What constitutes transphobic exactly? Is it in the eye of the beholder, like porn: you'll know it when you see it?
I would be very angry if it would happen to my 13-17 year old daughter, as children in that age are not yet capable of understanding the consequences of the operation for there whole life (includung shortening it and making it painful by injecting hormones).
That said, children are not your property. They are your responsibility. If you're doing your job right, they've at that point been educated about what it means when someone transitions and what sort of impact it has on their life. During that talk, I expect you would speak about why you think that shouldn't happen before they're done growing.
Out of respect for the emotional place this post most likely came from, I will refrain from addressing the frankly problematic sentence you put between hypotheses at the end of your post at length.
I have no opinion actually on whether the transition should happen or not, I'm sorry if I came out too strongly about that.
I believe it can be a good decision if a child is clearly behaving and feeling like she is a boy.
What I'm most afraid is that lesbian children thinking that heterosexual girls will like them if they transition.
The parents are responsible for the children as long as they are given the chance to respond, which is taken away by law in a few countries. But I'm right now 38 and I still have lots of secrets about my sexual life that I don't talk about with my parents, and I think that's OK, as none of them can be compared to the consequences of transitioning.
What I see really important is to make sure that people know about the changing laws, make sure that those important changes are talked about.
Abigail Shrier is very supportive of transgendered people, and conveyed in some depth her numerous interviews with medical health professionals who provide aspects of gender reassignment and agreed with their unequivocal experience that it's helping people.
Her book is specifically about statistically aberrant behaviour in small groups of female teens that show atypical behaviour compared to normal transgendered people that are being given hormones and life altering treatments with minimal oversight, often to their lasting detriment.
That isn't transphobic.
My understanding is the author is skeptical of the rise in reported cases of gender dysphoria over time. She contends that the rise in cases is partly a result of tangential social influences that are ultimately detrimental do development of kids. Rational skepticism is not phobia.
This is a frustrating line of argument. What would make you the authority on what transphobia is?
> Are the views[1] of the author irrational and based in fear of trans people?
To "arrive" does not mean "to cross a river". To be "awesome" does not mean "to be terrifying". Meanings are not constructed by etymology. Transphobia is not "the irrational fear of transgender people".
The author is not a "rational skeptic", as clearly evidenced by her wildly biased choice of analysis presented as solid science. Her work has been widely criticized by the scientific community and is not far off from forming opinions about racial differences in IQ by asking aparthied leaders about their opinions and experiences and taking it as gospel evidence.
I'll have to read her work in more depth to form an opinion on the rigor of her work. Suffice to say, I view your evaluation of her work with skepticism as well.
Also, -phobia doesn't only mean fear. It can also mean dislike or hatred.
Now we come to the core of the issue: what constitutes an acceptable balance between strength of opinion and evidence? Who arbitrates that? I say it is quite subjective.
You say her opinions are irrational and exhibit phobia. I disagree: I'd say putting such a definitive label on her position is irrational.
Meaning: if someone’s triggered and distressed by anything and you trigger them, you’re in the wrong, not them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xILBpDOqD-A
It does a good job summarizing key ideas from Derrida, et. al.
At the end of the day, people are frantically grasping for power by spreading doubt into all modes of communication, institutions, cultural ideas, etc.