Best-selling children’s author Jacqueline Wilson has voiced her concerns about young people undergoing gender reassignment treatment.
Dame Wilson said the thought of children taking drugs in an attempt to change sex makes her “very, very worried”.
She was speaking to The Telegraph about a new novel for young adults by John Boyne which has been branded ‘transphobic’.
‘Bandwagon’
Boyne – best known for holocaust novel ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ – was attacked by LGBT activists over his recent book ‘My Brother’s Name is Jessica’.
Campaigners accused him of ‘misgendering’ the character and claimed it “isn’t his story to write”.
When asked if she would consider writing about a trans character, Dame Wilson said: “I wouldn’t want people to think I’d jumped on the bandwagon just because it’s current and in the news.”
‘Devastating consequences’
She is conflicted about transgenderism, but said she is aware that “some children feel strongly for a while and then they change their minds.”
“Where I would be very, very worried is young children taking any kinds of drugs, hormones or whatever, the long term effects of which we don’t know.
“And the whole idea of having major surgery”, she said, “It’s really serious, difficult surgery which can have pretty devastating consequences”.