How would you explain the ‘gender identity’ issues to a young person? (part 1)

This has come up due to a Tik Tok video I recently viewed.

In this video the young person talks about her being ‘gender fluid’ and it changes from hour to hour. She explains that she wears color-coded bracelets to help her friends identify her pronouns. Pink is for she/her. Yellow is for they/them. And blue is for he/him.

Sadly, it appears to me that this young person is really confused. I state that because her solution of the color of the bracelets that helps others identify her pronoun at a particular moment has no basis of fact. What that means is she has arbitrarily come up with her own solution to how she feels. This brings up the question; who decides what the color of the bracelets mean?

A few more questions;

• How does it feel to be a female?
• How do you know the feeling you are experiencing is female or not?
• How does it feel to be a male?
• How do you know the feeling you are experiencing is male or not?

Don’t those questions make you pause and wonder?

While I know that many people would just go with the flow of what Hollywood celebrities and politicians say, I prefer to look at it from a different perspective. That means I believe that if I had a discussion about this with my 12-year-old grand-daughter it would come from the basis of truth.

When I think about ways to examine anything I think of the Rotary International’s 4-Way Test. It asks the following four questions of the things that we think, say or do.

The first question is; Is it the TRUTH? That being is it being honest with what public opinion and science states.

The second question is; Is it FAIR to all concerned? I believe that we need to look at what the word ‘fair’ means. According to the Marian-Webster online dictionary it states that being fair is marked by impartiality and honesty: free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism.

The third question is; Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Again, I believe that we need to understand the definition of the words. First of all, what is ‘goodwill’? It is a kindly feeling of approval and support: benevolent interest or concern. When it comes to ‘friendships’ it is the quality of being friendly.

And the last question is; Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?”. The definition of ‘beneficial’ is producing good results or helpful effects.

So, when it comes to gender identity and discussing this, I believe that it is very helpful to respond with goodwill and the potential to build better friendships, that being that you need to have compassion for the people and the situation you are speaking about. This is because if you don’t come from this perspective, you come off like a rude and belligerent person.

In part 2 of this blog, I am going to dig deeper in order to help you understand the reason for these announcements and what they give the person that chooses this path.