“Oh that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew.” Perhaps we should reintroduce Hamlet to a new generation, for who else from classical literature captures the struggles of what it means to be a young adult. He is grappling with the sins and failings of the adults in his life; he is struggling with his relationship with the opposite sex; he is struggling with the world of phantoms, and spirit, and death.
This analysis of your lived experience is so good. I wonder, where are these written articles in the professional world? There seems to be a glut. I hope you can get this published somewhere for a wider audience. Peace of Christ.
What an excellent written piece - thank you! I can relate to your story as I was naturally hyper (probably ADHD before anyone knew that term) when I was a pre-teen back in the early 70's. I was also a tomboy and loved climbing trees, riding bikes, tumbling and feeling free. I was tall (5'7") in 7th grade and very thin (I weighed 90 lbs.), and I was a very late bloomer. My younger sister (by 16 months) started menstruating 9 months before I did and the entire family kept it a secret from me thinking it might make me - what? Go crazy? Off myself? To this day I do not know why I was kept in the dark. All of my friends were budding and proud to show off their developing breasts, whereas I still had a flat chest. I wore sweaters and hunched my shoulders trying to hide the obvious. At the age of 15 1/2 I finally hit 100 lbs. and my period arrived! Even though I dreaded it, I was glad it happened. Finally, I was becoming a woman and my body began to change and I grew breasts and curves. I was so happy to finally belong to the "woman's club". In your case, you were fighting the changes happening to your body and found a way to control the development through eating disorders. I was glad you finally found the wonderful side of becoming a woman and become a mother.
What is happening today is shocking that young girls are rejecting this right-of-passage to womanhood and choosing drastic measures to stop it. The drugs and surgeries these young girls are seeking completely blows my mind. It is beyond my comprehension that the permanent harm and damage they are doing to their healthy bodies to prevent becoming a woman, and later a mother just breaks my heart. The teachers, therapists, doctors and surgeons who are supporting this travesty is criminal!
Now young healthy boys are wanting to harm themselves and take drugs and have surgery to stop being a male but yet they want to become a woman and they long for breasts and wish they could have a menstrual cycle and even carry a child. How did this world become so topsy-turvy? The end result is that neither the girls nor the boys will be happy or satisfied trying to be the opposite sex - it is impossible to play God and to change our physical DNA and ignore the science. I am sad that your childhood was so difficult and I am even sadder that your son has been caught in the trans-cult. My nephew has also been snared and I do not know if he is taking hormones or contemplating surgery. He ran away from home 6 months ago (age 18) and I do not know where he is living. My sister and her husband are worried and heart-broken. We all must continue to tell our stories and to fight this crusade together. Our voices need to be heard! We must not give up the HOPE that this cult will be exposed, the groomers will be charged and the innocent lives of our children will be saved.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I also was anorexic age 14, afraid of being a woman. Dieting stops periods (the curse).
Both my daughters became anorexic at the same age. Could they have inherited a touch of autism /Aspergers.?
The older one recovered, the younger one was dragged into the transgender cult, controlling body mass using testosterone. Instead of becoming an actress, this child now has chosen to act the part of a man, supposedly for life.
Very powerful! I was anorexic and bulimic till my mid twenties; I was seeking perfect, then I realised God existed and learned that no one is perfect or ever can be back in the 70s. I had two boys; one needed only one reassuring talk whilst the other one was too busy carving out a skateboarding career. I talked to my kids about everything and answered all questions; I think that's important.
I worked as a parent with those who actively refuse to support and those who say "we prefer to look further", but there are not much chances to treat a teen with "you are so brave" behind.
Poetic, poignant, and powerful essay. It is an unnatural ache to be thwarted in the effort to shine light on the delusion that has stolen my son away from HIMself and shattered my family. May our sick culture emerge from darkness. May our sons and daughters find their way back to the light of truth: the reality of biological sex and the sacredness of a healthy body. There is wisdom in the close of your essay highlighting the beauty of a sunset. The natural world offers soothing and awe that is a stark contrast with the online echo chamber seducing people into the darkness of the trans cult.
Thank you for your story. As a person who has (and still does to this day)struggled with addiction I am very familiar with your journey. We come to learn through the recovery process that our addiction is merely a coping strategy. We all have our personal shame that triggers our addictive behaviors. Yes, it took for me to hit rock bottom to seek help and deal with my behavior. I hope beyond all hope that my daughter realizes that her transgender lifestyle choice is a response to deep emotional trauma and that her coping mechanism is a dangerous one. Deep down, I know that she has to hit bottom to begin the process of recovering from her deep depression and self loathing.
Beautifully written. Thank you so much for sharing your life and journey. Now to sleep perchance to dream... that our beloved children wake from the slumber and release themselves from the shackles. We will be here waiting for them.
A beautifully written piece that cannot disguise your pain. May your son come to realize that the dark fantasy-like dystopia that he and so many others cling to as a way to heal their pain and bewilderment with their sexed bodies and the adult world, is not reality.
As others have commented, I believe these essays should be published in book form. The wider world needs to hear these stories, if the authors are in agreement. How could PITT go about collecting these and presenting them to a publisher? Would the PITT moderators please comment?
Thank you for this beautiful piece of writing. We have shared many of the same experiences- from generation, addiction, healing and motherhood. I’m celebrating my oldest son’s 31st birthday this weekend and I’m full of love for him. He taught me true love, the kind that takes you out of your own way for the first time in your life which for me was so freeing!
Thank you for writing this. Thank you for writing this. I hope your child will overcome his struggles and will get at peace with his natural body without irreversibly damaging it.
The analogy of gender dysphoria with body dysmorphia is so similar I cannot understand what had to be done with American established medicine that they refuse to acknowledge it and keep insisting that social contagion is not causing this unprecedented increase in children and young adults self-identifying as trans and non-binary.
I remember the time when anorexia nervosa and bulimia were on the rise and became subjects for medical research. They all recognized the significant role of environmental and social factors and the effects of social contagion on teens developing anorexia. The high-risk factors are nearly identical for gender dysphoria.
Yet, the treatment is completely different. It's like your doctors would recommend you to cut off your 'ugly' breasts and perform total colectomy and gastric bypass surgeries to make you thin enough to feel happy. Why does it happen? Is it because gender-affirming care generates so much money that "first do no harm" cannot work anymore?
God bless you, and Thank you for sharing your struggle! It's true about us boomers ... we had no insight on the decline of morals, traditions and general modesty as it once was, in traditional societies of old ... we took it for granted that it was normal to do whatever the hell we wanted ... we went full on hedonist! As for our children, the generation or 2 that followed ... what could they do, that was NEW? They must find how we were as shocking, or difficult to understand because there seem to be no limits, and no barriers, which young people actually NEED. There was nowhere to go except EITHER back to a more traditional model of living, OR ... toward something even worse, in order to somehow OUTDO the previous generation of free for all hedonists. That, I suspect is one of the fundamental elements of the current gender exploration, self-identification trend, and general hysteria.
"narcissistic-like knot" having one in my extended family, this is well described.
This analysis of your lived experience is so good. I wonder, where are these written articles in the professional world? There seems to be a glut. I hope you can get this published somewhere for a wider audience. Peace of Christ.
What an excellent written piece - thank you! I can relate to your story as I was naturally hyper (probably ADHD before anyone knew that term) when I was a pre-teen back in the early 70's. I was also a tomboy and loved climbing trees, riding bikes, tumbling and feeling free. I was tall (5'7") in 7th grade and very thin (I weighed 90 lbs.), and I was a very late bloomer. My younger sister (by 16 months) started menstruating 9 months before I did and the entire family kept it a secret from me thinking it might make me - what? Go crazy? Off myself? To this day I do not know why I was kept in the dark. All of my friends were budding and proud to show off their developing breasts, whereas I still had a flat chest. I wore sweaters and hunched my shoulders trying to hide the obvious. At the age of 15 1/2 I finally hit 100 lbs. and my period arrived! Even though I dreaded it, I was glad it happened. Finally, I was becoming a woman and my body began to change and I grew breasts and curves. I was so happy to finally belong to the "woman's club". In your case, you were fighting the changes happening to your body and found a way to control the development through eating disorders. I was glad you finally found the wonderful side of becoming a woman and become a mother.
What is happening today is shocking that young girls are rejecting this right-of-passage to womanhood and choosing drastic measures to stop it. The drugs and surgeries these young girls are seeking completely blows my mind. It is beyond my comprehension that the permanent harm and damage they are doing to their healthy bodies to prevent becoming a woman, and later a mother just breaks my heart. The teachers, therapists, doctors and surgeons who are supporting this travesty is criminal!
Now young healthy boys are wanting to harm themselves and take drugs and have surgery to stop being a male but yet they want to become a woman and they long for breasts and wish they could have a menstrual cycle and even carry a child. How did this world become so topsy-turvy? The end result is that neither the girls nor the boys will be happy or satisfied trying to be the opposite sex - it is impossible to play God and to change our physical DNA and ignore the science. I am sad that your childhood was so difficult and I am even sadder that your son has been caught in the trans-cult. My nephew has also been snared and I do not know if he is taking hormones or contemplating surgery. He ran away from home 6 months ago (age 18) and I do not know where he is living. My sister and her husband are worried and heart-broken. We all must continue to tell our stories and to fight this crusade together. Our voices need to be heard! We must not give up the HOPE that this cult will be exposed, the groomers will be charged and the innocent lives of our children will be saved.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I also was anorexic age 14, afraid of being a woman. Dieting stops periods (the curse).
Both my daughters became anorexic at the same age. Could they have inherited a touch of autism /Aspergers.?
The older one recovered, the younger one was dragged into the transgender cult, controlling body mass using testosterone. Instead of becoming an actress, this child now has chosen to act the part of a man, supposedly for life.
This is beautiful. Thanks for writing.
Very powerful! I was anorexic and bulimic till my mid twenties; I was seeking perfect, then I realised God existed and learned that no one is perfect or ever can be back in the 70s. I had two boys; one needed only one reassuring talk whilst the other one was too busy carving out a skateboarding career. I talked to my kids about everything and answered all questions; I think that's important.
I worked as a parent with those who actively refuse to support and those who say "we prefer to look further", but there are not much chances to treat a teen with "you are so brave" behind.
Poetic, poignant, and powerful essay. It is an unnatural ache to be thwarted in the effort to shine light on the delusion that has stolen my son away from HIMself and shattered my family. May our sick culture emerge from darkness. May our sons and daughters find their way back to the light of truth: the reality of biological sex and the sacredness of a healthy body. There is wisdom in the close of your essay highlighting the beauty of a sunset. The natural world offers soothing and awe that is a stark contrast with the online echo chamber seducing people into the darkness of the trans cult.
Thank you for your story. As a person who has (and still does to this day)struggled with addiction I am very familiar with your journey. We come to learn through the recovery process that our addiction is merely a coping strategy. We all have our personal shame that triggers our addictive behaviors. Yes, it took for me to hit rock bottom to seek help and deal with my behavior. I hope beyond all hope that my daughter realizes that her transgender lifestyle choice is a response to deep emotional trauma and that her coping mechanism is a dangerous one. Deep down, I know that she has to hit bottom to begin the process of recovering from her deep depression and self loathing.
Beautifully written. Thank you so much for sharing your life and journey. Now to sleep perchance to dream... that our beloved children wake from the slumber and release themselves from the shackles. We will be here waiting for them.
We must be the same age! I'll post a picture of myself at around age 15 on Twitter. I truly believed I was fat! Now I see how thin I was!
A beautifully written piece that cannot disguise your pain. May your son come to realize that the dark fantasy-like dystopia that he and so many others cling to as a way to heal their pain and bewilderment with their sexed bodies and the adult world, is not reality.
As others have commented, I believe these essays should be published in book form. The wider world needs to hear these stories, if the authors are in agreement. How could PITT go about collecting these and presenting them to a publisher? Would the PITT moderators please comment?
And fight we will! We cannot give up or give in. Your story encourages me to keep going. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for this beautiful piece of writing. We have shared many of the same experiences- from generation, addiction, healing and motherhood. I’m celebrating my oldest son’s 31st birthday this weekend and I’m full of love for him. He taught me true love, the kind that takes you out of your own way for the first time in your life which for me was so freeing!
Thank you for writing this. Thank you for writing this. I hope your child will overcome his struggles and will get at peace with his natural body without irreversibly damaging it.
The analogy of gender dysphoria with body dysmorphia is so similar I cannot understand what had to be done with American established medicine that they refuse to acknowledge it and keep insisting that social contagion is not causing this unprecedented increase in children and young adults self-identifying as trans and non-binary.
I remember the time when anorexia nervosa and bulimia were on the rise and became subjects for medical research. They all recognized the significant role of environmental and social factors and the effects of social contagion on teens developing anorexia. The high-risk factors are nearly identical for gender dysphoria.
Yet, the treatment is completely different. It's like your doctors would recommend you to cut off your 'ugly' breasts and perform total colectomy and gastric bypass surgeries to make you thin enough to feel happy. Why does it happen? Is it because gender-affirming care generates so much money that "first do no harm" cannot work anymore?
God bless you, and Thank you for sharing your struggle! It's true about us boomers ... we had no insight on the decline of morals, traditions and general modesty as it once was, in traditional societies of old ... we took it for granted that it was normal to do whatever the hell we wanted ... we went full on hedonist! As for our children, the generation or 2 that followed ... what could they do, that was NEW? They must find how we were as shocking, or difficult to understand because there seem to be no limits, and no barriers, which young people actually NEED. There was nowhere to go except EITHER back to a more traditional model of living, OR ... toward something even worse, in order to somehow OUTDO the previous generation of free for all hedonists. That, I suspect is one of the fundamental elements of the current gender exploration, self-identification trend, and general hysteria.