Growing up just 20 years ago, I was taught that boys and girls are different and that you are one or the other.  As a boy, I knew that I would never be a girl, and society did not tell me otherwise.  Today's America is different, for it tells children their sex can change based on their feelings and that society will honor those feelings even if biology says otherwise.  Additionally, health care professionals, Hollywood elites, toy-manufacturers, and cookie-makers are encouraging children to embrace transgenderism.

As recently as 2015, Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital, classified transgenderism as a "mental disorder" and declared that changing one's sex is "biologically impossible."

By 2019, though, the World Health Organization voted that transgenderism or gender incongruence is no longer a mental disorder and reclassified it as a part of sexual health.  The rest of the medical community has quickly followed.  This declassification has significantly helped normalize transgenderism.

Transgenderism became mainstream after Bruce Jenner, the 1976 Summer Olympics' decathlon winner, announced that he had become a female named Caitlyn Jenner in 2015.  At the time, President Obama congratulated Jenner's bravery, saying, "It takes courage to share your story."

More recently, in 2020, actress Ellen Page announced she is transgender.  She wrote on Twitter that her "pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot."

The medical community and Hollywood are not the only places that are normalizing transgenderism.  Some toy- and cookie-manufacturers are as well.  Last week, Hasbro announced that Mr. Potato Head would drop the Mr. to allow a gender-neutral Potato Head.  In response, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)'s chief communications officer, Rich Ferraro, wrote, "By offering a toy that exits outside of the binary male and female, Hasbro is helping kids to simply see toys as toys, which encourages them to be their more authentic selves outside of the pressures of traditional gender norms."  Since then, however, public pressure forced Hasbro to reinstate that all-important "Mr."  Perhaps jealous of Hasbro's spotlight, Oreo tweeted that "trans people exist."

Other countries are also dealing with transgenderism and witnessing the effects of its popularity among the young.  Australian psychiatrist Stephen Stathis, who is responsible for diagnosing gender dysphoria, reported on a patient who said, "Doctor Steve...I want to be transgender.  It's the new black."

This cultural push ignores that men and woman are different, in brains and body.  While a boy may feel like a girl, he is not.  He is still a boy.  Feelings cannot change a person's sex.

It also ignores the problems with transgenderism.  Per capita, more transgender people have attempted suicide — 22% to 43% of them — than any other demographic.  Additionally, two thirds of all trans youths report recent self-harm.  Believing you are in the wrong body takes a serious toll on your mental health.  If someone takes hormone-blockers or has a so-called sex reassignment done, this likely will also negatively impact a person's mental well-being in the long run.

For example, in 2020, Keira Bell, a 23-year-old woman from London, sued the National Health Service (NHS).  Bell was only 16 when she went to the NHS for gender dysphoria treatment.  After three one-hour therapy sessions, the NHS prescribed puberty-blockers.  Three years later, it gave her a double-mastectomy.  Once she had taken these steps, it was too late to go back.

If I'd grown up now, rather than 20 years ago, I would have grown up in a different society.  Some of my classmates might have wanted to be transgender because it would have been popular, especially if even the president said it was worthy of respect.  Some girls, if they knew that their favorite actress considered herself a man, might have considered themselves boys.

Normalizing transgenderism in America has produced more transgender persons.  As in Australia, many children want to be transgender because it is cool.  What they do not realize is that once they transition, either by hormone-blockers or genital mutilation, there is no going back.

Instead of embracing transgenderism, boys and girls should be taught to appreciate their natural-born state.  Parents should teach their children the differences between the sexes.  Boys should be taught how to be men.  Girls should be taught how to be women.  Transgender individuals should seek psychological help.  Our society would improve.  Instead, our federal government is seeking through the Equality Act to enshrine transgenderism in American law.

Image: Oreo tweet re trans.  Twitter screen grab.