An ABC cartoon that portrayed a 10-year-old boy looking forward to receiving puberty blockers after deciding to transition to a girl has drawn global outrage.
The national broadcaster shared the cartoon to its social media pages on Monday along with the caption: ‘Meet Sapphire A Transgender Child’.
The two minute long cartoon is narrated by Sapphire and her journey to transition to becoming a girl and how she would ‘soon’ start puberty blockers to ‘pause’ her body.
The ABC is under fire for producing a cartoon featuring ‘Sapphire’ who is described as ‘proud transgender girl’ at age 10
‘People think that I am not really a girl but I am a girl,’ Sapphire said in the video.
‘I am 10. When I was younger I just didn’t feel right and everything felt wrong.
‘I saw girls with hairbrushes and Barbies and having cool long hair and I am like, “Ooh, I want that hair. I’d like that dress”.
‘I knew I wanted to be a girl and that I was a girl but I didn’t really know what to say or how to say it or if it was true.
‘I remember this day I was playing with my big sister, we were playing a game and something felt wrong and I just said to her, “I am a girl”.’
The narration is accompanied by uplifting music and illustrations of Sapphire’s life including her big sister, other friends, and pets.
At the end of the short video the sun shines on her as she declares: ‘I am who I want to be’.
Sapphire said deciding she was a girl made her ‘feel kind of nervous that people wouldn’t accept me for who I was because they have always known me as a boy’.
‘My friends and my family were very accepting and I don’t know if they really knew what I was going through,’ she said.
‘I want them to see me as a proud transgendered girl but not always to think ‘you are trans’ but to say that ‘I am a girl, and that’s who I am and that’s who I will always be’.
‘I will be on puberty blockers soon and that’s just going to be like pausing really my body from growing into what I don’t want it to be.’
‘I am who I want to be, I can do what I want to do.
In the video Sapphine says they came to the realisation they were not a girl while playing with a big sister
As Sapphire declares she is a girl there is uplifting music and the sun shines glowingly upon her
‘If someone is trying to say ‘No you can’t’ I am not related to that person. I am not. They’re not me. They don’t know who I am and who I want to be.’
The description accompanying the Instagram video says: ‘Sapphire … is a proud transgender girl and wants people to accept her as she is’.
‘She’s receiving care at Queensland Children’s Hospital’s gender service and says she’ll start on puberty blockers soon to ‘pause’ her body from it ‘growing into’ what she doesn’t want it to be,’ the message reads.
The footage has drawn outrage from around the world with London-based reporter and Al Jazeera news producer Sonia Gallego slamming it.
‘Australia’s state broadcaster has made a cartoon promoting paediatric sex change,’ she wrote on Twitter.
‘It’s pseudoscience and goes against the growing consensus that the risks outweigh the benefits and that if left alone, 80-90 per cent of such children grow up to be same-sex attracted.’
A number of other Twitter users chimed in to agree with her sentiment.
‘That child has no real idea of how they feel, now adults are influencing them to make decisions that they don’t need to make at their age,’ one tweet read.
‘Much of this is also about needing an ‘instant ‘ cure, instant answer etc.’
An Al Jazeera producer and reporter has slammed the cartoon claiming it pushes pseudoscience
Al Jezzera’s Sonia Gallego, who is based in London, claimed there was a growing consensus against transitioning children
‘My child is 10. I’m doing my best to ensure he knows kids can’t be born in the wrong body,’ another tweeted.
‘This looks like it is attempting to bypass parents to speak to pre-pubertal, suggestable kids.’
A third added: ‘Once again targeting children. Leave them alone to flourish and grow without anyone’s interference. You know, like it once was. This is just abhorrent.’
An ABC spokesperson defended the video saying it met the national broadcaster’s guidelines.
‘All ABC programming must meet ABC Editorial Requirements and this content is no exception,’ they said.
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