A thread about the "affirmation trap" and "gender cage" that the gender affirmation approach builds around gender dysphoric children.

Gender affirmation therapy is an example of how skewed the treatment of gender dysphoria is towards adult requirements. 1/

This approach can work with an adult in midlife who has lived a life and now wants to live a different gendered life. Their sense of gender may have been constant for many years. They just want affirmation of their new gender. 2/

However when it comes to children with gender dysphoria, gender affirmation can have no such legitimacy. As an experimental approach, it is in total opposition to all main child development theories which regard gender as a social construct around which children grow & adapt. 3/

In other words, a child's sense of their own gender is an ever evolving fluid concept. How they see their gender at 4 years is different to when 9 or 14. However the affirmation model is modelled around an immutable gender identity which does not change as the child matures. 4/

The result of this approach is that it fixes the child at the gender age when they were affirmed. The natural gender fluidity is hardened at a developmental stage in which the child is now stuck. The stage at which this occurs is decided by adults. 5/

But the child is complicit in this process because of the affirmation they receive for their compliance. To understand why, think back to your own childhood and what it felt like to feel affirmation from important adults in your life. It feels lovely and you always want more. 6/

Thus a gender affirmed child will find themselves trapped by a desire for ongoing affirmation. But their natural gender development will have been halted. And if puberty blocking drugs are also used you can see how little chance the child has of escape from the affirmation. 7/

This is why I would advocate watchful waiting & talking therapies for treating gender dysphoria in children. These approaches work with the natural processes of child development, to give the child the best chance of developing into the adult version of their childish self. /End

As always, work in progress, so really happy for reasoned debate based on evidence.