For more than a decade, I’ve treated adolescents and young adults questioning their gender and sexuality – and one thing has become increasingly clear to me: To some parents, having a transgender child is something to celebrate.
And nowhere is this phenomenon more pronounced than in communities of great affluence and privilege.
I reflect on this observation as Jennifer Lopez’s 18-year-old child, born Emme Muñiz and biologically female, appeared on their high school’s Instagram account last week, sporting a new masculine first name, Oskar.
The reveal came years after Muñiz began wearing almost exclusively ‘male’ clothing, often accompanied by a beaming Lopez.
I, of course, do not know the Lopez family, nor do I doubt that she is a loving and devoted mother. But as a parent, a clinical psychologist, a former board member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and a transgender person, I feel obligated to ask: why do so many children of celebrities question their gender?
From the families of Cher and Charlize Theron to Elon Musk and Jamie Lee Curtis, the rate of adolescent transgender identity seems to out-pace the occurrence in the general population.
Of course, transgender identities have existed historically, only recently have they been accepted by more people as socially acceptable.
In 2012, Vice President Joe Biden called the quest for transgender equality ‘the civil rights issue of our time.’
Jennifer Lopez’s 18-year-old child, born Emme Muñiz and biologically female, appeared on their high school’s Instagram account last week, sporting a new masculine first name, Oskar
Transgender identities have existed historically, only recently have they been accepted by more people as socially acceptable
Two years later, celebrities like Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner were at the forefront of what Time Magazine described as a ‘transgender tipping point’ at which the idea of a trans identity became more mainstream.
Today, in many progressive communities — and few are more progressive than Hollywood — denying support for trans issues is not merely unacceptable, it can ruin one’s career.
Nevertheless, only 3.3 percent of Americans 13-17-years-old identify as transgender according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
But it’s one thing for mature adults to embrace a trans identity, and quite another for young people to declare a gender identity that may start them on a path toward medicalization, potential transformation by powerful drugs or irreversible surgical interventions. (I have numerous times appealed for caution about medical transition for young people.)
More than a decade after America hit that trans ‘tipping point’ and the explosion of trans identities, it’s long past time we ask: Have we ‘tipped’ too far?
Schools, particularly the ideologically-driven institutions, typically favored by liberal wealthy parents, are teaching children as young as primary-school age about ‘gender variation and identity.’ In my view, this is inappropriate.
In some classrooms, teachers instruct that ‘gender’ is something that children can ‘choose,’ like a favorite food or piece of clothing.
And in my practice, young people have told me that they increasingly believe that anyone can be any gender, at any moment, often oblivious to potential long term consequences of a change in gender.
Two years later, celebrities like Laverne Cox were at the forefront of what Time Magazine described as a ‘transgender tipping point’
Author Erica Anderson: In many progressive communities, denying support for trans issues is not merely unacceptable, it can ruin one’s career
Even more concerning, thanks to overreaching — and over-preaching DEI initiatives and ‘woke’ culture — many boys and young men have been taught to be ashamed of their own masculinity.
There is a belief among some gender-confused boys that nothing today is more undesirable than being a man — especially a heterosexual (white) man. Unable to change their race, for these boys altering their sexuality and gender can be the next best thing.
This struggle can be particularly acute among the affluent, despite their access to resources and opportunity. In fact, it’s precisely because they’re born with so much that these kids can be convinced their lives are worth so little.
Desperate to find purpose amid plenty, they look around their privileged bubbles and envy friends who are applauded for coming out as gay or transgender and wonder, ‘what am I going to do – who am I going to be?’
Some see other parents not simply accepting their trans children but celebrating them.
Certain celebrity parents treat this process as a private and family matter – and bravo to them. But others, like actresses Cynthia Nixon and Gabrielle Union, have broadcast their children’s gender transitions. This is concerning for it can make it harder for these young people to objectively reflect on their decisions, or after a period of experimentation, reverse them.
Not all gender transitions are final, of course. We are learning that a growing group of young people who experienced a gender transition, later detransition, believing their original choice to have been wrong for them.
Much of this misguided thinking has been fueled by social media. Powerful algorithms trap impressionable users in ideological echo chambers and keep them there — a sort of digital indoctrination that encourages kids to feel confused about their gender often for no other reason than an influencer tells them so.
Cynthia Nixon, with son Seph, has also made her child’s transgender identity public
It’s a social contagion transmitted via smartphones and social media.
Parents, meanwhile, especially famous and progressive parents — can be intimidated into allowing gender-confusion in their kids to evolve into gender transition.
I’ve heard of parents being criticized within their affluent social circles for even suggesting that they’re seeking a second opinion after their child has been seen as trans by some medical or mental health professionals.
Competent, educated, loving parents can now be so terrified of being labeled transphobic that they’ll ignore their own best instincts.
Into this world of confusion – and even coercion – enter young people.
For now, at least, Hollywood’s trans ‘baby boom’ is here to stay, until the privileged and elite find a new cause to celebrate or the effects of misguided gender transitions are better understood.
Dr Erica Anderson is a clinical psychologist with 30 years of experience and a former board member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Her private practice has specialized in treating transgender and gender-questioning youth.
