Toddlers are being targeted with “sparkly” books that promote becoming transgender, with a fifth of publishers’ transgender-related products being aimed at children, research has found. The Telegraph has the story.
Campaign groups Sex Matters and SEEN in Publishing have carried out the first comprehensive report of its kind examining gender ideology in the publishing industry.
The report found that gender ideology – the belief that being a ‘woman’ can be independent of biological sex – has become “dominant” in the industry.
The review concluded that the state of children’s publishing is “particularly concerning”.
It found that a “shiny, sparkly world of trans identities” is being promoted to young readers, with “many aimed at toddlers”.
Recent titles aimed at children include Julian is a Mermaid, Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?, and She’s My Dad.
The audit of the publishing industry found that of 21 publishers surveyed, a fifth of their output on transgender-related products was targeted at children.
The report raised concerns that the message in the books was often that becoming transgender will “resolve bodily hatred and create enduring joy in the form of ‘trans euphoria’”.
The report quotes an extract from the book I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, which states: “From the time she was two years old, Jazz knew that she had a girl’s brain in a boy’s body.
“She loved pink and dressing up as a mermaid and didn’t feel like herself in boy’s clothing. This confused her family, until they took her to a doctor who said that Jazz was transgender and that she was born that way.”
The report warns that “ideological marketing to children risks causing extensive harm”, particularly by suggesting that “a trans identity can cure any bodily discomfort or anxiety that they may be feeling”.
It suggested this could set children down the path to medically transitioning by undergoing hormone therapy or surgery.
The report also warns that many books embed the idea that “if girls like clothes and toys that are more typically aimed at boys, they may really be a boy in a girl’s body”.
The concerns come after last year’s Cass Review which concluded that children who think they are transgender should not be rushed into treatment they may regret.
The report also follows April’s Supreme Court decision which ruled that the definition of a woman is based solely on biological sex.
The problems highlighted in children’s publishing are part of a wider issue with ideological conformity in the industry, the report claimed. …
The report concludes by calling on the publishing industry to “make a clear commitment to freedom of speech both internally and in commissioned work”.
Worth reading in full.
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