You'd have to be living under a rock not to have seen the latest Gallup poll suggesting a huge rise in non-heterosexual sexual orientation among Gen Z (ages 18-23); it is now 15.9%. This is in contrast to 9% of Millenials, 4% of Gen X, 2% of Boomers, and 1.3% of the WW2 generation. The rise among Gen Z bumps up the overall % to 5.6%. The transgender percentage is less than 2% among Gen Z, though there's been a very large increase over GenX and before, when the % is quite small, 0.02%.
The disaggregated statistics are interesting, also. 72% of that 15.9% of GenZers say they are bisexual--and NB (non-binary) is apparently lumped under "bisexual." And the rise is fuelled primarily by Gen Z females, who overwhelmingly identify as NB.
After hearing the voices of the girls Abigail Schrier interviews for Irreversible Damage, it sure seems that there have been catalysts for this impressive change among our youngest women. They've been raised with porn in the background of their lives, and they've been surrounded by pornified men all their lives. They look at the women in these porn films, and how they are treated, and they say, "OMG. There is no way I am ever going to become a woman."
And this is happening at an age where these women have never been out on a date, never kissed anyone other than family members, and have never had sex. They are jumping ship well before they have even gotten on the ship, if that makes sense. Being NB allows them to beg off having a relationship with anyone, if that is what they want. If approached by a male, they can claim they are currently seeing a woman, even if they aren't. And if they find themselves attracted to a male, they can excuse that, because they're NB or pansexual or demisexual. In other words, it gives them safety. It gives them control over their sex lives. It also allows them to totally junk any feminine stereotypes they find uncomfortable or limiting. Being NB is the ultimate "get out of jail free" card for young females.
While I am very sorry that young females no longer want to identify as women, I completely get it. If I had been born (outside of the Church) in this day and age, I wouldn't be surprised if I would also have seen the strategic value of stating I was NB.
Now, I do have a sneaking suspicion that a large majority of these currently NB females are going to wind up in (hopefully) committed relationships with men, and having children with them. If a man made them feel safe, if a man did not want them to be like a porn star (and if he didn't use porn), if a man didn't insist on stereotypical behavior, if a man truly loved and respected them and treated them like an equal, I think these young women would feel differently about what they wanted in life. But that is not what they see around them. They see a Tinder culture around them, and they are rightly repelled by it.
And this is where the Church comes in. The world teaches young women that there are no young men like that out there. The world even teaches them that young men cannot be like that; that young men are naturally inclined to want to live in Tinder land and it is unrealistic to expect otherwise.
The Church says the world is wrong, and that young men can be wonderful human beings. And what I hope the Church will increasingly say is that for a young man to be a good man means that he treats women as equals. Our Church should be leading out in socializing its young men to believe in and to practice the real equality of men and women. If not, then even young women in our own community will turn away from the Great Plan of Happiness.
I am convinced the Church can do this, because I believe it is the true church of Christ. But the time has come to move forward more swiftly. I was pleased, for example, to see that in this month's Liahona, President Ballard wrote about the "priesthood authority" of women. ("Like faithful sisters in the past, you need to learn how to use the priesthood authority with which you have been endowed to obtain every eternal blessing that will be yours.") We had gotten to the stage where we felt comfortable saying that women had "priesthood power," but this statement by President Ballard is a step beyond that. Now, I know he may not have meant exactly what I heard, but by golly, he did say those words. We have to move farther, faster, and I welcome this new locution.
There is no Plan of Happiness without men and women working together in equal partnership, with equal power, and equal authority. ("Equal" does not mean "same.") We in the Church must more fully realize that vision of equality because the darkness is getting so thick that even the elect despair of seeing the way forward.