A workshop on gender identity and expression for kids aged 6-12.

The supposed object of the workshop was to discuss JKR’s recent statement, but it turned out to be grooming session, this time for actual children, rather adult professionals.

You will note that the age of the children is between 6-12.

Anyone could sign up to the workshop and as I went through registration I was asked two questions: the age of my children, and would I be joining?

I registered and immediately received a Zoom meeting link (no password) that I used to access the meeting.

Shortly before the start of the workshop we received an email telling us that adults must ‘remain silent observers’ both onscreen and in the chat box.

We were also warned that anyone who behaved in a manner deemed not appropriate would be ‘immediately removed from the workshop’ and would be reported to Zoom with the future of their account potentially in the balance.

This struck me as such blatant BS, alarm bells rang and I resolved to join the webinar, as I had been in two minds.
I clicked on the link and joined the meeting. I had my video and microphone turned off and never turned them on. As did at least eight others.

Just as I tuned in (a bit late due to indecision) Josh Jernigan, the trainer, was saying it was absolutely fine if we didn't want to turn our video and audio on.

Josh is a trans right activist and a woman who takes testosterone.

My jaw dropped when I saw the gallery of faces. I counted thirteen kids sat by themselves in front of the camera, no adult in sight. Only one child was present with a guardian. At least a couple of the children (some were in pairs) looked like they were under the age of 6.

There may have been a couple who were slightly older than 12, one in particular Markie (not her real name), who I’ll come back to later.

Post meeting I realised that one participant (a she/her) was responsible for generating nearly all the questions, who never appeared

on screen and I suspect was an adult in cahoots with Josh.
By comparison other people only asked one question each which still totalled less than the mystery questioner.

She/her asked at least seven questions and made several comments.

More questions from the mystery questioner

This individual also posted several comments, which seem to me to be slightly more mature than what a 12 year old would say and I suspect some effort went into dumbing down language.

There was also two women from the organisation https://schoolclosures.org  facilitating the session. One was an active participant reading out the questions, the other observing.

I suppose if a lurking man had suddenly turned on his camera and waved his penis they could have

kicked him off the call, but by then it would have been too late.

Schoolclosures is a volunteer organisation set up in the wake of CV19, which apparently has the input of social services.

Josh said she was going to be explaining to the children why JKR’s statements were ‘harmful'. She said there were no wrong questions but warned the kids to be respectful and ‘not to try to make what we’re saying wrong’.

25 Zoom accounts were in the virtual room.

Josh explained that sex was assigned at birth and was determined by genitalia. Gender was based on identity and expression - ‘which is how you define yourself and that’s that’.

Josh began reading out from what she claimed was JKR’s statement published on her website.

Actually it was the tweet below.

Josh said JKR was wrong and that same gender attraction was a better fit because it was based on ‘what you see and learn about the person’.

Another big problem for Josh was the statement ‘the lived reality of women globally is erased’. Josh said that women

don’t exist because of their sex, they exist because of how they present themselves.

‘You never know their chromosomes but you always see how the present themselves.’

TWAW in the same way that women with blue eyes are women.

Josh said ‘we are big on transwomen are women and trans men are men’ and beyond that ‘non-binary siblings’ - who feel different one day to the other. Sex and gender were both spectrums.

Right from the off all the kids looked dead bored, except for the zealous Markie, even while Josh used the words ‘vulva, clitoris, uterus, vagina and penis’ - words they clearly didn’t know the meanings of.

The first question a kid asked was ‘is it okay to like and read the Harry Potter books?’

Josh said it was and that the books would stand the test of time and she was a big HP nerd. But where exactly do you want your money to go?

She advised the kids only to buy secondhand

merchandise.

One of the kids on the call (a boy with a unisex name but who was referred to by female pronouns) revealed that his ‘former dad’ was now his ‘new mum’. Josh enthusiastically approved of this and there was ‘no greater thing’ than being true your true self.

Josh told the kids that it was very important for them to use the correct pronouns and name for transgender people and to ‘listen to what they are asking you for'.

Markie chimed in ‘be supportive of their choices, it’s their life’. I suspect Markie was known to Josh, as she

made bold interjections throughout and often Josh relied on her. Markie had come out as gender fluid.

Josh added if they ever made a mistake misgendering someone, then they should just apologise and move on.

Some of the kids began yawning and looking anxious.

Josh assured the kids that they could just change their pronouns as much as they wanted, every six hours, every six days, every six weeks. It was all fine. That’s what was beautiful about being young, the self expression allowed to you. Try out new things.

Josh told the kids that we had to be respectful of those females at birth who did want to be called Sue and if did want to wear a dress for the rest of their lives.

(Sue was Markie’s previous name, and I suspect it was not a mere coincidence).

Josh then made clear that

‘trying out new things’ was a far more preferable way to be, and told them about exotic pronouns such as ze/zir. ‘Try it on and see if it fits.’

So what books could the kids read to learn more (as it seemed really that JKR had been cancelled from the entire conversation)?

One of the kids on the call recommended ‘It feels good to be yourself’ because they liked the colours in it - Josh said that the book covered all the information she had gone over in the session so far and highly recommended it.

Josh also recommended ‘I am Jazz’ by Jazz Jennings who had chronicled ‘her’ entire transition.

Then a very young child wanted to talk about ‘Who are you?’ and held up something which came with the book (like a disc or a pop up) which was clearly their favourite bit.

Markie asked a question about what dead naming was, and bizarrely Josh asked Markie to answer it. Which she did, quite emphatically.

She was quite clearly indoctrinated and talked with that challenging slightly neurotic tone of the brainwashed.

Another book Josh recommended was ‘Red: A Crayon’s Story’ because it explain fluidity and trangenderism very well.

Josh reads it regularly to her 5 year old daughter.

One kid was aware of Coy Mathis’ story having watched it on youtube (I believe this might be the video). Coy is a boy who 'transitioned' at very young age.

Markie’s observation about the Coy Mathis story was that Coy had experienced pushback when using the girls bathroom and had been offered the disabled or boys bathroom.

This then gave Josh the opportunity to tell the kids that such issues had been through the courts. She said

that a ‘transgender woman walking into a boy’s bathroom’ would cause ‘a lot of alarm’ and ‘it isn’t safe’.

One of the main things that the kids could do as ‘allies and accomplices’ was to ‘fight for inclusive bathrooms’. With regards to problems of men in women’s bathrooms

‘there has been no real recorded issues’, but she stumbled slightly over the word ‘real’ which suggested to me that she was only too aware of the numerous reports.

She then went onto say that we all knew that there were bullies at schools and that often bathrooms were a place

where bullies might strike.

‘Push for them to pee in peace,' she said.

Josh tackled the question of trans people in sport. Transgender people did not have any special advantage over any other sort of people.

She used the case of Caster Semenya as an example and that it had lead to policing of hormone levels (all of this would be going over the heads of the very young ones).

Josh said that there has been absolutely no issues whatsoever in sports and that it ‘was people who had lost’

who were bringing the court cases. ‘It’s making an issue where there is no issue.’

Then Markie was invited by Josh to explain the meaning of the word ‘androgynous’. Markie explained that it meant ‘gender neutral’ and said she liked androgynous toys and clothes. Josh was

obviously aware the dictionary definition was ‘indeterminate sex’ and said when you apply to a person it meant you couldn’t tell what sex they were, but then said ‘you can look at someone with a full beard and you probably don’t know if they are a boy or a girl’ and that

‘woman can have beards too’.

‘Thank you for bringing [androgynous] up Markie, I’m going to put it in my notes for next time,’ Josh chuckled.

Josh made another book recommendation - Pink is for Boys.

Josh then dealt with the ramifications of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act after a decision by the Supreme Court. Transgender people were now protected in law in employment since the previous week.

Josh returned to JKR. JKR was ‘making an issue out of something that was not an issue’ and Josh repeated that by encompassing ‘everyone’ we would ‘encompass all women’. It was more ‘important to encompass all women, than to separate them out into categories which don’t need

to be separated out’. When it comes to women’s issues, history and safety, TW did not need to be separated out, because ‘they too have history which are women’s history’ and their safety issues were exactly the same.

Next question: ‘Can transgender people not do hormone therapy and still live their lives as trans?’

Josh said yes, TG do not need to take hormone to be trans, all they had to do was ‘show this is who they are’. Some people couldn’t take hormones because of medical issues,

and you didn’t need to take medicine in order to be who you are.

Markie offered that you could do ‘top surgery’ instead. Josh said yes, or you could choose to do so surgery, or hormones or none of it.

A follow up question was: ‘Could then they still live a happy life as a trans person [without hormones]?’

Josh said yes absolutely. Hormones don’t make all trans people happy, but they do make some people happy. You could lead a happy life if you just change your name alone.

The kids hadn’t forgotten that this was supposed to be a session about JKR. One said their family was no longer going to read the HP books any more, another wanted to know would JKR change her mind.

Then a question from a parent - what was the alternative to hormones - therapy? Reading?

Josh said it was a complicated question, and said that if the kid did not want to take hormones, then therapy was a great tool or pursue social transitioning.

Then a parent asked this question - when should she expect her child to announce their gender identity.

Josh replied some kids know ‘as soon as they can talk’ and that science says that ‘kids typically know by the age of 5’ (inferring the kid in question backward).

Josh said other kids take a little more time, which was why it was so important to have books she’d recommended to help arrive at the decision but that ‘trans kids know.’

We ended at that point.

@threadreaderapp please unroll