Ugla Stefanía Krist­jönu­dóttir Jóns­dóttir, or Owl Fisher in English, says that the psychologist Jordan Peterson, who did an interview on the news program Ísland í dag on Sunday, is spr­ea­d­ing contradictory and dangerous information about trans youth issues that can cause harm to young people. Peterson’s comments about trans children and sur­geries done on them evoked strong reactions from the trans community in Iceland.

„To be clear: Jordan Peterson has no expert­ise in trans issues. He has also not worked with trans youth, nor in health care for trans youth or trans people in general,“ says Owl Fisher, gradu­ate from gender stu­dies and activist for trans people, in a post she wrote on her Facebook page.

„What he has to say about this issue is contrary to the met­hods of experts and people who work with children in the field. He is liter­ally spr­ea­d­ing contradictory and dangerous information that can harm young people if taken seriously, “ says Ugla.

Statements about healthcare workers mutilating children

Canadian psychologist and lecturer Jordan Peterson spoke at Háskóla­bíó for a full house on Saturday night. The morn­ing before his lecture, journalist Snorri Másson interviewed Peterson for the news program Ísland í dag on Channel 2. In the interview, Peterson ini­ti­ated a discussion on trans­gender issues. Among other things, he claimed that healthcare pro­fessionals mutilate children by per­form­ing sur­geries on them. He also said he wanted to ban sur­geries on trans­gender children under the age of 18 and make them legally able to sue healthcare workers who per­form such procedures.

After the interview with Peterson, Másson clarified that it is in fact very rare, globally, for the gender reas­sign­ment procedures he had refer­red to, to be done on indi­vi­du­als under the age of 18. According to Channel 2’s sources, no such operations have been per­for­med on a per­son under the age of 18 in Iceland. He continued by say­ing that hor­mone-suppress­ors were known to be sometimes used to supp­ort trans­gender teens, but that such treat­ments with hor­mo­nes are both well-known and tested over the years.

Encourages people to show understanding

Jordan Peterson has long been considered controversial for many of his views and statem­ents, for example when it comes to trans­gender issues.

„We as a society would never accept such a discourse if he were talking about homos­exu­ality, and ther­efore we should not accept it when it comes to trans people either,“ says Fisher in an interview with Vísir. She also claims that the suppression of gender identity has caused trans people great harm over the years.

In her post on Facebook, she encourages people to show trans children and young people und­er­stand­ing and compassion.

„If you really care about the wellbeing of young people, then you should avoid this type of non­sense and face young people with care, und­er­stand­ing and compassion. People will not stop being queer if you do not beli­eve or listen to them. However, they will stop tru­sting you and suppress who they are, which will in turn cause profound discomfort and problems, „says Fisher.

„Listen to your children and love them unconditionally. Do not let some prejudiced men convince you of anyt­hing else, no matter how many uni­versity degrees they may have. „

This article was orig­inally publ­is­hed in Icelandic.