patrick.net

The pressure to stand out, to have "a story," heightened by the advent of social media, has never clamped down on young people as it does today. Almost paradoxically, society demands conformity to its overriding expectation that they exhibit a uniqueness, to the point where there is now rebellion in not being different or pushing the boundaries of truth and reality.

The quickest way to escape the unrelenting awkwardness and social anxiety of adolescence is to slip under the blanket of gender and sexual zealotry, where online mobs and tolerance brigades serve as pop culture scarecrows, staring and stalking anyone who would dare utter an unsupportive or disobliging word.

There is safety for the insecure in this movement. You see it on this girl's face right after she announces she's a "guy." Go back and watch it. The claim, utterly at odds with rationality, biology, and physiology, is met with thunderous applause, celebration, hugs, and cries of, "We love you, Theo."

Would it be easy to intellectually dismantle her words and claims? No question.

The very assertion to be a "guy" presupposes a gender binary that transgenderism denies.
The silliness of only "realizing" your manhood "a couple days ago," coincidentally occurring at the precise moment where alternative genders and unconventional sexual proclivities are granted a month of unprecedented pomp and pander.
The logical inconsistency of embracing a life predicated upon the rejection of gender stereotypes while simultaneously relying on them to make your point (i.e., dyeing your hair blue to be more masculine).
But like I said, I know this girl. And articulating all those reasonable points, as crucial as it is to speak truth to cultural powers that willfully mislead, will fall short in reaching her. Satan's echo chambers are well constructed and are often impenetrable by reason alone. He is the author of chaos after all, and excels at forcing us into a dizzying confusion between what feels right and what is right. That reality is magnified multi-fold for self-doubting, self-conscious teenagers looking for a place, any place, to belong and to be celebrated.