"The Wounds That Won't Heal"

Jordan Peterson's interview with de-transitioned Chloe Cole

By JOHN LEAKE

As a child I was an avid reader of children’s books and then boy’s adventure books, but my introduction to full adult literature was in the novels of Stephen King. In the summer of 1983, I read all of his classics that had been published at that time—Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Shining, and Christine. These were horrifying stories about men and women possessed and obsessed. Even though I was only thirteen and didn’t fully understand everything I was reading, I was enthralled by the stunning eeriness of it.

What made the stories especially fascinating was the way in which men and women were—as a result of their personal troubles, vices, and demons—susceptible to external forces of malevolence. This was most highly developed in The Shining, in which the troubled protagonist can’t decide whether the hotel is truly haunted or whether his perceptions are being distorted by alcohol withdrawal.

I thought of these horror stories as I listened to Jordan Peterson’s recent interview with Chloe Cole. It seems to me that this interview should be required listening for ALL parents or anyone who is contemplating parenthood. I will limit my commentary to a fundamental question:

Why would ANY reasonable and responsible adult believe that an unhappy and confused 13-year-old child has a clear understanding of her “true” gender and sexual identity?

Adolescence (from Latin: adolescere “grow to maturity”) is, by definition, and unstable time of transition. The word shares a common root with dolor—the Latin word for pain. As everyone with a shred a common sense knows, growing up is an awkward and painful experience, fundamentally characterized by instability.

In recent years we’ve witnessed a steady train of mind-bogglingly stupid ideas and beliefs presented on a mass scale, but the mere thought—never mind the execution—of “transitioning” a 13-year-old child to the opposite sex may be the most criminally insane notion that ever sprang from the disordered mind of man.

When, in the entire history of civilization, have adults allowed 13-15-year-olds to make irrevocable, fundamentally life-changing decisions about ANYTHING, much less the decision to undergo a double mastectomy surgery?