An intimate look at growing up as a transgender child, HBO Max's new documentary Transhood is both eye-opening and emotional. Thats how big this problem has become. (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.) All Rights Reserved. The soft-focus documentary,shot in Kansas City, Missouri, and follows four children over the course of five years, doesnt mention much science. Children lack the maturity to consent to medical interventions. A video clip from the HBO documentary "Transhood" ignited major backlash as disturbed social media users expressed anger and dismay at a young boy being encouraged to publicly announce his . Join now to unlock comments, browse ad-free, and access exclusive content from your favorite FDRLST writers, Eddie Scarry is the D.C. columnist at The Federalist and author of ". Its ruined my life and now everyone in this world is going to know. En cliquant sur Accepter tout, vous acceptez que Yahoo et nos partenaires traitent vos informations personnelles et utilisent des technologies telles que les cookies pour afficher des publicits et des contenus personnaliss, et des fins de mesure des publicits et des contenus, dtude des audiences et de dveloppement de produit. The trailer ignores the many young men and women who quit the transgender lifestyle. The story of 4 year old Phoenix was fascinating. But it is not love, and can have catastrophic consequences. The youth in Transhood have all undergone social transitions - changing clothes, hair, pronouns, and in most cases, their names to reflect their gender as they experience it. Slinky, fashionable and self-involved, Leena is an endearingly average teenage girl. It premieres Thursday, November 12 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO. In addition to Transhood and the TRANSlation Summit, HBO Max has plenty of content to celebrate Transgender Awareness Week (November 13-19).One of them is the new HBO Max original Veneno which . While depictions of transgender people onscreen appear to be evolving for the better, with more transgender people both in front of and behind the camera in critically acclaimed films and series including Orange Is the New Black, A Fantastic Woman and Pose, they largely focus on transgender adults. A new HBO Max documentary, "Transhood," follows for five years the lives of four Kansas City, Mo. Their emotional processing even feels, at times, more compelling than their childrens, perhaps because Lieses team edits the film around the parents rather explosive confessions. This HBO documentary follows the lives and trajectories of four transgender and gender-nonconforming children in Kansas City. Does Leena have a social media page I . Bowers is a man who identifies as a woman. All rights reserved | News Punch. A lopsided majority of voters oppose transgender medical treatment of children. "I've known Leena since the day she was born and have taken care of her since she was two months old so I've seen lots of changes, Shirley told TODAY Parents. There are other people hurting. I mean, it's the love for our kid that just led us in the direction listening to her.. children who believe they are the opposite sex. November 12, 2020. Absolutely, it is, I ain't gonna lie at all, but still the bottom line is you tell your kid, 'Hey, hit the dishes. For 80-year-old Shirley, the most important thing is love. The oldest among the bunch is Leena, a redheaded teenager with dreams of becoming a Victoria's Secret model. I just realized that these stories really werent being told and there wasnt that kind of trans representation, over time, about kids, says Liese. The new HBO documentary Transhood, out Nov. 12, follows four transgender children and their families over the course of five years. vemos a Leena luchando por su objetivo de hacerse una ciruga de confirmacin de gnero al cumplir 19 aos. 2,160 posts. 15 . Im excited, and now I have the mindset that if people dont like it, thats O.K., he says. The question is, how do you not believe them?. Her father Mike is a masculine, seemingly conservative, blue-collar type guy's guy, and his acceptance of his transgender daughter is obvious from the beginning of the doc. Four kids and their families unmask the intimate realities of how gender fluidity is reshaping the family next door, especially in America's heartland. I am a libertarian, and with that being said, I believe that a consenting adult should be able to do whatever he or she chooses with their own body. Starting in my teens, I drank alcohol excessively. It has taken me years to adequately assess the full range of consequences inflicted by grandmas gender grooming. Benjamin Franklins proverb, Lifes tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late, sums up my feelings now at 80 years of age when I reflect on how I, a reasonable man, became a willing participant in body-mutilating surgeries because a so-called gender specialist said that was the treatment I needed. Equipped with more information about transitioning online, some teens may feelmore empowered than ever to strike out on their own, perhaps maintaining the belief their parents dont love them. But, as one states, Id rather have a healthy son than a suicidal daughter.. These caregivers magnetism remains inverse to the age of their offspring: The younger the subject, the more important the parents narrative. 937 following. When I was dating Brian, it felt like an authentication, she said. Sadly, too many of them dont end well, as indie documentaries have shown. Ive done too much in this world. 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 Americas heartland., By sharing personal realities of how gender expression is reshaping their lives, the film explores how these families struggle and stumble through parenting, and how the kids are challenged and transformed as they experience the complexity of their identities., Directed by Sharon Liese, produced by Sasha Alpert (Autism: The Musical), and executive-produced by Kimberly Reed, Transhood offers a long-range understanding of transgender youth through the nuanced and authentic stories of Jay, Avery, Leena, and Phoenix., While every journey is different, these families share their honest and varied experiences as the young people display incredible resilience, facing rejection from their peers and escalating political rhetoric that strives to invalidate LGBTQ+ lives. A young "transgender" child has gone off-script during the recent filming of a new documentary, saying that switching genders has "ruined my life." Avery, a biological male who lives his life as a girl, blasted his activist mother in the upcoming pro-transgender documentary entitled "Transhood.". My thoughts constantly revolved around how I could become a female. 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! Its ruined my life and now everyone in this world is going to know. However, at least one scene should serve as a warning to any parent thinking of allowing their child to transition. 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. 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. Transhood is fixated on transition, and therefore preoccupied with time, or at least that seems to be its intention. Documentaries such as this one from HBO Max depict confused children and their parents participating in a grand social experiment under the misguided assumption that affirmation of cross-gender identities equals love. Walt Heyer is an accomplished author and public speaker with a passion for mentoring individuals whose lives have been torn apart by unnecessary gender-change surgery. Two of the children, 12-year-old Jay (a girl who identifies as a boy) and 15-year-old Leena (the opposite), have been placed on hormone pharmaceuticals by their parents in order to suppress their natural puberty. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three transgender youth has experienced a suicide attempt. What I have realized, and where my mind goes is that you just got to walk your walk. Offering no narration, expert talking heads or text interstitials, Liese forgoes contextualizing the culture wars and instead lets her subjects speak for themselves. Ive done too much in this world. Sharon Liese directs Transhood, a documentary that chronicles the lives of four young people and their families as they grow up transgender in the politically and religiously . Republicans Should Investigate, Cori Bush Married Her Unlicensed Security Guard While Calling To Defund Police, Questioning Bidens Ukraine Policy Doesnt Make You An Isolationist. Westernjournal.com reports: I find myself angered by the trans communitys continual push to normalize the sexualization of children. Her parents and grandmother are accepting and compassionate. In 2018,Dr. Susan Bradley, a child psychiatrist who founded the Toronto Gender Identity Clinic,toldNational Review: We know from multiple studies that around 80 percent of gender dysphoric children will desist from their cross-sex identification in childhood to identify with their natal sex. Mike and I had no idea how to navigate this, Cathy said. 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. Why is that suddenly not on the news, Mom? The storyline shows the difficult decisions trans people often make about disclosing their identities. Every parent reading this should immediately stop and go watch HBOs Transhood (2020) documentary. LEENA SNOUBAR. These kids frustrations range from gender dysphoria to celebrity fatigue to being outed by others before they were ready to do it on their own cumbersome ordeals even many adults wouldnt be able to shoulder. We just were not sure what the right way to go about it was, Cathy said. "And in my generation, you didn't even say the word gay. Unlock premium content, ad-free browsing, and access to comments for just $4/month. Like any child, I basked in grandmas undivided attention and wanted to please her. 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. 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). Avery Jackson, a 13-year-old trans activist whom you may recognize from the HBO Max documentary Transhood, has grown a lot over the five-year filming period . The film premiered at the AFI Docs Festival on June 19, 2020 and was released on HBO and HBO Max on November 12, 2020. Sarcastic seven-year-old Avery, via her mothers political activism, soon becomes a literal poster child for trans rights. A new HBO Max documentary, titled Transhood, is pushing the claim that parents must unconditionally accept their childrens claims to be members of the opposite sex. In less than a decade, the Democratic party, the media, the entertainment industry, and much of academia have thrown their weight behind . Transhood Discussion Guide - The stories in Transhood underscore the reality that there is no "single path" for young people who are discovering and articulating their gender identity. Avery at one point says, Why do I have to grow up? Directed by Sharon Liese, it follows four children who identify as . The film follows four children, beginning at ages four, seven, twelve, and fifteen, as they "redefine coming-of-age". Its something you discover about yourself, he says. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 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 . Three of the children are far too young even to begin to think about sex or what gender they are. Four kids face typical growing pains like acne, sibling rivalry, divorcing parents, crushes, and breakups. The human brain is not fully developed until around the age of 25, according to theUniversity of Rochester Medical Center, so why would any reasonable human being think that is OK to have a child born male live as a female? Before the divorce, the family is seen joyfully encouraging toddler Phoenix to publicly declare their gender at the pulpit of a local LGBTQ-friendly church. An upcoming pro-transgender documentary entitled "Transhood" follows the story of four children in Kansas City and their journey as activists for the transgender community. Leena Al Mutlaq. Furthermore, the U.K. judges ruled that children younger than 16 lack the maturity to give informed consent to the experimental gender treatments that alter the body. 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. The four young people director Sharon Liese followed in her hometown between 2014 and 2019 show different facets of what it can mean to be trans or gender fluid. But now?, Avery: Yeah, I did but that was a stupid, silly mistake and now I dont., To that end, 4-year-old Phoenix, who begins the movie by wearing dresses and referring to himself as a girl-boy, ultimately reverts back to identifying as male. In the gentle and absorbing HBO documentaryTranshood, director Sharon Liese conducts a microcosmic kind of longitudinal study on childhood gender transition. A couple of years ago, you wanted people to know, Averys mom says, completely dismissing his dissatisfaction with his circumstances. Scene from HBO's pro-trans documentary. These kids frustrations range from gender dysphoria to celebrity fatigue to being outed by others before they were ready to do it on their own. You continue to detect whiffs of their codependence throughout the film. For younger, more rambunctious subjects like Avery (7 at the beginning of filming in 2014) and the gender-fluid Phoenix (4), the camera often has to chase them, making it difficult to capture in a cohesive way how they personally explore their gender identity. The film follows the four subjects who are ages 15 (Leena), 13 (Jay), 7 (Avery), and 4 (Phoenix) when we first meet them in the documentary. You don't have to like us. Throughout Transhood, we watch moms and dads struggle with and also support their childrens transitions. In this clip, you see a mother reading a transgender childrens book titled Jacobs New Dress to her 4-year-old son, Phoenix. Their feelings remain potent and tangible throughout: After all, kids are kids, no matter their upheavals. Just as my grandma disrupted my normal boy development by affirming me in a dress, the adults in the documentary are disrupting the normal development of four children by allowing them to experiment with social transition, that is, the adoption of a false identity. These organizations also stress the importance of supportive parenting and social environments, as Leena and Jay experienced, when making decisions about their healthcare from their families and medical professionals. Source: Niamh Harris A young "transgender" child went off-script during the recent filming of a new documentary, warning liberals that switching genders has "ruined my life.". Phoenix at 4 is seen identifying as a "girl-boy.". Later they decide he's a girl. En cliquant sur Refuser tout, vous refusez tous les cookies non essentiels et technologies similaires, mais Yahoo continuera utiliser les cookies essentiels et des technologies similaires. 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