New York Magazine advocates for child access to gender transition procedures, sparking controversy
'We must be prepared to defend the idea that, in principle, everyone should have access to sex-changing medical care, regardless of age, gender identity, social environment, or psychiatric history,' Andrea Long Chu wrote. 'This may strike you as a vertiginous task. The good news is that millions of people already believe it.'
New York Magazine faced criticism on Monday following the publication of a cover story that advocated for allowing children to undergo irreversible and significant medical procedures to "change their sex."
The article, authored by Andrea Long Chu, who identifies as a woman despite being biologically male, contends that there should be a rapid expansion of "freedom of sex" to encompass children. This stance has elicited backlash from critics who highlight the detrimental effects of transgender interventions on young individuals, reports the Daily Wire.
For instance, administering puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children can have enduring consequences such as compromising fertility, hindering bone growth, and precipitating cardiovascular complications, among other health issues. Additionally, irreversible effects result from genital surgeries and procedures like mastectomies performed on girls identifying as boys.
“We must be prepared to defend the idea that, in principle, everyone should have access to sex-changing medical care, regardless of age, gender identity, social environment, or psychiatric history,” Chu wrote.
“This may strike you as a vertiginous task. The good news is that millions of people already believe it.”
.@NYMag's latest cover story is an essay by critic Andrea Long Chu, who makes the moral case for the right of anybody, at any age, to change their sex. pic.twitter.com/Wxqds2ugj0
— New York Magazine Communications (@nymagPR) March 11, 2024
In another part of the article, Chu asserted that the source of some children's transgender identity doesn't hold significance. Numerous commentators have cited peer pressure and the influence of social media as factors contributing to the increase in children identifying as transgender.
“We will never be able to defend the rights of transgender kids until we understand them purely on their own terms: as full members of society who would like to change their sex. It does not matter where this desire comes from,” Chu wrote.
The article follows a disclosure by Environmental Progress, a think tank, which revealed documents from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. These documents indicated doctors' concerns about a 16-year-old girl potentially developing liver tumors after receiving male hormones and acknowledged the incapacity of children to provide informed consent for transgender interventions.
In addition, Chu dismisses worries about men accessing women's bathrooms, competitive sports safety concerns, and parental influence on children's medical choices.
“The TERF [trans-exclusionary radical feminist] does not, after all, fear being assaulted by a Y chromosome in a women’s restroom,” he wrote. “Her paranoid fantasy is of a large testosterone-fueled body wielding a penis — an organ to which, as Butler points out, the TERF attributes almost magical powers of violence.”
Chu further argued that the notion of males outperforming females in sports was "fantastical" and asserted that sex-segregated sports were designed to perpetuate "inequality."
“Widespread discomfort at the largely fantastical idea that trans girls will always dominate in their chosen sports reflects a basic patriarchal belief that the physical advantages of being male are perfectly acceptable so long as they are possessed by men. (In this sense, sex division in sport is meant to enshrine inequality, not to mitigate it.),” Chu wrote.
Chu asserted that everyone, children included, should “right to change one’s biological gender.”
“What does this freedom look like in practice? Let anyone change their sex,” Chu said. “Let anyone change their gender. Let anyone change their sex again. Let trans girls play sports, regardless of their sex status. If they excel, this means only that some girls are better at sports than others. Let people use the gender-segregated facilities of their choice; desegregate whenever possible. Do not out children to their parents.”
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