Are Trans Kids the new Gucci Handbag?

The narcissist parents status symbol

At 0912 I sent off an innocuous tweet poking fun at a Libs of Tik Tok repost about a woman talking about how at 18 months she knew her child was transgender. I sent it in part because I am tired of parents, although usually it’s upper class wine moms, posting about their supposed transgender kids. Look if your 18 or older I don’t really care about what you do with your body, that’s your personal choice. You want to chop off parts, add parts, etc.… that is your choice. I don’t have an issue with people claiming to be Transgender. What I do have a problem is when parents parade their children around like a Gucci Hand bag to be shown off claiming that they are transgender. The trans child in my opinion is the ultimate bid for clout and a dangerous one at that for the child. The push for affirmation can open the door to predation towards the child from their unstable parental figures. There appears to be a disproportionate number of trans children amongst the affluent and celebrity class, an uneven scale. Is that because the child is that much more free to be themselves or is something more nefarious at play? Although I never believed the tweet would take off as it did, in the end the satire I aimed for has purpose.

There appears to be a new trend emerging amongst the Liberal middle class and celebrities. The transgender child. In the early 2000’s one could easily remember the media attention that celebrity adoptions from primarily impoverished nations drew. There was a sudden appeal to adopting children, particularly racialized children, for celebrities such as Madonna and Angelia Joe Lee. Articles both condoning and condemning the adoptions, photoshoots, celebrity gossip and more provided vapid entertainment for the masses while giving the celebrity class their narcissistic ego boost from the attention. However like all celebrity trends, after the initial wave of media attention the media moves on to the next plastic surgery disaster.

The autistic child paraded around is another example of utilizing a child for narcissistic gain. It was popular at one point for celebrities to offer “alternative” care regimes for children with disabilities through fad diets, essential oils and other holistic methods not grounded in reality. In all the cases one thing was common, the parental need for undeserved and unwarranted attention at the cost of the child’s physical and mental well being. Turning the child into a good.

Photo by Nate Johnston on Unsplash

There is a common theme that seems to play out in these cases. The person who perpetuates the usage of their child as a commodity is affluent already or affluent in their community. They are usually liberal but naïve to the reality that everyday people suffer from. They often enjoy status and privilege or seek status and privilege that makes them the center of attention. There is often underlying mental health issues related to narcissism and sometimes borderline personality disorder. Often these are woman-children who need constant validation. They will sometimes invent or exaggerate illness in the child. I have called them Munchie Mommies or wine mommies. The wine mommy is from the eye roll inducing memes of mom’s claiming they can handle it if they only have their favorite red sour grape beverage to sip on. The picture for me conjures up some late 30’s, Montana’s appetizer ordering, wine sipping hags gathered around to shit talk their husbands or ex-husbands while snapping photos of the food and their botox for the Gram.

Photo by Denin Lawley on Unsplash

There have been other Liberalized/Celebrity trends over the years but the most recent one to hit the social media and in my opinion probably the most damaging is the Trans Child phenomenon. There is quite the amount of good will and free attention that one can gain online and in real life by “transing” their child. The parent(s) can access a world on sympathy on forums, Tik Tok, Twitter and all manner of Social Media and Legacy Media platforms. They can gain premium access to social events, celebrities, media shows and get featured in events they would otherwise be a mere spectator in. These companies love it as well, they get to appear progressive and accepting. The child is a prop so that the adults can enter social spheres they usually don’t have access too or for the celebrity to get some cheap dopamine hits from the extra attention the child brings them. These behaviors have permanent effects on the child. Physically through the usage of puberty blockers, cross sex hormones and surgeries. Mentally through their commodification. Spiritually damaged through loss of trust in Institutions and authority figures who should be guiding them through life, not using them as a prop. They are left emotionally empty from propping up the narcissistic needs of their parents for attention.

We need to remember that these are not pocket poodles, these are human beings who will grow up. They will not only have to handle the world given to them by their narcissistic, unstable and attention hungry parents but also they will have the apparition of the media attention haunting them. They will have to go through school and the work force with everyone having access to their parents rants on Tik Tok, the media interviews, the newspaper articles, etc… Transgenderism is a serious condition, it isn’t some gender playful fun adventure. Transgender people have a serious disconnect from their body and their perception of their body known as gender dysphoria. We have to treat this condition seriously and we have to ensure that we are not propping up narcissistic, borderline munchie mommies in their abuse of their children.