Teen Vogue's Back to School Advice Now Emphasizes 'Coming Out' as Trans, Encourages Hormones
As students prepare for the start of the school year, magazines and media outlets usually provide family-friendly tips and advice on backpacks, lunch ideas, and fashion trends.
However, Teen Vogue, a popular fashion and lifestyle magazine for teenagers and young adults, took a different approach, emphasizing support for transgender kids and hormone therapy in their Wednesday article titled “Trans Kids on Coming Out at School.”
Penned by Fortesa Latifi, a journalist with a master’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication, the article explored the experiences of minor-aged transgender students preparing for the school year.
Latifi highlighted the challenges these students face in coming out to teachers and peers, but her article appears to be an American version of a “coming out as trans at school” story from The Pink News published in June of this year.
Latifi posed questions like, “Will their teachers use the correct pronouns? Will their peers be accepting? Will they be allowed to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity?”
trans & nonbinary teens and young ppl: I want to talk to you about what back-to-school is like (do you talk to your teacher ahead of time? do you worry about bathroom access? how do you make your names/pronouns clear?)
story for @TeenVogue, email: Fortesa_Latifi@condenast.com
— Fortesa Latifi (@hifortesa) August 28, 2023
One featured story centered on a 16-year-old student named Daniel, whose mom, Lizette, would email teachers before the school year begins to inform them about her child’s gender identity.
Another featured student, 16-year-old Jackie, had similar concerns regarding how his peers would respond to his transgender identity. He also expressed fears of encountering peers with “anti-trans” views and the possibility of becoming a “target” at school.
The article referenced a female student who underwent hormone treatments, claiming it made her feel “more himself.”
Latifi’s article encouraged transgender students to use restrooms that align with their gender identity, despite debates about safety in shared facilities, as reported by CNN.
Latifi also went as far as trying to establish a connection between American support for “laws that criminalize transition-related medical care for minors” and transphobia, by raising the purported experiences of Daniel, who “still sees the summer as a break from the transphobia he fears at school.”
Nonetheless, Sweden, recognized as an early adopter of “legal gender reassignment,” has recently initiated measures to limit hormone treatments for minors, aligning with actions taken by other Western nations, according to France 24.
Latifi lamented so-called “anti-trans laws” that are causing trans kids to feel “less and less safe” and further claimed that the “national political climate” is progressively becoming “more anti-trans,” although she provided no evidence beyond selective anecdotal stories from her sources.
In contrast to the perspective being promoted by Teen Vogue and Latifi, Walt Heyer, activist and “original” detransitioner, citing a study in Sweden, told Reality Check Radio in a recent interview that “people who go through the hormones and surgery have a 19 times greater risk of committing suicide than if they don’t, and they have a higher ratio of mental health issues if they take hormones and surgery.”
Heyer, who personally experienced gender reassignment and lived as a “trans woman” for eight years before detransitioning in 1991, said “most everything that I have found that they report being to help people actually is harmful to people.”
The article’s emphasis on transgender identity and hormone treatments for kids prompted strong reactions.
Tierin-Rose Mandelburg, a staff writer for MRC News Buster, criticized the magazine’s approach, saying, “Teen Vogue is now encouraging kids to take hormones to permanently modify their body. GREAT!”
Mandelburg argued that Teen Vogue should focus on different aspects of back-to-school preparation, such as academic challenges, building community, and extracurricular involvement.
She also observed a recurring theme in the article, which attempted not only to promote hormone use among trans students but also “to use the bathrooms of their choosing,” arguing that the magazine is “teaching kids how to change who they really are, how to lie, how to believe a delusion and how to chemically change their bodies for the start of school.”
Others, on social media platforms like X, formerly called Twitter, expressed concerns about the liberal-leaning magazine promoting transgenderism and transitioning among minors.
Teen Vogue wants to harm kids, plain and simple. Endorsing the mutilation of children is disgusting behavior as they are perfect the way they are.
— Justin Vasari (@SincerelyNotMe3) September 8, 2023
Despicable, we should cancel Teen Vogue just like conservatives did to Bud Light.
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) September 8, 2023
Parents and their children who have been misled by this magazine and others should start seeking legal redress in civil and criminal courts.
The misinformation being provided to immature, impressionable minors and some parents is harmful, and the so called trans affirming…
— Mike Russell for Atlanta (@mikerussellatl) September 8, 2023
Some also questioned the publication’s role in promoting transgenderism, “promiscuous” lifestyle, and the indoctrination of minors.
Sorry to tell you that Teen Vogue has been like this for quite a while, 15-20 years. Very hard left liberal, very much promoting sex to teens. Remember this is aimed at girls ages 10 to 15 mostly! Before the big push for LGBQT… they promoted promiscuous teen sex, told girls…
— Lola Montez (@LolaMontez2) September 8, 2023
Another user pointed out the mental health issues present in transgender individuals.
WARNING: The following post contains a graphic image that some readers may find disturbing.
Unfortunately, instead of addressing and providing appropriate psychotherapy for those suffering from mental health issues, the pharmaceutical industry has glorified their conditions and normalized them as well. 🤦♀️#LeaveTheKidsAlone #TransRightsArePharmaProfit pic.twitter.com/K7AanxOlei
— Magilou Mayvin (@MagiruMevin) September 8, 2023
“Unfortunately, instead of addressing and providing appropriate psychotherapy for those suffering from mental health issues, the pharmaceutical industry has glorified their conditions and normalized them as well,” the user posted.
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