Experienced psychoanalyst warns about harmful effects of gender indoctrination in schools 

A veteran psychoanalyst is warning parents and educators about the danger of schools actively “indoctrinating” children with radical gender ideology.

Erica Komisar, a clinical social worker and psychoanalyst with 35 years of experience in the field, gave the stark warning in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal last week.

“It’s important that children learn to accept differences; but indoctrinating them or promoting an agenda is another matter,” she writes in the op-ed. “Parents, many of whom find such ideas objectionable or exotic, are often kept in the dark about what their children are being taught, or told they have no right to opt out if they are informed.

“Society needs to respect the role of parents and empower them to make decisions that are best for their families. For too long we have put the needs of adults over children when it comes to child care, education and safety—and now sexual ideology.” 

Through Komisar’s education and experience, she has come to believe children develop at different ages and many simply aren’t ready to deal with gender identity, even in adolescence or as teenagers, let alone in preschool. 

“Children develop at their own pace. Many aren’t psychologically or emotionally ready to discuss or think about their ‘identity’,” she continued. “I have seen many young adolescents overwhelmed by the need to know ‘who and what I am’ in a heated and socially pressured environment. I have even had teen patients tell me that ‘identifying as heteronormative’—yes, they’ve been trained to talk that way—is stressful in an environment that idealizes being ‘queer.’ 

“Preadolescent children are only beginning to discover who they are. All children (adults too) have both masculine and feminine parts of their personalities, which they should be free to explore in play. If a girl doesn’t like wearing dresses and a boy enjoys playing with dolls, it’s cruel and destructive to lead them to believe they’re actually members of the opposite sex.” 

Yet, this hasn’t stopped schools and districts across the nation from pushing the ideology on children as early as preschool, Komisar says. As evidence, she cites students in New Jersey who are being forced to learn the “differences” between sexual orientation and gender identity by 5th grade.  

She also calls out the recommendation of the National Education Association (NEA) for teachers to use “preferred pronouns” in preschool students and its questionable reading list for elementary school students. The reading list includes ideologically-driven books such as “Jacob’s New Dress” and “My Princess Boy.” 

And, since medical providers are all too willing to provide experimental therapies like “off-label puberty blockers and life-altering surgeries” to children diagnosed with gender dysphoria, the harm the indoctrination is causing isn’t just mental, but also physical, Komisar says. 

The solution, she says, is for schools to respect parents’ rights and allow them to be the ones having these “difficult” discussions with their children, at the appropriate time. 

“Even then, you only answer very succinctly and wait for more questions,” she told Fox News in an interview Thursday. “So, the way that they’re [the schools] teaching it, they’re really teaching it in an indoctrinating kind of way.” 

She went on to warn against transgender treatments for kids, which have permanent implications, due to the “fluid” and “volatile” nature of a child’s understanding of their identity in general. Simply put, children regularly change their mind about who and what they are as they mature. 

“The idea that their identity is fixed at such a young age, I mean, even when it comes to early adolescence, kids that are 11 years old that they’re allowing to take puberty blockers. I mean, those kids’ identity [are] still quite fluid and it could change. And so, you’re making permanent body changes that carry risks to children that are really just very young and whose personalities are really still quite unformed.” 

Ultimately, Komisar stressed the importance of addressing the issue of children who struggle with their identity with “compassion,” not confusing ideology and medical interventions.