Milton High School displays artwork featuring “gender transition” surgery of minor.
Displayed in the main foyer of Milton High School is a piece of student made art that depicts a nude torso and pelvic area accompanied by a series of comments relating to the physical alteration of the human body, dubbed “gender affirmative surgery” by some. The question is, why?
While it is certainly the right of students to express their opinions in a manner consistent with school policies and free speech rights (i.e. freedom of expression that does not disrupt the function of the school), the school is not required to promote or showcase all opinions. If a student created artwork of a sexually explicit act or promoted the use of drugs/alcohol, we would not expect that artwork to be prominently displayed for each student to view on a daily basis.
So, what does social contagion have to do with this?
A 2021 study by Gallup shows a staggering uptick in both Generation Z and Millennials identifying as LGBT between the years of 2017 and 2021, going from 10.5% to 20.8% and 7.5% to 10.5% respectively. Meanwhile, the rates among all other generations remained relatively steady.
In the book Irreversible Damage, author Abigail Shrier noticed the rising trend of girls identifying as transgender in the late 2010’s. What particularly caught her attention was that girls with friends who identified as transgender were exponentially more likely to identify as transgender as well. Positive affirmation from teachers and promotion of transgender identities in schools were also linked to a rise in transgender rates among young girls, likely because of the social capital that it gained them among teachers and peers. Shrier related this social contagion to a similar phenomenon often found in groups of young girls, eating disorders.
Consider this, if the artwork displayed was discussing bulimia, anorexia, or some type of self-harm, would you want your child being exposed to that on a daily basis?
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