The Issue of Female Students Who Want to Become Boys

By an Educator

Beside issues of behaviour, middle and secondary schools in Malta have recently been inundated by a wave of girls who claim to be transgender.  What baffles me is that the phenomenon only concerns girls who want to become boys. Perhaps because of stigma, boys are showing less interest in becoming girls and, by this, I mean dress and adopt a female appearance.

Lest anybody accuses me of being transphobic, I declare that I am not and I am writing this article to raise awareness about this issue, which is causing mental issues with many of our girls in their teens.

in this brief article, I would like to highlight certain observations and suggestions that have cropped up during my conversations with educators in various State and Church schools.  I have been following this topic for the last few years so as to better reach out to my students.

In a recent article published in The Times of London dated 27th May, 2022, it covered both male and female pupils who believe they are and present themselves as trans.  I am reproducing this article hereunder as it may be of interest to those wishing to be updated on this phenomenon.  As aptly stated by Attorney-General Suella Braverman in her article, it is now time to draw a firm line on gender matters and educators should not take a passive stand on the subject.

Woke politics and ideology has now enveloped students all around the world, Maltese students included.  From data gathered from different colleges, the characteristics are the same: there is usually a huge concentration of girls in one year group.  These girls mainly have middle class backgrounds, where money is not a problem.  They are quiet and hardworking, but their self-esteem is not high. Some of them also have mental health problems and may be into self-harming.  These girls, who in my opinion are vulnerable, could be manipulated by online influencers or somebody at school having the required charisma.  They come to school claiming to identify as a boy, and wanting to use a boy’s name.  As Attorney-General Braverman said, schools must cease to pander to these children’s wishes, and names on class lists should never be changed.  Furthermore, as children they are minors and remain minors in Malta until aged 16.  If they wish to change their gender and name, they have to do so legally through the appropriate channels and until their documentation is changed according to law, they must remain listed at school according to their official registration.

All this tends to be just a passing fad during puberty, which is harming our young girls, who start feeling trans before they are even teenagers.  They claim they are having online relationships.  They are obsessed with anime which is a style of Japanese film and television animation typically aimed at adults but also children!   And all too often these pseudo-trans girls choose to assume Japanese male names used in these animations.

Thus, official guidelines to tackle this phenomenon are needed so that these can be implemented in all schools. These guidelines should include the following points:

Parents are to be told what their children are claiming to be.  In most cases, we find that parents are in the dark.

Names are not changed on class lists and students are still called by the name given at birth.

These girls should be made aware of the legal implications and that their school leaving certificate and MatSec certificate will still bear their name at birth.

One should advice students to wait and see, as they are still too young to take such serious decisions.

Adults need to take control and set boundaries so that these girls do not go down the rabbit hole as advertised by big businesses.  Behind all this, there is big money to be made as girls are urged to take hormone blocking pills and wear binder bras to hide their developing breasts, apart from mental and other long-term health issues involved.  And what if after some time, they decide to become girls again?

There are already many cases of trans regretting having taken certain decisions.  In some cases through unscrupulous manipulation of these youngsters, their sexuality cannot be reversed back to their birth, thus adding to even more disturbed adults out on the streets. While we all have the right to be whatever and whosoever we want to be, this cannot be achieved through us adults shirking our responsibilities with the consequences of the laissez faire policy in place so far.