But the point is, they start doing that before they even know they are transgendered. They don’t go “oh! I transgendered! Now let me see how everyone thinks girls should act and I will act like that”, I think it is more like they start out preferring girls and then realize later on that they are transgendered.
Sure. As far as they know (with the examples I know), they’re a girl and they have a penis. They’re not trans, they’re a girl.
Wait, I’m not allowed to a call a transgendered person, transgendered anymore? When did that happen?
Context. If you’re talking about a four-year-old trans child, they don’t have the vocabulary to say trans, but they do know boy and girl. It’s okay to use words children don’t understand, but don’t expect them to understand you.
And sure, they’ve heard adults say that boys have penises and girls don’t, but they can look down their own pants for proof the adult is wrong, QED. It’s not until they learn a little more about society works that they identify as trans. Until then they’re just a girl like any other girl.
And despite everyone trying brainwashing them with how people with penises should act and what they should like, they still end up liking girl things.
No, that’s the thing. There are very few penises in your average media or parental message to kids. The message is that boys do this and girls do this, and they by and large accept these messages. It’s just when someone tells them that only boys have penises that they roll their eyes because they’ve got the proof right there.
I am not so sure of that. I don’t think A four year old trans child realizes yet that they are a girl with penis. I think they are only realize that they are different from other boys and prefer girl things. I think they only realize they are a girl with penis when they are little bit older.
From the sounds of it, CatBus has “dealt” with these children before. Therefore, what you think is moot. He’s the only one with experience in this conversation.
Yep. My kid’s school is kindof a magnet for parents of trans kids, basically because if you hear that there’s a school somewhere in the country where your kid won’t get the crap kicked out of them for being your kid, you pack your bags. A trans parent mass migration.
Awareness of sex differences in general is wildly variable. I’ve got an almost-five year old who really just figured out boys and girls, and I’d say he’s slightly later than most. But he still has trouble with using the right pronouns, which is more of an unrelated language/grammar issue. Some trans kids know with certainty right away, right out of the gate (about four): I’m a boy, period. Some have an uneasy feeling about the whole topic for a while and finally declare around eight or so. Some take a lot longer (adulthood). But if you ask them how long they’ve known, they reach pretty far back… often saying they’ve always felt this way but never felt confident enough about what this feeling was to finally put a name on it until now. Or worse, that they felt that had to go incognito until they moved out of their parents’ house.
I am still willing to bet that some start to prefer the things of the gender opposite from their physical gender, before they realize they are transgendered.