Episode 24: Kids Know Who They Are

This week, we discuss a recent episode of 60 Minutes Australia on parents who refuse to assign their newborn babies a gender at birth. Though the show suggests that the parents, who refer to their kids as “theybies,” let the kids “decide their gender,” we note that that’s not really true. Rather, the kids are …

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This week, we discuss a recent episode of 60 Minutes Australia on parents who refuse to assign their newborn babies a gender at birth. Though the show suggests that the parents, who refer to their kids as “theybies,” let the kids “decide their gender,” we note that that’s not really true. Rather, the kids are who they are, whether they’re cisgender, transgender or nonbinary. They’re not choosing their identities; they’re just coming to understand them. Ultimately, kids know who they are, whether their parents like it or not. So maybe it’s better to let them tell us, rather than the other way around.

This leads to a broader conversation about the assumptions we make about kids, the ways we effectively indoctrinate them in straight, cisgender “normality,” whether we mean to or not, and how damaging that is to kids who don’t fit that mold. If we don’t teach our kids that other kinds of people exist and have perfectly valid lives, we’re telling them that if they’re not straight and cisgender then they’re broken. 

We also discuss the annoying trend of parents weaponizing their status as moms and dads to demonize queer people, ban books, and bully teachers, librarians, and school boards. They’re not fighting for “parents’ rights” or “protecting kids,” they’re fighting to impose their narrow worldview on other parents and their kids. 

Finally, we couldn’t end the show without gloating — just a little — about Fox News firing Tucker Carlson in the aftermath of the network’s massive settlement with Dominion Voting Systems … not to mention Abby Grossberg’s sexual harassment suit against Carlson and Fox. 

So, please enjoy this week’s episode, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, and, as always, support the rights of LGBTQIA people everywhere! And if you’re new here, you can also follow our Twitter account, @itsotetPodcast.

Just a reminder: We’ll be off the next couple of weeks traveling, but we’ll be back in May!

The post Episode 24: Kids Know Who They Are appeared first on In the Shadow of the Evening Trees.