Gender transition and gender dysphoria are being glorified by our education system, social media, television, and media outlets as a solution for adolescents to address their depression, anxiety, and panic attacks.
Most adolescents found the isolation of Covid-era lockdowns unbearable. Adolescents with co-morbid mental health issues and neurodevelopmental conditions had an even harder time with isolation and virtual learning. Virtual learning was burdensome, restricting students’ access to libraries, community centers, sports, and meaningful extracurricular activities.
Children lost their familiar routines and spent hours at home on screens engaging with social media, binge-watching streaming programs, and web surfing. Media outlets were the only access to the outside world for our children and the only way to connect with friends and/or other people. The constant barrage of technology combined with isolation led to high rates of eating disorders, mental health related emergency room visits, suicide attempts, and gender dysphoria.
The insistent media messaging during the lockdowns and isolation contributed to an increase in gender dysphoria. According to Ginny Gentles, senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum, writing for National Review, prior to lockdown, gender transition occurred from mostly males transitioning to females, but after lockdown, there is a large increase in the number of adolescent females transitioning to males. Teenage girls entered the pandemic and virtual learning with already alarmingly high rates of depression and anxiety.
Rather than addressing the mental health crisis that has been exacerbated by school closures and isolation, the education system and media outlets continue to encourage children and teens to find acceptance through transitioning. Furthermore, in some school districts, parents are being excluded from the conversation regarding their own children.
This podcast discusses all these issues from a moderate perspective of supporting children who are truly experiencing gender dysphoria while holding our schools accountable to focus on academic outcomes and not political agendas and withholding information from parents.
Horsham resident Clarice Schillinger was a 2022 candidate for Pennsylvania lieutenant governor. She hosts the “Moms in the Middle” podcast with Beth Ann Rosica.
Beth Ann Rosica holds a Ph.D. in Education and has dedicated her career advocating on behalf of underserved children and families. She owns a consulting business and lives with her family in West Chester, Pa.
You cannot “transisition” from male to female, that is biologically impossible. People may want to think they can do so, but in reality, they cannot. It is the penultimate example of desire attempting to triumph over reality. That our education system wants to normalize this, with the media and a large swath of the public looking to burnish their progressive credentials playing right along, is unsettling. What is terrifying are the elements of the medical profession that will aid and abet this. These kids need support and help, and not reinforcement to pursue achieving an aim that is unachievable in the end analysis.