Many scenes are fleeting and shorn of a more contemplative approach not only to transgender identity, but also to childhood more broadly. Starting in my teens, I drank alcohol excessively. We meet redheaded charmer Leena at age 15, just four years after the start of her social transition. Five years is too short a timeframe. Were socialized to believe vanity is a harmful, even toxic, personality trait, but vanity can be a lifeline for marginalized people, helping to buoy self-confidence and the projection of power. The youngest subject in the film, Phoenix, is just four years old when filming began. But unlike their cisgender peers, they navigate body dysphoria, hormone treatments, threats of violence, and the weight . I do not understand how anyone on the political left could think that having children live as the opposite gender and brainwashing them to believe they are anything besides what they were born isnt child abuse! Join now to unlock comments, browse ad-free, and access exclusive content from your favorite FDRLST writers. Avery, a male who lives his life as a girl, blasted his far-left activist mother in an upcoming pro-transgender documentary entitled "Transhood.". And the parents of spirited four-year-old Phoenix believe their child is gender nonbinary due to their preferred play styles and self-referral as a girl-boy., While Leena commands your attention from the moment shes on screen, its the parents of the other three children who nearly steal the film as they candidly delve into the complications of raising trans children in a culture that invalidates their kids humanity. I have now found peace, and remarkably even joy, living as Walt. Coming out to loved ones was what changed the discussion for same-sex marriage, but Transhood suggests that for transgender people and their families, it's only the painful start. children who believe they are the opposite sex. Slectionnez Grer les paramtres pour grer vos prfrences. TRANSHOOD 9 p.m. on HBO. If I sell my book, its going to be on the news along with me for like the 50th time at this point, and its just going to make my life worse, Avery says. Filmed over five years in Kansas City, this documentary follows four transgender kids - beginning at ages 4, 7, 12, and 15 - as they redefine "coming of age.". 18, Copyright 2022 NEWSPUNCH, LLC. Their pathos, however, doesnt always localize where youd expect. TranshoodNot rated. Commenters have savaged the clips, with one pundit suggesting that the kids' parents should be hauled "away in handcuffs." Filmed over five years, HBO's 'Transhood' follows four children as they grow up transgender in Kansas City. Liese also follows Avery, who was 7 when filming began, as she sits for a portrait for the cover of National Geographics 2017 Gender Revolution issue and faces the pressure that comes with media attention. I just realized that these stories really werent being told and there wasnt that kind of trans representation, over time, about kids, says Liese. Anyone who would try to equate the two issues is either lying or delusional. The good Lord puts all the kinds of people on this Earth, and we have to learn to accept them and live with them and love them., Alexander Kacala is a reporter and editor atTODAY Digitaland NBC OUT. Filmed cinema verit-style over five years, starting in 2015, Transhood follows four Kansas City families in various stages of this conversely agonizing and rewarding process. They each allude to the pain of losing friends, relatives and even their own parents. 15-year-old Leena, a transgender girl with designs on a Victoria's Secret modeling career and reassignment . Oh my god, so many results already! she jokes, filming herself taking her first hormone pills. Ive done too much in this world. Follow. He now feels more outgoing, and more open to talking about the documentary. These hormones effectively suspend puberty, and their effects are reversible if a person decides to stop taking them; if a person goes through puberty, physical developments like breast and hair growth are more difficult to reverse. Watch Now. And the parents of spirited four-year-old Phoenix believe their child is gender nonbinary due to their preferred play styles and self-referral as a girl-boy., Meanwhile, as Averys mother dives into national community organizing, her young daughters fame soars and soon the girl is authoring childrens books, appearing on magazine covers and becoming a locus of public disgust. Hes also dragged to Washington, D.C., for a protest and to sign copies of an illustrated book, under his name, about being a transgender child. It's a moving portrait of its subjects' - ages 4, 7, 12, and 15 at the start of filming - childhoods . Phoenixs parentdivorce, partly over their disagreedment with their childs claims, while other parents get praise for their advocacy. He also sees it as vital to show different aspects of what it means to be trans, and dispel some of the intolerance and misperceptions about trans people. One widely shared clip shows a unitarian universalist church recognizing an apprehensive Phoenix as a girl at his mother's prodding. Be lovers of freedom and anxious for the fray, Study: Obesity Raises Risk Of Early Death By 90 Percent, We Dont Have A Mental Health Crisis. Modest Fashion Beauty Lifestyle Family The purple dress marked ground zero, the onset of my desire to eradicate Walt. Slinky, fashionable and self-involved, Leena is an endearingly average teenage girl. These parents battlethe quiet seduction of their children by transgender activists on Instagram, HBO, and other social media channels, andthey get little recognition from commercial culture. ", How Teddy Geiger is blazing trails for LGBTQ musicians. . Leena, Phoenix, and Jay, ranging in age from 4 to 15) as they redefine "coming of age." These young people and their families reveal the intimate realities of how they deal with the new era of social media, bathroom bills, gender expansion, and an often-changing political landscape, not . Outcomes are not tracked. Today I have organized the " CEO meet NEOM new joiners " event. People are being hurt. Its worth repeating that these arent random people I found on Tik Tok. Dr. Cretella, a strong advocate for children, says: When we tell children, parents or the general public that you can be born in the wrong body, that is science fiction and it is gaslighting. Thats our natural thing to do, because we are so scared, says Jay. Through Phoenixs story, Liese shows that every journey is unique when it comes to gender. Leena is the subject of a new documentary that profiles the experiences of four transgender children and teenagers in the Kansas City area. And so yes, it did take a little longer for me., There are always going to be haters because people can be in the dark where they don't know anything about it.". 15 . In less than a decade, the Democratic party, the media, the entertainment industry, and much of academia have thrown their weight behind . Filmed over five years in Kansas City, Transhood chronicles the lives of four young people (aged 4, 7, 12, and 15 at the start of filming) and their families as they navigate growing up transgender in America's heartland. Even now, I ask her, Do you ever think youll be public again? and she said, I dont know, but if I do, I want [my advocacy work] to be on my terms, and I dont necessarily want it to be about trans people. A landmark study by Dr Kristina Olson in 2019 showed that gender-nonconforming kids who go on to transition already have a strong sense of their true identityone that differs from their assigned gender. What I have realized, and where my mind goes is that you just got to walk your walk. (Of course, completely disobliging parents likely wouldnt let their child explore gender diversity at all, let alone allow a camera crew to record it for the whole world to see.) I think it had the most of her voice, rather than her parents (which certainly is affected by age, as she was a high school freshman when filming started). The film follows the story of four children in Kansas City . The older the subject, the more theyre able to convey personal agency without parental interpretation. Avery hates all of it, and without a flicker of irony, his mother tells him, The problem is you do approve things and then you change your mind., Avery: I just dont want to even have a book. And as the years went on, we started to realize that there was something else involved., Around the age of 11 Leena began expressing herself as transgender, her mom said but not without some pushback from her parents. Avery, Leena, and Phoenix. These kids and their families show us the intimate realities of how gender is re-shaping the family next door in a unique and unprecedented chronicle of growing up transgender in . Phoenix's parents had made up their minds before he was even in Kindergarten that he was a transgender child on the path toward transition. It puts off a vibe strikingly similar to the case ofJames Younger, the 7-year-old old boy in Texas who was being forced to live like a girl by his mother against the wishes of his father,who maintainsthe boy is being used. I tried to play football, ride dirt bikes, shoot BB guns but none of that stuff she cared for. But if it aims to mimic Richard Linklaters time-stretching Boyhood in its observations of change both large and small, those efforts fall short. Toward the end of the documentary, Leena, who was 19 when filming ended, discusses future plans for gender confirmation surgery with her parents and gender affirmation surgeon Dr. Marci Bowers. Nous, Yahoo, faisons partie de la famille de marques Yahoo. Over time, I became increasing uncomfortable with myself as a boy, to the point of disliking myself as Walt and adopting a secret female name at age 13. It was Leena who recognized that she was transgender.". I am Jay.. Much later, we witness the kids regretful mom slowly harden to the idea that her child was ever nonconforming at all, blaming her exs previous influence as Phoenix starts to assume a more masculine presentation. and they dont need to judge me for it, he says. We had an amazing time listening to our CEO Nadhmi Alnasr inspirartional speech. TRANSHOOD. Although Phoenixs parents eventually divorce and have different views on parenting Phoenix, Liese says that the message from that story is that you really just need to love your kids, and let them lead, and that you can never go wrong by affirming your child.. Parents who tell their trans declared children that they are worried about them, that they dont think they should make life-altering decisions, that theyre young and they should explore slowly may experience pushback or rejection from their child in return. I can see that grandmas withholding of love for the four-year-old boy Walt set in motion the desire to punish myself for being a boy. The documentary Transhood is years in the making as it follows four transgender youths for five years of their young lives. Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. A study published earlier this year indicated that that if transgender youth have access to puberty blockers, their chances of suicide and mental health issues in both the immediate and long-term decline significantly. Now 19, Leena is one of the subjects in "Transhood," a new HBO MAX documentary that profiles four transgender children and their families in the Kansas City area. In fact, a great amount of research shows transgender treatments are medically harmful to children. Self-destructive thoughts and actions took over. #BoycottHBO pic.twitter.com/TlyFkmqT6X. Transhood is not about protecting or advancing the rights of the transgender community but is yet another push by people who lack any sort of moral values to make child exploitation acceptable as long as its veiled under social justice. For 4-year-olds, the process of change is purely social - which also has a huge impact. 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