My cousin is 14, born a female and now "out" as a ftm transgender. It's honestly a sad story. She knows I'm conservative but we talked about it for a while and why she wants to be a boy.
She said puberty was uncomfortable and she hated getting her period. She's always been athletic so she didn't like that boys got stronger and better at sports than her as she got older. "It feels like no matter how hard I try as a girl I'll never be as good so nothing is worth it." - her words. She said she thought girly stuff was stupid and never really liked it, and that she was afraid of being sexualized as she got older. She said she thinks she's trans because all her friends are boys and she never liked wearing dresses and stuff.
Interestingly enough, she's actually kind of conservative for her age on a lot of issues. She's made fun of Biden before and likes hunting and fishing and stuff. She likes Trump.
Just thought I'd offer a first person account I guess. It's a sad story.
Glad you didn't over react. Imagine if during that time of learning to manage her hormones, and going through some changes in self presentation and figuring out who you are, she was being attacked and maligned as evil and you as a parent were accused vocally by strangers that you are grooming as a pedo satanist or something.
Look, there's the media and whatever they are doing with this shit. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about your story about your daughter is the same story many parents are dealing with. I have a friend that went through almost the exact same story as you. I've heard many. I am repelled by extremism and think that the left and the right have allowed the media to gaslight them into making the story much less banal than just a story of children and parents going through normal hormonal challenges together.
I'm glad you shared that btw.
For mine, it was the school system. She went to the guidance counselor upset one day, came home the same day with booklets on being transgender. We learned that last part only recently.