New Yorker piece on transgendered youth

Long and paywalled, but excellent, piece this week by Margaret Talbot:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/03/18/130318fa_fact_talbot

The story goes into depth about how, today, gender reassignment is becoming more and more commonplace, among younger and younger people. At some point, she mentions that within the trans culture, it's a badge of authenticity now to have began experiencing gender doubts as a toddler or preschooler.

Some of the questions raised about the appropriateness of all of this was interesting to me, because, as Talbot points out throughout the story, media coverage of gender reassignment is generally very positive. I would presume it has kind of caught the pro-gay and anti-bullying waves simultaneously. Nice to see that it's still OK to question, in an appropriate, level-headed manner.

 

Dick, I'm always impressed by how quickly you access and read the new New Yorker stories. You always have a piece posted early Monday, it seems. Do you read them online right away or do you get a print copy delivered right away Monday morning? My issue inevitably doesn't show up in my mailbox until Wednesday but you're always way ahead. So I am looking forward to reading this...later in the week.

 

Kindle subscription. It shows up on Sunday night, at around 9-10. It's appointment reading for me. I try to knock out a couple of the features on Sunday night, then a couple on Monday morning.

 

The Bolshoi story by David Remnick was great.

 

I swear that the trans-gendered have hired breast cancer's PR staff. Outside of breast cancer awareness, is there a cause that places more positive stories in the press than this one? Dog eat dog complains on the gay marriage discussions that we haven't had a "national discussion" about gay marriage. In this case, I'd almost have to agree with him, should be float the same argument. I don't ever remember any kind of discussion about sex changes. One day, "trannies" were punchlines. The next day, they were 100 percent mainstream.

http://jezebel.com/5991916/smith-college-rejects-transgender-applicant-thanks-to-shitty-admissions-policies?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow