I was watching The Today Show last week when a discussion began about being transgender. The topic is very discussed now, so I was intrigued. I also want to know what people who hold worldviews different than mine are thinking. So, for those reasons I watched. But, I couldn’t believe what I was watching.
The discussion had a panel of experts whose goal was to talk about transgender children. Even though I watch things like this expecting to hear something odd, I didn’t expect this.
Transgender Before Potty Trained
When discussing how young children are when they begin to think that they are transgender one panelist said,
“you know, the 2,3,4,5 year old often are just so authentic and often are not worried about whatever other people think and they sort of spontaneously disclose and say, this is who I am.”
I don’t know how many of you have children that are reading this, but this smells weird to anyone who has had a 2,3,4,5 year old. It just does. A child is not developed mentally to have the capacity to think, “Hey, my genetalia doesn’t match my gender according to what I think I am…I must be a___________.”
I don’t think that I’m alone in thinking this because it was pointed out in this discussion that these are very little children being discussed. I have a 23 month old daughter who is very talkative. And it makes the thought of an 18 month – 2 year old being able to put this together laughable. So, the question was asked in a series of other questions, “should you let the child dictate?” Or, put another way, should you follow the leader of your child at such an early age on the issue of gender. And, to put this in perspective, this woman is saying that a child could legitimately say that their gender doesn’t match their “real gender” a year or so earlier than the average child in America is potty trained.
The answer, again, didn’t make sense because of the mental development of children that age.
“Well…if you look at gender development, child development kids figure out their gender as early as 18 months – 2 years old…kids know who they are.”
I can’t stress how odd this is to my ears. As a father of two children this doesn’t make any sense. Here is the clip in its entirety if you’d like to watch it.
http://player.theplatform.com/p/2E2eJC/nbcNewsOffsite?guid=tdy_lauer_transgender_150423
So, What’s The Problem?
I believe that the problem is quite simple. I think there is a logical reason for such an illogical way of thinking about children. It has to do with what they believe before thinking about the mental capacity of a child.
The belief that undergirds this conversation is that a person has two parts. Who they are physically and who they are mentally. As Russell Moore has written, this is awfully similar to the heresy of gnosticism in its thinking. This dualism is the starting point, the foundation of their argument. And, as this idea is taken to its logical conclusion, it makes no sense.
A starting point like this is called a presupposition. A presupposition is something assumed beforehand. We all have them.
We live presupposing that the laws of nature are going to work properly. I don’t strap myself onto my bed at night because I fear that I will begin floating as gravity gives way. Presuppositions are good things when they are correct. When they are not correct they can make us do and say some silly things. The reason we say silly things is that our presuppositions don’t line up with reality. Here, I think is an example of that very thing.
If this duality is natural, then the struggle between differing genatalia and mental gender must be a problem early on. And so, it is argued here that children of preschool age and younger can identify as transgender. This is both ridiculous and necessary for their argument.
Children 5 to teenagers don’t “declare”, as was admitted in their discussion. So, for the sake of their presupposition, it must happen sooner. And, even though that means a child would declare their gender before they can go pee pee and poo poo in the potty, they hold this position.
A Lesson To Be Learned
I once was in an argument with someone who believed that people could not have a single drink of alcohol without drinking more and getting drunk. After naming off the many people that I knew that did that very thing, he just said that I was strange rather than admitting what had actually happened. His presupposition had been destroyed. He presupposed something weird. He presupposed something that didn’t line up with reality, and so he said something odd. He said something that didn’t smell right.
I have at times seen the wrongheadedness of my presuppositions as I go through life. And that is just he point that I hope we get here. We have to examine what we believe. We have to look at ourselves and see if there be anything similar to this in our own lives. Do the assumptions that we hold actually line up with reality? If they do…great. If they do not, then we need to examine what we believe. We will look foolish if they turn out to be wrong.
R. Dwain Minor
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