Shifts in the media, but we’re not there yet

October 7, 2022

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In 2018, the Washington Post published this piece, titled “When kids come in saying they are trangender (or no gender), these doctors try to help.” It presented a completely uncritical picture of what is euphemistically referred to as “gender transition” or “gender affirmation” in young people (it’s actually sterilization and mutilation, but society tends to think it unkind to say so plainly).

Yesterday, Reuters published this piece, titled “As more transgender children seek medical care, families confront many unknowns.” The article is extremely long and goes into great depth about the modern day trend of “child transition.” It doesn’t go as far as I would like, but it is at least a fair and nuanced look at the reality that our society does not know what is going to happen to all of these kids. To me, this marks a shift in the past couple of years from uncritical praise of “gender affirmation” in young people to public questioning. That’s a positive shift.

I have extremely mixed feelings about the Reuters piece, which is reflected in the admittedly back-and-forth nature of this post. Reuters is run by Gina Chua, a man who claims to have a female “gender identity,” so even though I think the article makes a helpful contribution and represents a shift in the media landscape, I don’t think this is going to get us where we need to go.

I reached out to the authors and one of them responded, accepting my invitation to talk (either on or off the record) next week. I hope that conversation happens.