Gender Curricula May Be Fueling a Dangerous Fad
Gender and sex education curricula in schools have become a highly contentious topic in recent years
The programs are becoming widespread, and while they may appear to be designed to respond to increasing gender dysphoria, mental health professionals are concerned that they may cause irreparable harm to children.
Curriculum implementation has been met with mixed reactions from parents, teachers, and policymakers.
While some argue that gender education promotes healthy relationships and informed decision-making, others contend that it is too graphic and highly inappropriate for children.
In her article in The Free Press, former case manager Jamie Reed blew the whistle on The Washington University Transgender Center (WUTC) at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, which has experienced a dramatic influx of young people requesting gender affirmative care.
The increase in gender dysphoria among youth has drawn the public’s attention, Reed said. “There are more than 100 pediatric gender clinics across the U.S. I worked at one. What’s happening to children is morally and medically appalling.”
While the public is beginning to learn about the impact of gender dysphoria treatment, which often includes the use of hormones and surgeries, little is known about the impact of teaching gender identity in the academic environment and its effect on the mental health of children.
The Rampant Spread of Gender Confusion in Youth
Dr. Alex Smith, a psychologist in the Greater Philadelphia area, works closely with school-aged children. Smith is concerned that gender confusion is becoming widespread, particularly through social media.
Using a pseudonym due to concern of reprisal, Smith told The Epoch Times that children are highly influenced by the popularity of social media celebrities and influencers who are adept at spreading gender confusion. When a child realizes the attention they can get, they’re encouraged to talk about gender, especially when it appears that “changing their gender makes them cool,” Smith said.
Dr. Shannae Anderson, a psychologist from Thousand Oaks, California, told The Epoch Times, “This may be a fad, similar to the ’80s with eating disorders and ’90s with ‘cutting.’ Now, it’s identifying as LGBTQ+.”
Children often have unlimited access to social media on which they can spend an excessive amount of their time. Since its inception in 2017, TikTok has become a popular space for children in the United States, with 32.5 percent of its users being between the ages of 10 and 19.
TikTok provides image filters that can alter the appearance of someone’s face, allowing them to have a more masculine or feminine appearance in the blink of an eye. This has made it particularly popular with school-aged children who may identify as “queer” or “questioning.” (pdf)
Smith explained that on social media, children can be highly influenced by users spreading gender dysphoria. Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, biased content can cause a child to behave in a way they may perceive will help them gain acceptance.
School materials being presented to children that focus on gender and sexuality may also be contributing to the confusion.
“As a gay parent, I am concerned,” Marci Strange wrote on the website Gays Against Groomers. Strange asked why schools are sexualizing our children. She pointed to a California “Healthy Kids Survey” that asked students, “Are you straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or something else?” Another page asks if kids are different from the sex they were assigned at birth.
“Unless parents ‘opt-out,’ it can confuse and make suggestions kids may never consider,” said Strange.
A child’s desire for acceptance and popularity is no mystery to parents and school staff. Children may take drastic measures to fit in, even at their own expense. In the context of gender, children may choose to behave differently than they otherwise would to gain attention and recognition.
Dr. Barbara Ellis, a psychologist from the Greater Philadelphia area said that in middle school, children become less dependent on their family and begin to transfer more of their social interactions from family to their peers. They have a “great need to be accepted,” she said.
As children enter adolescence, identity exploration and behavioral experimentation takes off.
Because the adolescent brain is undergoing profound reconstruction and is not fully developed until age 25, we’re dealing with kids who do not have solid brain architecture, Anderson said.
This can result in dramatic shifts in their personality and behavior, said Anderson. Further, she explained that these trends often end with the behavior resolving as children mature.
School Policies Promoting Gender Instruction
Due to the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, most education policy is decided at the state and local levels. However, influence from outside institutions is a common occurrence, particularly with regard to gender instruction policy within the school system.
According to Smith, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) provided guidelines to Pennsylvania school districts in 2018 instructing teachers on how to have conversations about gender and handle students who want to change their gender. The guidelines encourage students to make changes whenever they want, without a process of counseling.
A collaboration between UPenn and The Attic Youth Center led to the passing of Policy 252 (pdf) in 2016. The stated goal of the policy is to “ensure safety, equality, and justice for all students regardless of gender, identity, or gender expression so they can reach their fullest human and intellectual potential.”
Smith believes that topics surrounding gender and sexuality are very confusing for students and should not be discussed with all of them. “Most of the students these topics are being presented to haven’t even started puberty,” Smith said.
“There’s a lot of not wanting to use gender. Higher-ups are telling the teachers to use something different. One of my friend’s children was given a presentation [on gender]. He was in the sixth grade, and he felt very confused and overwhelmed. This was at a charter school,” said Smith.
Policies That Circumvent Parental Authority
Many parents are concerned about policies that prevent them from knowing what is happening with their children in school.
For example, with Policy 252 for the school district of Philadelphia, school personnel are not able to disclose information regarding a student’s gender identity to others without the student’s authorization. This also applies to speaking with parents about how a child identifies.
Ellis explains that when teachers or school staff tell a child to keep secrets from their parents, most children inherently know that is wrong. By doing this, the child is “put in a position of conflict, which can cause the child to feel anxious and depressed, act out at home, and experience feelings of shame.”
The Impact of Gender Curricula on Children’s Mental Health
While gender curricula are touted to promote well-being and inclusivity, they may be negatively impacting a child’s mental health.
Ellis explained that when a child is directed into an identity that they may not be, it can be detrimental to their mental health. “By glorifying certain identity categories, this can cause children to feel ‘left out.’ Children may then desire to be accepted, and go through dangerous lengths to fit in,” she said.
Acceptance is important for all children. However, for children with mental health disorders, the desire to be accepted by others can be more intense.
It can be difficult for children with autism to interpret subtle social cues, which can lead to being on the periphery of social groups and relationships, especially in school, said Ellis.
Ellis explained:
“You may have a child who wants to become part of a social group, so they are more at risk of being influenced by an ideology, even when they do not understand what it means on a social level. For example, they may dye their hair or wear different clothes when they try to fit in.
Because the desire for social acceptance is so great, they may do things that are not in their best interest without considering the repercussions.
Most children will do this, as their brains are not fully developed to understand repercussions.
However, children with autism are even more at risk as their brains cannot process this information.”
Children who have experienced trauma can become very confused by a gender curriculum, which can lead to drastic behavioral changes, according to Anderson. She explained that girls who have experienced trauma such as sexual abuse may dress in a more masculine manner as a way to hide their bodies from others and not draw attention to themselves.
“When you have trauma, especially sexual trauma, your body becomes the crime scene. Your body is where the damage was done. With individuals who have experienced sexual trauma, they may ‘hate’ their body, and be thrown into the ‘transgender camp’ rather than acknowledging that they hate what happened to their body. Many patients I have worked with who have experienced sexual trauma will dress more masculine to hide their body and reduce the risk of being re-abused. When you do not address the underlying trauma and [instead] encourage [children] to transition, that becomes another form of abuse,” she said.
According to Smith, there isn’t a process to refer a student when they present with gender dysphoria. “If a teacher’s opinions are involved, it could influence the student to think that if they make certain choices, it can make the teacher happy. … There aren’t clear boundaries for what to do when the topic of gender comes up, which can lead to discussions about sexuality that can be inappropriate.”
When asked how gender education may influence the behavior of children, Ellis explained, “It depends on how someone is educated about gender and sexuality, and who is doing the education. It is the family’s responsibility to discuss these topics with the child. Children are very malleable and vulnerable to influence, especially those with autism spectrum disorders.”
Are We Mislabeling Children as Transgender?
When children behave in a way that is incongruent with their sex, they may be mislabeled as transgender by external influences—parents, teachers, and even mental health professionals.
For example, a mother of a child who received gender care services at the WUTC explained how they sought the center’s help with their son’s rapidly shifting identities. She told her son that he didn’t need to label himself as anything at this point in life.
“Why rush him into a medical intervention instead of seeing if he’s going to continue with these changes?” she said. She assumed the psychologists at the center would help her son sort things out, but instead, they solidified her son’s need for medical intervention to help him transition.
Many behaviors receive gender-associated labeling. For example, athleticism is perceived as masculine; sensitivity or being emotional is perceived as feminine.
Ellis explained that “if a girl wants to be competitive, participate in athletics, or learn skills such as carpentry, she is probably going to be labeled as ‘gender fluid’ or ‘trans,’ when she is not. Professionally, I do not believe that it is possible to determine a child’s gender role when they have not reached puberty.”
Identity formation occurs in children between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Ellis explained that during these years children become aware of gender roles—how boys and girls are different from one another in how they dress, hairstyles, and other physical markers. Gender perception can be altered by what a child is exposed to or experiences.
Further, Anderson explained that it is very normal for children to play with toys that may not match their sex. For example, girls who grow up with brothers may be more inclined to play sports, or boys who have sisters may play with dolls, she said.
Parents may mislabel their child as transgender when they see their child playing with toys normally associated with the opposite sex. Anderson continued, “It’s just a phase, which parents should not label. The fact that we are so hyper-vigilant about it may confuse children. Oftentimes, when girls are raised with brothers, they behave as tomboys. Same with boys that have sisters. It does not mean that they are struggling with their gender.”
While the impact of gender-related school curricula on a child’s mental health is not yet known, many parents, teachers, and mental health professionals believe they have the potential to cause serious and irreparable harm to children.
“Boys and girls can have different interests, skills, and abilities, without the need to re-gender them to have them fit into externally defined categories. Children should be exposed to all kinds of interests—the arts, sports, academics, etc., without the influence of labeling them according to gender,” said Ellis.
The Epoch Times requested interviews with the co-director and several practitioners within the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Gender and Sexuality Development Program and the Mazzoni Center and received no response.
See more here theepochtimes
Header image: Understanding Myths of Gender Identity
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