Blame Fox News for at least starting it. And of course social media for amplifying it. And now US politics. What we are only just learning, after thousands of years of society, is that radically binary views, on just about anything, get traction. Being sensible, grounded, in the middle and bipartisan no longer gets anyone’s attention. I say fuck that. Fuck binary. Stand up for proper analysis and discussion, not memes and barking points.

Let’s start with gender, seeing as it has taken the word binary hostage. Let’s start with transgenderism.

For most of the educated western world, most worldly and intelligent people don’t give it much thought. If someone needs to transition, good on them. How they look can be a bit out of the ordinary, but we will cope and adapt. Next topic.

In the US, opinions have been split left and right, with both taking extreme views. I am generalizing here, of course, for that makes this easier, in short form.

The right consider transgenderism an abomination, because it is new and different and scary and confusing. And because the Bible probably forbids it.

The left think it is wonderful, the more woke types are happy for it to be discussed and for transformations to even begin at young ages.

Yet transgenderism is a very individual, nuanced, complicated, emotional and weighty topic, and neither the left or right treat it with the respect and concern it deserves.

Here are some points worth considering:

• Teens are highly impressionable and latch onto fads. Some children will transition because it is cool.
• Parents opinions do matter, as with the rest of parenting. Not letting a child have candy even if they identify as immune to sugar, is good parenting
• Knowing at a younger age about transgenderism, that it exists and is an option, could be a life saver for some kids.
• Some children are arbitrarily assigned gender at birth. This is rarely discussed
• In a for-profit health system, advice could be biased.
• In religious communities, advice could be biased.
• It is not a switch. It is years of drugs and surgery and therapy and battling for acceptance and ridicule and discrimination and all the rest.
• It can both save/improve lives and end/destroy them.

It is very much not black and white and how dare anyone, especially those who chose filtered sources of information, how dare they reduce it to binary, single sentence, frigid opinions.