played Lego, and nobody took her to a gender identity clinic, because it’s normal for girls to wear pants and play with Lego! If you ask me, the gendered marketing of toys is a capitalist plot to get parents to buy more stuff. If there are separate toys for girls and boys, then parents need to buy two of everything instead of just one. I will blame absolutely anything on capitalism, but honestly, tell me I’m wrong on that. If any kid can play with any toy then capitalists sell fewer products because siblings are sharing toys.

“All of his classmates and teachers have been hugely supportive of his change and the youngster has never felt better.”

I don’t think anyone is being supportive of this girl if they’re telling her she’s really a boy. The supportive person in this situation would explain to her that girls can do anything they want, including wear pants, build stuff, and wear a suit to a wedding. They would explain to her that it’s sexist to tell girls that they can’t do something just because they’re girls. They would teach her that sexism is wrong. Instead, they are locking her into a jail of compulsory gender roles and telling her that she has to fit into one box or the other, and if she can’t fit into the role that was assigned to her based on her anatomy, then she will need to modify her body so that she can perform the other role. This is child abuse.

“Leanne has now redecorated the room Shane shares with his sister, replacing the pink walls with comic book-themed décor. She said: ‘Shane used to have a pink room before but he hated it, so now we’ve just finished covering it in Marvel wallpaper and he has lots dinosaurs and boy toys in there. Even before becoming Shane he hated the colour pink because he felt it was too girly and used to say it felt like he was walking into a Barbie house.”

Are you fucking serious?? That’s what you think little girls are? Little people who like pink and Barbies? Little girls are young females of the human species, and they can have all sorts of different favourite colours and favourite toys. They put up comic book and dinosaur decor in her room, and now she’s a boy?? What.The.Fuck.

“The brave schoolboy is currently receiving counselling and will be referred to Children and Adult Mental Health Services later this year where he will be able to discuss future plans. Leanne said: ‘A lot people thought Shane would grow out of wanting to be a boy, but he’s been the same since he was six.”

Oh, great. She’s in gender identity therapy, where they teach kids that they can have any biological sex they want (which isn’t true) and where they reinforce gender roles so that young people think they have to become the opposite sex in order to express their personalities. This is outrageous. Are there no sane and responsible adults left in the world?

When this girl told her mother she wanted to cut her hair, her mother should have said, “Sure, sweetie” and allowed her the hair cut. When she wanted to wear a suit to a wedding, the mother should have said, “You will look dashing! Let’s get you a suit.” When she said she thought she was really a boy, her mother should have said, “Nonsense, you are a girl. Girls can like any sorts of things, and that includes all the things that you like.”

Here is a kick-ass video of Janelle Monae performing in a suit on the American children’s show Sesame Street. It will make you feel better after reading this horrible article. Janelle Monae is not a boy, and neither is this kid.

A lot of girls like this who identify with the sex stereotypes assigned to boys turn out to be lesbians. There is a suspicious comment in this article when they mention the one classmate who was rude to her.

“The only problem we had was when one child called Shane a ‘he-she’, but he got into trouble straight away and was given lessons on homophobia. Since then it’s been brilliant.”

Why did they use the word homophobia here? Isn’t it transphobia, since they believe this kid is trans? It’s almost like they’re admitting something inadvertently through the word homophobia, a word which doesn’t fit since nowhere in this article has sexual orientation been mentioned. I suspect an awareness that the likelihood is strong that this girl will turn out to be a lesbian.

Telling lesbians that they are really men is homophobia. Lesbians are women.

And for gawd’s sake, people, this is 2016. WOMEN WEAR PANTS.