The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released its first book for young readers: You-ology: A Puberty Guide For EVERY Body. While the group has had plenty of books for parents, this is the first targeted toward children.

The AAP is a highly politicized organization that doesn’t believe children need and deserve a mother and a father. The group supports harmful drugs, opposite-sex hormones and surgeries for youth with sexual identity confusion.

As you might expect, You-ology’s advice is often ideological, rather than based in science. Rather than “doing no harm,” the book promotes damaging and confusing beliefs and practices.

A review from NPR said, “The guide to growing up, for pre-teens 9 to 13, is written for all kids – girls, boys, nonbinary youth. It’s inclusive of the gender spectrum and the trans experience.”

According to NPR,

One early reader endorsed the book. Stella, 12, a sixth-grader from Chicago, who identifies as nonbinary and uses them/them pronouns, read an early copy (their mom is an acquisitions editor at AAP). …

Stella thought the book was a good complement to what’s taught at school. They identified with some of the book’s characters (like Oliver, who had glasses like Stella’s and a shared interest in cosplay). Stella also found a diagram about gender identity and expression especially useful, along with a section on “puberty gear” that explains things like bras, binders, athletic cups, period underwear.

“Binders,” for the uninitiated, are what girls with sexual identity confusion wrap around their breasts to give a male appearance. This can lead to pain, rib fractures, headaches, digestive issues, shortness of breath, scarring and swelling, as one survey reported.

Chapter 3, “Body Part Smarts,” begins with some boys noticing that Oliver, a biological female, is in their locker room. Oliver’s older brother explains,

Oliver was assigned female at birth. That’s why you may have known him in the past as Olivia. But Oliver is a boy, so that means he’s transgender. He belongs in the boys’ locker room as much as any of us do. …

And, in general, not everyone who comes into the boys’ locker room will have the same types of body parts. And that’s normal.

Later in the book, Oliver goes with two other girls to look at bras and other “puberty gear.” That’s her with the chest binder, in the photo above, on the right.

In the same chapter, the authors explain,

So here’s the deal: when someone looks at a baby’s genitals and says, “It’s a girl,” or “It’s a boy,” that’s called their sex assigned at birth because, well it is assigned at birth.

This is utter gender ideology nonsense. Sex is recognized at birth and is determined by sex chromosomes, located in every cell of the body. The American Academy of Pediatrics is once again radically departing from science in favor or baseless ideology.

The chapter continues,

Most babies who are born with a penis grow up feeling like a boy on the inside, too. That’s called being cisgender (cis-means “same”). But there are some babies born with a penis who grow up feeling like a girl on the inside. That’s called being transgender (trans means “cross” or “opposite”). Similarly, if a baby born with a vulva grows up feeling like a girl, she is a cisgender girl. If that baby grows up knowing he is a boy, then he is a transgender boy. …

The authors can’t bring themselves to say, “A baby with a penis is a boy.” For them, what matters is how a child feels on the inside. Which begs the question: How does a boy know what it “feels like” to be a girl? Or a girl know what it “feels like” to be a boy?

Of course infants don’t know at birth if they are male and female. As they get older, they are meant to grow into a healthy sense of sexual identity as a boy or girl – congruent with their physical body.

This comes for a boy when he recognizes he is different from girls and mom; identifies with dad, boys and other men; and through healthy competition and support, grows into a strong male sexual identity.

His growth into this identity is helped when parents and other influencers acknowledge and affirm the goodness of his God-given masculinity.

Taking a slightly different route, a baby girl grows to see that she is like mom, other girls, and women; recognizes that she is different from dad and boys; and grows to embrace and receive a solid female sexual identity.

Her growth is helped when her parents, family members and friends acknowledge and affirm the goodness of her God-given feminine body and identity.

A healthy society recognizes that something is wrong when a girl rejects and hates her femininity or a boy rejects and hates his masculinity. Something has happened to derail their natural growth into adulthood and self-acceptance when children feel envy for and long to become the opposite sex.

Books like You-ology contribute to their healthy development being shoved off the tracks, and all members of the AAP should be embarrassed and chagrined that their professional organization is trading science for ideology.

Healthy families and cultures will work to help children who struggle with sexual identity confusion find healing and wholeness, not steer them toward damaging, disfiguring puberty blockers, opposite-sex hormones and surgeries.

According to Publishers Weekly, “You-ology, which was published on April 19, sold out of its first printing in one week, and “the book has multiple reprintings in the works.”

The book is endorsed by several transgender activists and groups, and it includes an acknowledgement to the AAP’s Section on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health and Wellness.

Related articles and resources:

The American College of Pediatricians and the Christian Medical and Dental Associations provide alternatives to the AAP.

Focus on the Family provides helpful resources for parents to educate their children about healthy sexuality, identity and relationships:

The Daily Citizen: