This is such good wisdom! It will sound too drastic for most of us, but I know from personal experience that I would have saved my son and myself a lot of heart ache if I had kept filters on my internet. Smart phones came around later, but the internet in general is not easy to navigate for adolescents and teens. Just an additional thought, I do believe rapid onset dysphoria happens to young males. Anybody have any thoughts about this?
I have nothing empirical, only anecdotal. As a very young boy, right about the time one begins wondering about the opposite sex and what they are like, I would wonder to myself what it might be like to be a girl. I can't believe I was odd or unique here. I suspect in the current setting I might have been pressured toward becoming something that I wasn't.
I know you are reading Shrier. So as you know, the phenomenon that she has documented seems to be tied to how white, middle-class adolescents deal with their inner angst and the outer social pressures. Certainly seems conceivable that boys could be at least responding to the social cues so abundant on the internet.
Actually, I am not reading Shrier's book. I was simply aware of it and read some things that were written about it. Right now I am reading Messy Grace by Caleb Kaltenbach. He is a pastor (of evangelical ilk) who was raised by gay parents. His mom and her partner were actually gay pride activists and he was exposed to some pretty severe hate from those who take the name "Christian." I have Preston Sprinkle's book but have not started it yet.
Thank you, Mark. This is good and helpful. I am trying to find ways to address matters in the church without having to reduce it to a 30 minute sermon. Working on a "Hard Conversations" concept where we would meet certain evenings and allow for there to be some basic teaching followed by actual conversation.
I can agree that the internet definitely has its pitfalls. We aren't on Facebook, mostly because Pablo is super private. Kids will be aware of what is going on in the culture at large, though, even without the internet. So, I think it's important to discuss these things since your kid is likely to have a school pal with gay parents. I agree that surgeries and non-reversible things should not happen until the child reaches adulthood just because of the nature of how the brain develops. However, I'm not too concerned about entering into culture wars. I don't feel compelled to believe that the sky is falling, but we do need to have training as believers so that we can respond in love to a rapidly-changing world.
Very helpful article. I am cringing, though, at her equating Gender Ideology with CRT. In my eyes it discredits her a bit. There are proponents of CRT theory that are ideologues, but it is not an ideology in and of itself.
Hm, OK. You made me look up the definition of "ideology". Care to explain how Gender Ideology fits the definition and CRT theory does not? (this assumes you have time to split hairs.)
Well, I think ideologues (whether far right/far left) agree with each other. People who use CRT find themselves sharply disagreeing. I read conservative/evangelical scholars who use CRT. I have had it explained this way. CRT is a tool, not an ideology. It's like a microscope through which you are looking at droplets of water. In using the microscope you discover your water droplets have been contaminated with some form of bacteria. Those who find CRT to be a devil is akin to saying, "Something is wrong with this microscope!" CRT is not a set of conclusions, it is a way of examining something, in this case our social history for example. Those using CRT to examine our social history can come to different conclusions and do.
This is such good wisdom! It will sound too drastic for most of us, but I know from personal experience that I would have saved my son and myself a lot of heart ache if I had kept filters on my internet. Smart phones came around later, but the internet in general is not easy to navigate for adolescents and teens. Just an additional thought, I do believe rapid onset dysphoria happens to young males. Anybody have any thoughts about this?
I have nothing empirical, only anecdotal. As a very young boy, right about the time one begins wondering about the opposite sex and what they are like, I would wonder to myself what it might be like to be a girl. I can't believe I was odd or unique here. I suspect in the current setting I might have been pressured toward becoming something that I wasn't.
I know you are reading Shrier. So as you know, the phenomenon that she has documented seems to be tied to how white, middle-class adolescents deal with their inner angst and the outer social pressures. Certainly seems conceivable that boys could be at least responding to the social cues so abundant on the internet.
Actually, I am not reading Shrier's book. I was simply aware of it and read some things that were written about it. Right now I am reading Messy Grace by Caleb Kaltenbach. He is a pastor (of evangelical ilk) who was raised by gay parents. His mom and her partner were actually gay pride activists and he was exposed to some pretty severe hate from those who take the name "Christian." I have Preston Sprinkle's book but have not started it yet.
Thank you, Mark. This is good and helpful. I am trying to find ways to address matters in the church without having to reduce it to a 30 minute sermon. Working on a "Hard Conversations" concept where we would meet certain evenings and allow for there to be some basic teaching followed by actual conversation.
Sounds good, brother. Maybe a book study would be a helpful approach. I know that Nita is reading Shrier's book in a study.
I can agree that the internet definitely has its pitfalls. We aren't on Facebook, mostly because Pablo is super private. Kids will be aware of what is going on in the culture at large, though, even without the internet. So, I think it's important to discuss these things since your kid is likely to have a school pal with gay parents. I agree that surgeries and non-reversible things should not happen until the child reaches adulthood just because of the nature of how the brain develops. However, I'm not too concerned about entering into culture wars. I don't feel compelled to believe that the sky is falling, but we do need to have training as believers so that we can respond in love to a rapidly-changing world.
Actually Shrier wrote a recent blog post about the culture war thing. Here it is if it interests you or anyone else: https://abigailshrier.substack.com/p/take-yourselves-off-mute
Very helpful article. I am cringing, though, at her equating Gender Ideology with CRT. In my eyes it discredits her a bit. There are proponents of CRT theory that are ideologues, but it is not an ideology in and of itself.
Hm, OK. You made me look up the definition of "ideology". Care to explain how Gender Ideology fits the definition and CRT theory does not? (this assumes you have time to split hairs.)
Well, I think ideologues (whether far right/far left) agree with each other. People who use CRT find themselves sharply disagreeing. I read conservative/evangelical scholars who use CRT. I have had it explained this way. CRT is a tool, not an ideology. It's like a microscope through which you are looking at droplets of water. In using the microscope you discover your water droplets have been contaminated with some form of bacteria. Those who find CRT to be a devil is akin to saying, "Something is wrong with this microscope!" CRT is not a set of conclusions, it is a way of examining something, in this case our social history for example. Those using CRT to examine our social history can come to different conclusions and do.
Thank you! That's a clear and helpful explanation.