Comments on: The Sissy-Whupping Method

By: The Gender Gulag: Voices of the Asylum « GID Reform Weblog by Kelley Winters

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:44:35 +0000

[...] [12] Holly, “The Sissy-Whupping Method,” Feministe, http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/05/13/7399/ [...]

By: Feministe » Gender Policing Hurts Kids

Feministe » Gender Policing Hurts Kids — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:15:34 +0000

[...] roles. The rules can be so strict, that crossing a gender line can earn a kid punishment from parents, teachers, and peers. This hostile situation makes life particularly difficult for transgender [...]

By: Darya

Darya — Sat, 31 May 2008 18:30:52 +0000

Thanks for a great post. I’m a transwoman who is in the middle of transition at the age of 56; that’s the dark side of “conforming to your birth gender”. When I grew up, sissies got whupped at whatever age they were, just like women who didn’t “behave”.
Great post, like I said.

By: Wednesday Linkblogging 21/05/08 « (Liminal) Spaces

Wednesday Linkblogging 21/05/08 « (Liminal) Spaces — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:52:57 +0000

[...] Feministe » The Sissy-Whupping Method Holly discusses the ways parents can respond to gender non-conformity in their children, and shares some stories of her own. [...]

By: Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » Sign a Petition to Protest Transphobes Heading Committees to Rewrite DSM-V Psychiatric Definitions

Wed, 21 May 2008 11:13:24 +0000

[...] two families grapple with sons’ gender preferences (h/t Holly’s extremely moving post The Sissy-Whupping Method). Zucker’s attempted “treatment” for the boy he was working with was to try to [...]

By: Still mad: more on DSM-V/Zucker/Blanchard « bird of paradox

Still mad: more on DSM-V/Zucker/Blanchard « bird of paradox — Sun, 18 May 2008 17:32:17 +0000

[...] The Sissy-Whupping Method – Response to the above posts by Holly at Feministe; link here [...]

By: Bobthemole

Bobthemole — Fri, 16 May 2008 03:00:59 +0000

dear god, reading about the parents taking all of bradley’s toys away broke my fucking heart. i remember the real emotional attachment i had to my dolls and stuffed animals, they had names and personalities, and i treasured each and every one. to take those away is like this huge punishment when s/he has done nothing wrong to deserve a punishment. cos thats when you get toys taken away, when youve done something wrong.

I completely agree with you on that. Who let this idiot anywhere near children in the first place?

By: bitchphd

bitchphd — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:50:41 +0000

My parents both feel guilty about this, and I still don’t know how to set their minds at ease about it.

Speaking as a parent? You will probably never be able to do this. Not being able to protect one’s child is the nightmare of all parents. I’m sure your folks thank god that you survived, and that you forgive them their failures, but no conscientious parent, I think, would ever forgive themselves.

The story about the red toenail polish makes me proud of my son, who insisted on going to school with red fingernail polish during a period in which he was being teased by a couple of other boys for having long hair. And even prouder of his teacher, who took the lead teaser aside and said “yes, he’s wearing red nail polish, and you will not say one word about it,” as well as of the lead teaser, whose response to that–to his great credit–was to say to the other kids, when they started to say something, “he’s wearing it because he likes it, leave him alone.”

I made a point, when I learned that (from my son), of telling the teaser, the teacher, and the teaser’s mother how very impressed I was by his maturity and leadership. The teaser was visibly pleased to hear it.

Things are changing, a little bit, a few kids at a time.

By: Truth Wins Out - Open Forum: Conformism and Sexism in APA DSM Review?

Truth Wins Out - Open Forum: Conformism and Sexism in APA DSM Review? — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:44:21 +0000

[...] Feministe say wrote May 13 of efforts to assist people struggling with gender identity: Ken Zucker of Toronto’s Clarke Institute represents the widespread, traditional approach, where the goal is to eliminate cross-gender behavior and the desire to be a different gender. He basically describes his success rate as the number of kids he’s managed to steer away from becoming an adult trans person; as he’s said elsewhere, he wants to “help these kids be more content in their biological gender.” [...]

By: BWrites

BWrites — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:44:03 +0000

Thanks so much for this post, Holly. I think it’s important to point out that these kids aren’t just test subjects; they’re people, who will grow up to be adults, and how they’re treated now is a huge aspect of that. The next day after the NPR story with Zucker, a woman with a transgendered husband wrote in, saying that if someone had accepted her spouse for who she was as a child, perhaps her family wouldn’t be in such turmoil now.

The DSM revision committee is scary as hell.