Letter sent to Jo Palmer and Josh Willie on the 19.03.26
This letter was sent by A. Johnsen to the Tasmanian Minister for Education and the Shadow Minister for Education, raising concerns about the inclusion of I Am Jazz on a Department of Education reading list for students aged 11–12, and requesting a review of its suitability and age-appropriateness.
Dear Minister,
I write regarding the Tasmanian Department of Education’s decision to include the book, I Am Jazz, on the reading list for children aged 11 to 12, or any children, really.
This young boy underwent sex reassignment, or genital mutilation, before he had experienced his first sexual encounter. He was 17 when they removed his penis, and because he had been on puberty blockers since the age of 11, his penis did not develop enough so that extra tissue was required from his perineum and his inner thigh to ‘make a vagina’. Initially, this failed, and he was rushed back to hospital to have his ‘vagina’ (what an odd mix of words) rebuilt.
There is loads more to this story that is equally disturbing, like the failure of his parents and the medical establishment to protect him from harm. Why is it, that we in the West, rightfully protest female genital mutilation, on purported cultural grounds, yet we fully endorse sex reassignment, which is simply genital mutilation reframed?
How is I Am Jazz an appropriate read for children? It has no place on a reading list endorsed by a government department. The only books about sex that should be on any reading list are those that deal with biological sex, and not based on dangerous ideology.
Respectfully, I ask that it be removed, please.
Regards,
A. Johnsen