Rest assured; if you weren’t already certain of it, the American Psychiatric Association has officially given the okay to watching Chaz Bono on Dancing with the Stars.
As soon as the casting announcement was released, criticism started on ABC’s choice due to Bono’s transformation from woman to man. In an opinions article, Dr. Keith Ablow even went so far as to say children shouldn’t be allowed to watch Bono, the child of Sonny and Cher, on the show because he may influence children while they are “establishing a sense of self,” leading the children to confusion and consideration of getting a sex change.
This claim that watching Bono would cause a spike in Gender Identity Disorder (GID), however, has officially been dubbed unfounded by the American Psychiatric Association.
The APA President, John M. Oldham, M.D., did acknowledge that GID is a psychiatric disorder, but also told TMZ that “There is no evidence that viewing a television game show with a transgender contestant would induce Gender Identity Disorder in young people.”
Perhaps the most shocking part of this conclusion is that we needed an official statement at all. Watching Bono dance will be exactly the same as watching any of his fellow contestants like Kristin Cavallari, David Arquette, Nancy Grace and Ron Artest.
So, just in case you needed it, there is official proof that everyone can watch Dancing with the Stars just like all prior seasons. Now we can move onto more important, relevant and less-trivial DWTS matters like who’s going to come out as front runner on the September 19 premiere.