Dear Editor,
The concerns regarding the digital platform YuteChatz continue.
What is Yute Chatz? It is a digital platform supported by the National Family Life Board, UNICEF, UNAIDS, and Equality Ja (the latter being the new branding name of J-Flag), which hosted discussions on sexuality and reproductive health. Its purpose is to reach and teach Jamaican youths, ages 13-24, on matters of sex and sexuality. Among the ideas presented to our youths is the idea of gender fluidity and the possibility of medical intervention to alter body parts. Youths having issues and wanting more information are referred to Equality Youth Helpline! Somehow the phrase giving “cat the butter to watch” comes to mind when thinking about the issue.
A study done by the American College of Paediatricians has shed some light on the matter of gender confusion among youths. The following are some salient points taken from that study:
- Save for disorders of sex development which affect less than 0.02% of the population, sex declares itself anatomically in utero and is evident at birth. No infant is assigned a sex or gender at birth.
- “Gender dysphoria of childhood describes a psychological condition in which children experience a marked incongruence between their experienced gender and the gender associated with their biological sex”
- 80-95% of pre-pubertal children with gender dysphoria will experience resolution by late adolescence if not exposed to social affirmation and medical intervention. (Emphasis-mine).
- The adolescent brain is cognitively immature and lacks the adult capacity needed for risk assessment prior to the early to mid-twenties.
Source: Gender Dysphoria in Children https://acpeds.org/position-statements/gender-dysphoria-in-children.
With all of this data available, how could our own Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) utilise public funds to sponsor this chatbot? Why is our own Government using public funds to spread more confusion among our youths instead of helping them with their struggles? Parents should be outraged at this action on the part of the Ministry of Health and Wellness! The suspension of the platform is not enough. The MOHW needs to terminate the platform for good and “wheel and come again” providing helpful and truthful information to our youths.
I am,
Shirley Richards
