Boys will be girls (and vice versa)

JWE ARE a nation addicted to stress and wild excitement. Every day there’s a political, sexual or social crisis announced in huge headlines, followed at once by furious public rows.

Right now, as Richard writes on the opposite page, the crise du jour is that the Church of England has decided to generate a bit of controversial publicity.

“We could do with a bit of topical coverage, Archbish. Let’s put something out about transgender and to make it grabbier, transgender children.”

And so we have our men of the cloth pontificating (ridiculously) on the right of little boys to wear tutus and tiaras and tiny girls to dress up as Woody in Toy Story. The Archbishop of Canterbury says gravely: “Children should be at liberty to explore the possibilities of who they might be without judgment or derision.”

Oh, for heaven’s sake. They are allowed to be themselves, every single day in most nurseries and primary reception classes. Calm down dears, it’s only a dressing-up box. I went to an all-girls school and we each had our turn at playing Joseph in the nativity play, shepherds and the three wise men. Some of us were even sheep (although we did draw the line at playing a donkey).

Parents may have had tears in their eyes as they smiled but there was no judgment involved, except to acknowledge that we children looked gorgeous. My brother went to an all-boys school which regularly put on plays and musicals, all the female parts played by boys. I remember my little bruv wearing a long dress, pinafore and fetching blonde plaits in a production of Iolanthe.

I laughed my head off but my parents judged him not with derision but the suggestion that he would be a worthy contender for the school drama awards.

Everything is a bubble. Everything passes. Including vain, self-important MPs, tawdry sex scandals (anyone remember the Profumo Affair?) and little kiddies who quite naturally love wearing fantasy outfits.

It’s part of childhood. And at least those children will grow up. I’m not sure we can say the same of our bishops and politicians.