A little while ago, we had a discussion here on the blog of why one should mind the presence of millions illegal migrants in the country. “But it doesn’t hurt anybody!” people said. “What’s the harm?”
The idea that other people’s choices cannot be criticized or constrained is present in many other aspects of our shared lives. People are imagined as free-floating islands that don’t come into contact with each other. “But what is it to you? Why should you care?” one keeps hearing.
We aren’t islands, though. We are all connected, and things we do impact others. Here’s a particularly egregious example:
A 3-year-old girl was referred to our pediatric outpatient clinic with breast development and vaginal discharge over a period of 6 months. The [gender affirming hormone therapy] of her transgender father was estradiol spray 6.12 mg applied to both forearms daily. After 6 months this was changed to estradiol gel 3.75 mg daily for 7 months. The gel was manually applied to the chest, abdomen, shoulders, and thighs. The father reported skin to skin contact on a daily basis. A physical examination of the girl revealed a Tanner stage III for breast and Tanner stage I for pubic hair development.”
This man did terrible physical damage to his daughter because of his choice to pose as a woman. The psychological damage he caused to this poor child cannot be quantified but he also hurt her physically.
We would all be happier if we moved away from worshipping our whims (aka choices) and concentrated more on such things as duty.
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