Opinion
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Scene from Netflix's 'Baby-Sitters Club.'Netflix Futures / YouTube

July 31, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — In a recent episode of The Baby-Sitter’s Club, a children’s TV show aired on Netflix, one of the preteen babysitters, Mary Anne, lectures medical professionals about their insensitivity to a nine-year-old boy, who identifies as a female named Bailey. Mary Anne tells the adults they are “completely ignoring” their patient’s true identity and making “her feel insignificant and humiliated.”[1]

Let’s set aside the preposterous idea that middle-schoolers know more about medical treatment than doctors and nurses. Instead, we’ll unpack the even more ludicrous idea that transgenderism is appropriate, even necessary subject matter for preteens.

Netflix defends its pro-transgender agenda in the children’s series by saying, “The Baby-Sitter’s Club is a smart, sweet, and self-aware update of a beloved book series about preteen BFFs who start a childcare service.”[2]

Rose Dommu, the man (who calls himself a woman) who wrote the script for the episode mentioned above, says, “What this episode give[s] me is hope. … Imagine the young trans children who are going to watch this & see a version of themselves who is actualized, supported, and HAPPY”[3]

We all want children to be supported and happy, but force-feeding them transgender propaganda disguised as harmless entertainment is not the path to achieve those goals. In fact, intentionally planting lies in children’s minds about sex and gender may cause them irreparable harm.

Consider these sobering facts presented by Drs. Cretella, Van Meter, and McHugh of the American College of Pediatrics:

  • Puberty-blocking hormones “induce a state of disease — the absence of puberty — and inhibit growth and fertility in a previously biologically healthy child.”
  •  “According to the DSM-5, as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.”
  • Children who take puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones “will never be able to conceive any genetically related children even via artificial reproductive technology.”
  • For both children and adults, cross-sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) are associated with dangerous health risks including but not limited to cardiac disease, high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.[4]

Far from being “smart … sweet and self-aware” as Netflix claims, the series is dangerous to both the mental and physical well-being of the children who watch it. Far from being a sign of “hope,” as Dommu suggests, this brand of insidious propaganda may very well lead to the dangerous health risks associated with puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones. Far from being “happy,” as Dommu suggests, teens who pursue sex alteration have higher rates of depression and suicide than those who are content with their biological sex.[5]

Let’s not pretend this sort of indoctrination is harmless entertainment. If we care about the well-being of children, let’s make sure they know the truth about sex, gender, and the path to wholeness.


[1] Qtd. in “Netflix’s Sinister Endorsement of ‘Transgender’ Children,” National Review, 28 July 2020, https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/netflix-transgender-children-the-baby-sitters-club/ 

[2] Qtd in “Netflix Defends Transgender Plot in Kids’ Series Baby-Sitters Club: It’s ‘Updated for 2020,’”Christian Headlines, 27, July 2020, https://www.christianheadlines.com/contributors/michael-foust/netflix-defends-transgender-plot-in-kids-series-baby-sitters-club-its-updated-for-2020.html

[3] Qtd. in “Netflix Defends.”

[4] Michelle A. Cretella, MD, Quentin Van Meter, and Paul McHugh, “Gender Ideology Harms Children,” American College of Pediatricians, updated September 2017, https://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/gender-ideology-harms-children.

[5] HRC staff, “New Study Reveals Shocking Rates of Attempted Suicide Among Trans Adolescents,” Human Rights Campaign, 12, September 2018, https://www.hrc.org/blog/new-study-reveals-shocking-rates-of-attempted-suicide-among-trans-adolescen