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A thread comparing empirical research & philosophical experimentation with reference to gender and children.
Through empirical research over many decades theories around child development have been developed. These are pragmatic theories that guide pediatrics, education etc./1
Through empirical research over many decades theories around child development have been developed. These are pragmatic theories that guide pediatrics, education etc./1
It is well established in child development theory(Piaget, Kohlberg, Bandura etc) that a child's sense of gender continues to develop though childhood. It is not fixed or inherent, and the child's understanding of gender develops with their body and their cognitive processes. /2
It is worth noting that none of these researchers/theorists ever discovered a fixed gender identity in any child that they were studying. This discovery would have been certainly noteworthy as it would have transformed the field of child development science. /3
It would be akin to discovering the child's soul. A fixed immutable point in the swirling confusion that is child development. Instead they all saw the childhood as time of great fluidity with the child's sense of gender being as subject to change as other aspects. /4
Compare this empirical practical approach to the theory that a child has a fixed immutable gender identity. This theory has not emerged from decades of observation of children. It emanated from depts. of philosophy, gender studies and sexology. /5
Thus, what we have here is a philosophical assertion looking for scientific evidence to back it up. There have been some studies on gender in children such as this one which are decidedly inconclusive. Others about the sexed brain. /6 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6677266/
But if you put all these studies together the combined tentative evidence cannot remotely compare to existing theories on gender and childhood. Which is not surprising as these are based on empirical research of children which has been extensively peer reviewed over decades. /7
So on one hand there is decades of rich, empirical peer reviewed scientific research on children's gender development that aligns gender with all other areas of childhood development. On the other there is an unprovable philosophical assertion about a fixed gender identity. /8
Which would be unremarkable, except, that on the basis of these unproven philosophical assertions children are undergoing experimental drug treatment to block their puberty, followed by cross sex hormone and sometimes surgery. /9
Gender dysphoria exists, but for the vast majority of children it is a temporary condition, as child development theory posits, because the child's sense of gender will mature with their bodies & cognitive processes through puberty. In essence, they will grow out out of GD. /10
Thus we should not be blocking the puberty of children with GD. All this does is fix the child in the stage of gender development which is causing them the most acute pain. Instead we should be supporting them through puberty & their natural developmental stages to adulthood./11
For some children the GD may be so intense they do require a medical approach. Some may choose to transition gender at adulthood. That is their adult choice. But as a society at least we would have followed best evidence and done least harm. /end
