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Growing Up Trans

From: Lady Sekhmet , 107 months, post #1

This is only peripherally relevant to this site but thought I'd toss it out there for everyone in light of recent discussions.

This coming Tuesday (6/30) on PBS, Frontline will be airing an episode about growing up transgendered. Frontline always produces exceptional documentaries and you can be sure they will have interesting insights to report.

The trailer and additional info can be found here:

Frontline: Growing Up Trans

From: guest (bob2006) , 107 months, post #2

im sorry but little kids with that kind of dysphoria are just broken.

From: Lady Sekhmet , 107 months, post #3

Actually, at that age they have the best chance of successfully transitioning, before hormones have fixed them into a body defined by their birth gender.

Whether it's ethical or not I'm not qualified to say. Though I'll be interested to see how it's discussed in the documentary.

From: guest (Common Sense) , 107 months, post #4

It's impossible to justify this type of treatment of children. You wouldn't let children give consent to have sex with them (rightly so of course). And you wouldn't let children of this age who act/pretend to be animals get surgery to make them look more like animals. The fact that parents would let their children at such a young age do this type of damage to their bodies is astounding. Most children at this age like to pretend, you have no way of knowing if a child is pretending or serious and you risk doing incredible damage to a childs psyche and body. There is no justification for this and parents who practice this are disgusting.

From: cj , 107 months, post #5

Thanks for that alert Lady S.

"It's impossible to justify this type of treatment of children."

What treatment? Letting them explore the social alignments... is a bad thing? I disagree.

I feel that with the proper professional and parental review and thorough examination of each individual's case - an informed decision can be reached. For the younger children, they have a good sense of who they are, and they learn as they grow.

The only time that medical intervention is necessary is right before/at the onset of puberty - to help prevent... or at least slow the development of physical characteristics that counter the individual's sense of self. By the time this is necessary, most children have stopped pretending when it comes to such serious matters.

I'm not sure what you are thinking that they are doing to these kids, but if you're thinking that they are going with full corrective surgery before the teenage years... well, I'm with you there - that wouldn't be right... unless there was some other reasoning to necessitate it. And even then... questionable.

Anyhow... it sounds like this could be an educational episode. Perhaps we should see what they're really trying to report before making any judgments about "this type of treatment".

From: guest (Markus) , 107 months, post #6

Keep drinking that kool-aid cj

From: cj , 107 months, post #7

"Keep drinking that kool-aid cj"

I haven't blindly followed anything in decades, I tend to question the heck out of everything.

I still wonder if I could have blocked my own puberty for a few years... what choices I would have made. Lucky are the ones who never had to face that question/decision. Perhaps those lucky ones are the Kool-Aid drinkers, living in a world where there are no questions of gender. ~shrug~

From: Lady Sekhmet , 107 months, post #8

>> You wouldn't let children give consent to have sex with them and you wouldn't let children of this age who act/pretend to be animals get surgery to make them look more like animals.

This is a textbook example of a "straw man" argument. No one advanced any such argument that such a thing should be allowed and no one ever would. It's ridiculous on its face and has nothing to do with the matter at hand. This is a discussion of a social construct - gender, something that affects us all from the start to the finish of our lives.

I believe most TS's will tell you they knew of the problem at a very early age. If you believe this to be true then there is some justification for correcting things prior to puberty. Once the person has passed through adolescence the task becomes far less likely to succeed. The argument could be made then to verify this issue at the earliest possible age - make sure time is allowed to confirm it, and then allow corrective action to be taken. The burden is on parents and professionals to verify this condition however because the results will affect the child literally for the rest of their lives.

I will concede it's a very tricky area... a child does not necessarily know their own mind or fully understand the long term implications of such a decision.

From: guest (tsn) , 107 months, post #9

I recommend Louis Theroux's episode on trans kids. I'll probably watch this if I can. The kids have to fully understand everything and ultimately it is the parents' choice. There's no doubt the kid will be a little upset if they missed out on transitioning younger because their parents wanted to be safe.

From: guest (RPDX2) , 107 months, post #10

Just one other question for those who want to have the child, who is too young really to form a logical reason for their transition, if that were to happen. Suppose, just suppose this was done wrong and these children later on have ...pardon this one.....'buyer's remorse'?

Not being snarky here....but it needs to be on the table, If the child wants to explore what is going on and does so sans chemicals/hormones, fine. That is the nature of children. It is when this is mixed and convoluted by the 'needs or agendas' of the parents.....or what they are being told by others is 'correct' where this gets rather ugly. And could be ugly for the child/adolescent later on....especially if the treatment results in some issues that were not foreseen. One would also have to wonder where the 'cheerleaders' will be then.

No judgment calls....just some things to think about.

From: Lady Sekhmet , 107 months, post #11

I think that's right on the mark. And I think it's the responsibility of both parents and professionals to do everything in their power to say "no" to anything along these lines. That being said, anyone why has been a parent knows that a child between 12 and 14 years old is quite capable of understanding complex issues, they only lack experience in the world to help them properly balance this sort of decision. You have to give a good deal of weight to their feelings on the matter.

From: guest (RPDX2) , 107 months, post #12

Lady Sekhmet....yes, concurred on same.

Contrary to what some in the community say...it is a fact that the overwhelming majority of teens, let alone pre-teens do not have the capacity to understand the overall nature of the issue. Let alone what can and will happen to those aspects of the mind and body that are STILL developing then.

If one is really mature enough to understand the benefits/consequences then fine, it should be their call. But ...the HRT and GRS should not be done or seen as like trying something on to fit in due to a temporary mindset. And those who want to say a child is ready to do so, that early in the game need to understand .....and I mean really understand in an unfiltered manner what can happen. Keep in mind, if there is a mistake...a serious one.....there is no overall do over....and if there is, then the piping, etc will have some major re-adjusting to do. As will the person and the mental hill in this would be just as steep.

From: guest (Mr Ed) , 107 months, post #13

You also have to consider the alternative to not treating a young trans-person early. They go through the puberty of the opposite gender to which they feel. This makes transitioning, and being able to pass as their desired gender, a lot harder in the future. They might suffer from depression and have suicidal feeling because of this. I think if you read about transgender people who transitioned as adults, they often knew at an early age they were the wrong gender.

It's also why puberty blockers are used, so that the decision is left till the last possible moment until the child/teenager is old enough to decide for themselves and know the consequences. Louis Theroux's documentary deals with these issues and also the specific question of, how young do you have to be to know you're the wrong gender. I recommend watching it, if you can.

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