Uh, so have all the commenters just completely misunderstood that transitioner clip? Did anyone spot that this is a child who was born a boy, working on her transition to become a girl?
This is actually a really interesting observation! It's clear to me as well that the clip shows a young girl. Here's my attempt to pry this apart and explain why this Chinese audience misinterprets the direction of transition: Chinese people - most people everywhere, even - assume by default that what a child wants isn't something that their parents will be willing to take into account. It's that much-discussed filial piety; parents take care of children; children should obey parents. And of course, when a child says "I want to drive a car/be a princess/fly like a bird" the adult's job is not to take that literally - it is to interpret the child's desire. Maybe, if you're a good parent, you push them around on the floor in a box, or buy them a dress and plastic crown, or applaud when they flap their wings and jump off a chair because they jumped so high - but you certainly don't let them pick their gender or future career or spouse unsupervised. They might get a worthless degree in an empty field and then starve to death, or a partner who hits them or doesn't respect you, when you'll be living with them in your old age.
Now if your child wants to be a doctor? That's worth promoting. That's great for you: it's a high status job with a high income. You'd push your child towards being a doctor because the incentives are so good.
And as always, remember: *Men are honored, women are abased.* Having a son is like having a doctor; raising a daughter is like watering a neighbor's garden. The idea of letting a child choose their own gender is foreign enough - but letting a valued son become a liability of a daughter? Who would ever do that? Turning a daughter into a son, though... what parents don't want the best for their children? A son will make more money, and be happier and more secure, and can inherit. If you could snap your fingers and trade in your daughter for a son, who wouldn't? There's gain in that differential, and high competition for scarce resources creates parents who will do anything to give their precious children (and themselves) an edge.
Now of course we can see that the doctor is talking about starting the child on puberty blockers, rather than estrogen (which she'd get access to in two years). Testosterone isn't even mentioned. But a non-english-speaking audience sees a young girl in visible distress and assumes "Ah, the doctor is doing something causing her distress" -> "Ah! The doctor is distressing her!" which is a pretty reasonable read to make just based on facial expressions and a few words. Combine that with the above context and the Chinese victim complex, which primes them to think the worst of Americans, and it becomes clear that commenters have misunderstood the situation because they can't imagine why anybody would help a child go from boy to girl.
This is actually a really good take on what might be going on. I also think that it's part of general smearing of America. The little kid in the video is clearly dressing like a girl, acting like a girl, holding "girl" toys. Like the commenter says, "I don't think she wants to be a boy." Yeah, that's the whole point. She doesn't want to be a boy. We can't acknowledge that the American healthcare system is actually *helping*.
It demonises America a lot better if people think they're watching a video of a little girl perfectly happy being a little girl, and somehow forced to become a boy instead against her wishes. It also helps normalise non-consensual medical procedures in China, like when they'd break into people's homes and forcibly drag them out and put IUDs in them. Like, see, every government does this, violate people's bodies to further their own political agenda. This is ~*~totally normal~*~
ewird -> weird
police -> polite
I feex
Uh, so have all the commenters just completely misunderstood that transitioner clip? Did anyone spot that this is a child who was born a boy, working on her transition to become a girl?
This is actually a really interesting observation! It's clear to me as well that the clip shows a young girl. Here's my attempt to pry this apart and explain why this Chinese audience misinterprets the direction of transition: Chinese people - most people everywhere, even - assume by default that what a child wants isn't something that their parents will be willing to take into account. It's that much-discussed filial piety; parents take care of children; children should obey parents. And of course, when a child says "I want to drive a car/be a princess/fly like a bird" the adult's job is not to take that literally - it is to interpret the child's desire. Maybe, if you're a good parent, you push them around on the floor in a box, or buy them a dress and plastic crown, or applaud when they flap their wings and jump off a chair because they jumped so high - but you certainly don't let them pick their gender or future career or spouse unsupervised. They might get a worthless degree in an empty field and then starve to death, or a partner who hits them or doesn't respect you, when you'll be living with them in your old age.
Now if your child wants to be a doctor? That's worth promoting. That's great for you: it's a high status job with a high income. You'd push your child towards being a doctor because the incentives are so good.
And as always, remember: *Men are honored, women are abased.* Having a son is like having a doctor; raising a daughter is like watering a neighbor's garden. The idea of letting a child choose their own gender is foreign enough - but letting a valued son become a liability of a daughter? Who would ever do that? Turning a daughter into a son, though... what parents don't want the best for their children? A son will make more money, and be happier and more secure, and can inherit. If you could snap your fingers and trade in your daughter for a son, who wouldn't? There's gain in that differential, and high competition for scarce resources creates parents who will do anything to give their precious children (and themselves) an edge.
Now of course we can see that the doctor is talking about starting the child on puberty blockers, rather than estrogen (which she'd get access to in two years). Testosterone isn't even mentioned. But a non-english-speaking audience sees a young girl in visible distress and assumes "Ah, the doctor is doing something causing her distress" -> "Ah! The doctor is distressing her!" which is a pretty reasonable read to make just based on facial expressions and a few words. Combine that with the above context and the Chinese victim complex, which primes them to think the worst of Americans, and it becomes clear that commenters have misunderstood the situation because they can't imagine why anybody would help a child go from boy to girl.
This is actually a really good take on what might be going on. I also think that it's part of general smearing of America. The little kid in the video is clearly dressing like a girl, acting like a girl, holding "girl" toys. Like the commenter says, "I don't think she wants to be a boy." Yeah, that's the whole point. She doesn't want to be a boy. We can't acknowledge that the American healthcare system is actually *helping*.
It demonises America a lot better if people think they're watching a video of a little girl perfectly happy being a little girl, and somehow forced to become a boy instead against her wishes. It also helps normalise non-consensual medical procedures in China, like when they'd break into people's homes and forcibly drag them out and put IUDs in them. Like, see, every government does this, violate people's bodies to further their own political agenda. This is ~*~totally normal~*~