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Subscribe to RSSJosie Romero, born a boy, believed she was born in the wrong body. By age 6, she was living as a girl. Dateline NBC's Hoda Kotb reports.
By Tommy Nguyen
Dateline NBC
It's unclear how many children around the world have felt trapped in their own bodies the way 11-year-old Josie Romero has struggled with hers. Born a boy but living socially as a girl since age 6, Josie -- the subject of a Dateline report airing Sunday, July 8th, at 7pm/6c -- is just one of 10,000 children who have significant gender identity problems, according to one popular estimate. Other experts say it's closer to one in 1,000, but nevertheless their relatively small population has generated much controversy and media attention recently.
The handful of American doctors who specialize in the care of transgender children have seen a marked increase in patients over the past few years. Children's Hospital in Boston, home to the largest clinic in the country for kids with gender identity problems, regularly saw in the past an average of less than 5 new patients a year; since 2007, the average is over 20. It's a result of more information being available to both parents and children, especially online. They're now able to identify the problems, if there are any, more readily.
While the increase of children who may believe that they are transgender is newsworthy, the attention is pegged more to the medical issues associated with being transgender as opposed to what it is like simply being transgender. Indeed, the story of the transgender child has changed noticeably through the years. In the past, articles and television programs saw the very existence of transgender children as headlines. And if there were any in-depth reporting, it often focused on the social conflicts surrounding them - i.e., if this young boy is wearing a dress, how will he fit in with his family, on the playground, at church, or with the values of society?
But to more and more parents, doctors and mental health professionals these days, the problem of a boy wearing a dress -- and what other people think about that -- has become child's play by comparison. It's the internal conflicts raging in the heart, mind and body of transgender children and what their parents are willing to do medically to solve these problems that have become the more intriguing story of their already unique lives. The Dateline documentary report about 11-year-old Josie Romero and her mother, Venessia, which we began in the summer of 2010, is part of this new kind of reporting.
Nine-year-old Josie Romero and her mother, Venessia, pay their first visit to Dr. Johanna Olson, a pediatrician who specializes in transgender children at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
Puberty is a traumatic experience for children with more significant gender identity problems. For young boys living as girls, the turmoil is caused by such things as growth spurts, bodily and facial hair, the deepening of their voice; for girls living as boys, breast development and menstruation are the major factors. There are "fairly significant psychological ramifications," says Dr. Norman Spack, an endocrinologist at Children's Hospital in Boston. "There is tremendous anxiety, often depression, sleep disorder and, potentially, self-harm and even suicidal behavior." According to his research, over 20% percent of his patients engaged in bodily harm and nearly 10% attempted suicide. Findings from other sources are even more striking:
- Thirty-five percent of transgender adolescents have attempted suicide, 5.5 times higher than reports of all adolescents surveyed in the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (source: Children's Hospital Los Angeles).
- Forty-five percent of transgender young people ages 15-21 had serious thoughts of killing themselves; 25% actually attempted suicide (The American Association of Suicidology).
- The prevalence of attempted suicide among the 515 transgender people interviewed was 32% (Journal of Homosexuality, 2009).
Doctors sympathetic to the problems of transgender children are now trying to prevent these life-threatening moments from happening, made possible not so much by the breakthroughs in medicine, but by the opportune openings in it. Puberty-suppressing drugs, commonly called "blockers," have been around for decades for treating kids with dangerously early puberty; sex hormones (estrogen and testosterone) have also been available for other medical purposes. With the "off-label" use of blockers to treat transgender kids with severe anguish over their growing bodies, these drugs together now comprise the one-two punch of medical transitioning before the opportunity of sex reassignment surgery (18 is considered the youngest age before it can be performed). This medical process was almost unheard of for kids Josie's age just a decade ago, and it has dramatically changed the narrative of today's transgender children and their families.
Dr. Norman Spack, one of the first American doctors to treat transgender children with hormone "blockers," explains how these puberty-suppressing drugs 'buy time' for them.
It's a richly complex narrative because the world of the transgender child is more time-sensitive than most. If the child truly wants to live as the opposite sex in adulthood -- with the most desired physical results possible -- then parents have to make medical decisions for their child at a time when many people would question a kid's ability to understand what he or she is asking for. But when people feel that the child may be old enough to make that kind of decision -- age 14? 16? 18? -- it may already be too late, and that's especially true for boys who want to be adult women. The child now has all the conspicuous physical attributes of the sex they don't want to be, and many of these features, such as height and voice, are irreversible without very costly and invasive surgery. Experts say that the mental health and overall happiness of transgender adults have a lot to do with their ability to pass visually for their desired sex. Not being able to pass could result in a lifetime of depression, or worse.
But some medical experts feel that these transgender kids should go through some duration of puberty -- the very thing that's causing their anxiety -- in order for them to truly understand who they are. They believe that a lot happens to a child's mind and body during puberty that can't be predicted. If these new therapies are blocking the biological puberty of these transgender children, how will they ever really know for sure? And even though gender identity and sexual orientation (which usually gets articulated around adolescence) are completely different, there's a possibility that one might have the keys to unlock the secrets of the other. Some research shows that many boys who express cross-gender behavior before adolescence grow out of it and go on to live as gay men. Even Dr. Spack relies on the research that concludes that as many as 80% of gender-variant boys do not become transgender adults. It's the other 20% that eventually make it to his clinic.
Related: More transgender kids seeking help, getting treatment
That's why blockers, which are completely reversible once a child stops taking them, have made waves in this community. It allows these kids and their parents to be right or wrong about their decisions, though doctors say it's rare that their young transgender patients change their minds once they start the medical process. And yet detractors say the drug's availability may invite over-diagnosis -- leading questioning kids down a medical path that they don't really need to be on, since society is already more open to different gender definitions.
Josie Romero, an 11-year-old transgender child, reads a personal essay about her life today and what she sees in the future.
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In the grand scheme of things (to use a canine analogy) there are Setters and Pointers. If this is confusing, be a Beagle. Although I've yet to see "Beagle" on a restroom door of a high class drinking establishment
Solution : make all bathrooms unisex.
In the 70's I knew a woman years ago who was transgendered. She was born a male. She knew by age 5 that something was wrong with body, she wanted to dress as girl, act as girl, be like her mom and sisters, but she had this awful appendage hanging off her body that prevented this. As a man, she wasn't attracted to women, she wasn't homosexual either. She was so was miserable in her own body, she abstained from all physical relationships, because none were right. Prior to her transition in her 30's, she had a male appendage that was less than what most 5 year old boys have and it made her miserable, she so despised that appendage and what it represented to her, knowing that she was a woman trapped in a man's body. Once she completed her transition, she was a beautiful woman, spiritually and physically, who was finally at ease with herself. All transgendered people ask for is the ability to live peacefully with their bodies, just as the rest of us do.
Translation: Beagle
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! OMG! It's impossible. There can't be transgenders. You all are confused. Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. It just can't be, EVER!!! Nature made you either with a weenie or twat, they ain't no pseudo sorta inbetween choice to make in the matter... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..."
Trouble with this thinking is it's not based in facts. Just because there may be only a very small percentage of people born with physical attributes that defies your assumptions or narrow thinking, or because the Bible says such and such doesn't make it so. There are those, though few they are, born with varying developed expressions of both sex organs, you know. What of these folks, according to such cut and dried, black and white conclusions as from the above? Oh, they fit some exception when it suits you alone? They were born, and so should remain both sexes. These people don't even need to get married but might be able to have sex and impregnate themselves. How wonderful. Some of you need to wake up from the dark ages first heaven constructs that will soon enough pass away anyway.
StereoDC: That is the most arrogant post on this board. First of all, it made no sense. Secondly, it implies that you know everything about nature, gender and life even though you obviously have never researched, studied or educated yourself on English!! Let alone genetics, endocrinology or biology. You need to step away from your keyboard and learn something about "Facts". If you are going to say that's it's not based on facts....AT LEAST KNOW THAT FACTS! Gender identity comes from your brain and it is 100% and completely possible to be born with a girls brain and a penis, or vice versa (FACT!). I would enjoy getting into the semantics with you of how this happened from the time we are a fetus, but I am certain that you would only get confused.
In your last paragraph, you mentioned waking up from the dark ages. I am not certain what that idiotic comment was supposed to imply. But it seems like you are the one living in a different age. And it is a very dark, closed minded one indeed.
Here is another fact: YES IT"S POSSIBLE and yes, there are many (Millions actually) transgendered men and women worldwide that walk among us everyday and come in contact with idiots like yourself. They are law abiding, spiritual and much happier than you'll ever be. So, next time you feel like spewing complete trash out of your cake hole. Take a minute to realize that one of them might be standing next you.
I have no experience, nor qualifications as to what transgender is. I have had friends with gender questions, but I never understood it and honestly, never took the time. I believe in two genders, but some pacific islanders believe in three and raise 'a third gender' (boys raised as girls). Look at Samoa for example.
I have known people going through gender re-assignment, but again, never tried to delve into what makes the psyche determine the mind is in the wrong body. Therefore, I can only assume, whether correct or incorrect, that parents are trying to do right by their children and specialists are trying to help also. Unless you have personal experience/knowledge, don't judge these people. They are scrutinizing themselves enough without your undesired assistance. As to whether it's morally or religiously correct, this is not about religion, but rather about the human sense of self and identity and how to make/keep a person happy and which way to go when going through a critical time in the development of one's body and mind.
Can someone tell me how a child of 6 knows he wants to be a girl (or boy, depending on which gender he/she was born). At that age there are many things they cannot make up their mind(s) about.
I'm 54 and have had gender issues nearly as long as I can remember.
I cannot believe how ignorant some post are. If you truly believe in God then you know that free will is a part of the plan.
I have read so many times of adults who knew they were born in the wrong sex. You have to be who you are inside and fight for that right..
If again you truly believe in God, how can you judge?
If your God is so fair, why is their cancer, disease, car wrecks, schizophrenia....think!
Every single thing in life boils down to freewill. I believe in God, and the right for anyone to live their life the best they can, no matter what that decision, or lifestyle is, as long as no one is hurt in their journey.
You truly don't have unlimited free will... think about it. There are many choices and opportunities you will never make or even be able to if you wanted.
But on those matters where free will is available, why not use it in a beneficial way that causes harm to no one else. Why resist those choices? To what end?
God's ultimate gift to us perfectly defines freedom of choice.
Yes, some are limited by their circumstances- not every seed falls in the Garden- but ultimately, we choose salvation or immolation- and no greater freedom exists than the choice between "To be, or not to be"- forever.
Any contrary argument fails in the face of simple reality: the strictures of ethics, morality and religion are all imposed from within- as a function of the free will which delineates the difference between mortal and angel- we choose to be with God- or with his antithesis.
We can choose to be with the one who loves us, by adopting love as the central tenate of our lives- or we can choose to be with the one who hates us- by serving only ourselves.
Either way: freedom is the gift of the God we choose to worship.
But how much of many different human aspects could be interpreted as one only seeking to serve themselves by another's judgment call, that's not really, or is only marginally true? Self serving agenda's are strictly in the eye of the beholder.
You basically just said that if someone thinks you're self serving, their opinion may not be true- and therefore, it isn't.
Damn it...I'm going to have to get up on my soap box for a minute here.
If you have the adamant certainty required to impugn someone's negative opinions, they simply don't matter to you- you either know you're ethical, or you're crazy.
If you can't tell with any degree of certainty, they're probably right, not wrong.
At that juncture, you're far more likely to simply do what feels good because you can't tell what feels right.
All of us are born in this state, and then learn to be better- or die ignorant.
Accepting what you've done wrong in the past is the best path forwards- and that also prevents the destructive repetition of acts which leave the irremediable wreckage of lives in their wake.
In fact, the ability to learn from mistakes made is the dividing line between eventual grace and inevitable self destruction- and that learning also confers a pointed appreciation of what you've done to others, driving ethical and spiritual rectitude in future actions.
As you gain a more sophisticated understanding of the consequences of past actions, you also begin to understand the need for forgiveness- both of others, and of yourself.
Ignorance is no sin- but it does have a very high price.
There are shades of gray in every venue of good an evil imaginable, and few absolutes exist which have no exception.
The trick is defining these absolutes based on your life, and your relationship with spirituality and ethics.
Your absolutes often achieve definition when you discover what you cannot endure doing, ever again, for any reason- because the price was so high the first time.
What about the good old days when women wanted bigger boobs and men wanted bigger wangs
And I waited for a bigger wang so long I got frustrated and gave up. Now I want bigger boobs.
Wow - there SO many possible scenarios in that.
As expected the blindness of the "godly" is all over this topic. The willful belief that ignorance is bliss. The inability to see the complexities of human beings. I'm glad these kids have parents who want what's best for their children. That they're willing to let them be who they are and not pushing to make them to conform for the sake of what society might think. There's a lot more complexity to gender than meets the eye. If that makes some of you uncomfortable that's too bad. Get over it.
You touch on the core point here. The plain fact is anything outside the comfort zone for certain family protectionist types is intolerable and too scary for them to handle. They feel threatened that what they believe is or ought be normal is slipping away. That a disposition to be gay can somehow be instilled in or prevented from infecting their children, etc. To be conservative is to be impassioned over control of your environment with little room for an open mind, which is primarily associated with being liberal. Very bad! It's quite true that gender identification in fact fits a far greyer area than conservatives can tolerate. Intolerance across the board is their mantra. And it's reflected in various aspects of our society.
Transgender Time Traveller
What I really want to do is get a sex change and then go back in time and seduce my younger self and get married, and have kids. Takes masturbation to a whole nother level :)-
That ship has sailed, Peggy Sue
Hilarious idea- but there's an obvious problem there. Your younger self wouldn't want you. You may have just invented a new soap opera for the truly twisted: the Love Biangle.
You're right. I don't think I could handle me rejecting myself. That would be just too much. Back to the drawing board...
Let me start with my own orientation: I'm a straight male with ridiculously vanilla preferences- and I've been in the same relationship with the same woman for some 23 years now.
That being said, it amazes me that so many think gender confusion is simple madness which should never be acknowledged or indulged.
That attitude only reveals gaping holes in education and understanding, because gender confusion is an established fact, like it or not.
Several documented neurological issues may cause gender conflicts which can be resolved only by changing the body to conform to the gender of the mind within it.
Note that there are functionally homosexual people who are quite happy just as they are- but who simply prefer their own gender as partners for reasons I am literally not equipped to understand.
That hardly means I have to make them conform to my preferences.
You can swing your arms in any direction you please- as long they don't hit me.
I simply expect anyone who makes a proposition I'm not inclined to accept to take "no" as an answer- and politely.
It's also true that there are several genetic malfunctions which confuse gender- sometimes physically.
There was one group cited in the Bahamas who were born apparently female- but instead of ovaries, they actually had testicles- which descended in adolescence.
They then became functional and fertile males, in what must have been a very confusing development.
This was caused by a failure in utero to produce testosterone at a crucial stage of development.
There's also Kiinefelter Syndrome- where those apparently male may grow breasts in adolescence and suffer from other symptoms beyond the scope of my main point- but...gender confusion is clearly a well-documented reality.
Just as an aside, it's also one of the most convincing arguments against the bizarre Bronze Age doctrine of Intelligent Design, which may drive the objections of many.
There's nothing like the defense of dogma to inspire denial- it's the queen mother of all reasons to refuse the obvious.
Excellent post.
Living as a different gender at 6? Right, mommy wanted something different; so, she manipulated one.
Girls can play soldier and boys can play with dolls these days; there's no need to involve actual gender in that process.
Yes, there are crazy mommies (and daddies) out there- but you have to wonder...who would willingly have kids with someone like that?
Regardless- your argument that the parent is responsible for any gender confusion remains simple evidence of ignorance.
Cunical-Could your "mommy" have changed you? Could your mommy have really convinced you that you're not whatever it is you identify as now?
How strong is your hold on your own gender identity?
I told them I was Superman trapped in a man's body and they locked me up.
At least they didn't feed you kryptonite ice cream and tell you it was mint like my mom did.
Letting little kids make those kinds of decisions seems irresponsible. They haven't even hit puberty. Who is to say their minds won't change when hormones kick in?
That's a problem, all right; and what if you guess wrong on behalf of your kid?
I've seen girls with some very masculine attitudes and attributes change radically as they became women- but I've also seen some of those girls stay just as they were through the whole process- and quite a few of them married men who had no issue with an assertive partner.
I never had this problem with my kids- but I think it's safe to say that most people just end up dealing with it or committing suicide- because it's a very expensive proposition to overcome being born as one sex neurally, and another physically.
I make pretty good money- but the expenses involved are not covered by any insurance I've ever heard of, and that would effectively break a lot of people for life given the costs involved.
Anh! If ya' made a mistake too young, or just get tired of being a girl after awhile. Just go back and have an, 'Addadicktome' operation and you'll be good to go till you get bored with it again.
Read the article. Taking the drug means POSTPONING the decision, deferring it until the child IS older. It is not a permanent choice.
Not taking it, OTOH, is a permanent choice that will make it much more difficult to switch leagues later.
I was about 8-9 when I knew I liked boys more than girls. It's not a choice - anyone sane would make a different one - it's just how it is. For anyone denigrating TGs I think you're insane -- that's a way harder road to be stuck on. It's very much time people stop going after other people for something they didn't choose, cos we all want the same thing really, just to be happy. Discrimination is the most ignorant and deplorable action humans take and it's time to stop this sh!t.
I am not critical of TG. I just think people need to make sure the kids are mature enough to make that kind of decision.
idk, in my experience kids can be way mature than the 'adults'. No filters.
JohnC - the problem is if they wait it makes it much harder on these kids - by delaying puberty they buy the kids some time so everyone else can accept what they already know.
I know it would have been torture for me as a girl to become much hairier, taller, muscular, get a deep voice, develop an adam's apple, and lack breasts and hips - puberty was hard enough. Not to mention all the difficulty in reversing these characteristics.
Coming from the assumption that these children know themselves better than strangers do, transitioning once they are sure or at least delaying puberty makes the most sense.
Why would a parent or anyone let a child be so confused to the point the child was willing to mutilate him/her self. I'm sorry but I feel this story should be told in its entirety, meaning from when the child first started showing signs of discomfort in him and what was the situation that caused this discomfort? We really don't know if it was brought on by the parent or something that was seen on TV or other social media? Was it the long hair the parents let the child have the thing that confused him? Did someone tell him and his parents when he was younger he would have been a beautiful girl? Something happened and that should have been addressed before it came to this. Could this be brought on by the fact hair shampoo is more and more pushed as a female product? What I mean is there are thousands of types of hair shampoo made in almost every type of fragrance you can imagine. Why are boys using hair shampoo that smells like peaches or apples? Is this where we have gone wrong and where the first thoughts of confusion start? It amazes me how many fragrances we are bombarded with everyday of our lives. We have fragrances for feet, skin, vaginal, underarm, breath, hair and millions of perfumes female and male. After all that we put clothes on that have their scent. What have we done? It's no wonder people have become allergic to so many things in this world. For this reason I feel parents are to blame for a lot of confusion and should really take a step back and remember what gender they are raising.
Let's really get down to pulling out our back up brains and really think for once. Where or how did gays or lesbians come from? From Adam, who started the whole thing to lead sexual attraction down the WRONG road? Satan? Anh, not good enough. The former is an established fact, while the latter is grey speculation to back up the evidence. Should we think that being attracted to the opposite sex is a choice all make that could go either way (repeat as necessary)??? Being gay had to come from somewhere? Somebody had to warp a child's mind- and that was it from then on. Pesky confused, lust driven sexual deviants running amok from then on. OMG! Any serious though on human history reduces these outdated themes to meaningless.
Best satire yet, Confused. Thank you for the laugh. Imagine people who'd actually think that kind of stuff!
why does this child think she is a girl??? i don't understand and i'm not entirely convinced its because of a hormone imbalance. if it is, i would love to see the scientific papers on this one. i understand grown adults CHOOSING to be one way or the other but as a child - i'm leaning more towards some type of parenting or social environment issue.
http://www.apa.org/redirect.html?aspxerrorpath=/topics/transgender.aspx
Where you run off the track is where you think it all comes down to a choice that could go either way in the sense you describe it. You hold to the idea that environmental factors can so influence the child. It's just plain WRONG to you, and nothing can change that deeply ingrained feeling.
Thanks @culheath for providing the link to the APA website. While i do understand this as a psychological phenomenon, what would convince me more is a report from a medical journal or similar. Psychological facts and data are only as good as the scientific reasoning that goes into them. Medical based research based on physiological and anatomical observations is much more valid to me.
Barbara - it's standard practice to check hormone levels and general health before treating someone (child or adults) for gender dysphoria. There is one very uncommon health issue I've heard of that can create an artificial gender dysphoria but the vast majority of cases just how those people are. There are probably underlying causes just like an interaction between genes and your environment grows your nose a certain way but neither being transgendered or having the shape of nose that you have are medical problems.
lunch . a organ is like a meal . some days you eat the potatos . some days the potato chips . you never ever eat the napkin . when having sex, you wear your male parts if you're having sex with a female, or the female parts if you're having sex with a male . you can even wear your oven mittens if your cooking each other for a good time . however, the one thing you can never do is talk a toddler into spending eternity with no war tot fake fetish wrestle tickle cuff cage at no impromptu wonder super flora poet ballot ballet bowl for entire month or year . that said, i think the world has a surplus overage in excess of too many biscuits and beans and assorted other doodles and dancing pants . where's my compulsory machine gun? .. twitter.com/@dork97531chris
What? Have to be a little more coherent and less vague to make a point with that. You're so all over the place it sounds like you just took a bong hit and forgot where you left your brain.
When I was six I never even thought about what sex I would want to be as an adult. I guess I was just too busy and having too much fun being a kid. I knew I was a boy and I recognized girls but that wasn't something I gave much thought. This is what being allowed to have and enjoy a childhood will do for a kid.
Good for you! But not only are you only one person, the cookie cutter portrait of normal children you parrot doesn't even hold water anymore and is a dying 'All-American' role model image.
This is what being treated like the gender that you actually are allows your childhood to be - unfortunately transgendered children don't get this luxury.
"This is what being allowed to have and enjoy a childhood will do for a kid."
Right, so why take that away from another child who also knows who she or he is?
Here's one few of the gender specific folks like to delve into: Bisexuals. And now it's been determined there is a whole spectrum that could fit varying degrees of this definition. Some folks only have fleeting desires they experience when very drunk or on drugs, or on nothing at all. There's no clear cut line of gender demarcation whatsoever in reality. It's just folks clinging to stereotypes, and gender isn't black and white like assumed and how it's spelled out by our laws.
Come on a 6 year old has the brain clarity to know they are a different sex than what they were born? If they can decide that then why do we have child endangerment laws, and child protection laws against predators and laws that say you are too young to vote and drive and too young to decide what parent you want to live with. Parents and doctors too willing to start dosing children with these drugs. Where are the laws protecting the child from this.
Your simplistic presumptions are way off the charts. Until you have more up close experience and information to go on you can only parrot what your itching ears want to hear.
Yeah Steve like you would really know! Debbie's simplistic presumptions are accurate in regards to the information presented in the article. Bone heads need not further their own presumptions. Your Parrot has gone Cuckoo.
Steve,
You are the one with the simplistic presumptions. You are too simple to even acknowledge that a child at the age of six might not understand or know why or what is making them feel a certain way about their sexuality.
Even though your view of me as a normal "All American" kid is presumptuous, it is accurate and I thank you for that.
My original point still stands, though the two of you try to dance around it. "Until you have more up close experience and information to go on." you know absolutely nothing of any value here. Now go ahead and try to twist that into something else I didn't really say. There is no such thing as an All American normal kid by any stretch of the imagination. You live in deluded la- la- land like all other Neo-Natal-Nazi-Cons.
Steve,
I don't have any up close experience and information to respond to the Neo-Natal-Nazi-Cons reference. Please fill me in.
The whole thought that a parent would go along with this is ludacris. Since when do children of 9 years of age have the celerity to make such a decision, not to mention understand the future consequences. The child should be taken away from her parents. When this child asks for the car keys, what will be the response then?
talking about irresponsability!!!!!!!!!!!!
WTF! This is the first time I have ever heard of this kind of crack potted idiocy. You are telling me that our society has become so liberally vacant that we allow adults to turn their children into which ever gender that they want? Humans are the most susceptible naive idiots until they gain enough life experience to know better. What kind of Psychiatric, Pediatric, or Sociable Doctor would sign off on this? Your frack'n idiots with your heads up the wrong hole. You are destroying individuals, Inexperienced Children, with stupidity as if there were no basic fundamentals in Child Psychology. What Child Knows Who They Are At The Ages Between Birth And Twenty-Five! Stupidity....No Common Sense!
Your screen name is appropriate, flash. This is the 1st time you ever heard of this kind of "crack potted idiocy" and yet your theories of child development have already far outpaced the professionals who work in the field.
Medical science has benefited tremendously by your one post! Imagine how far advanced we'd be if you would contribute just another 2 or 3 minutes to solving the world's problems?
We, the medical community owe you a great debt of thanks and as a small token of our esteem we - the "Psychiatric, Pediatric, or Sociable Doctors" who signed off on this treatment for childhood gender disorder have voted to rename our professional association as the "Society of frack'n idiots with their heads up the wrong hole." Thank you again.
Signed, the Society frack'n idiots with their heads up the wrong hole.
p.s. Oops! Our mistake. A recount of our vote was just taken and it showed that the Society did NOT vote to change our name; the vote actually showed that YOU should change your name to the frack'n idiot with your head up the wrong hole. Sorry for the initial confusion.
Dear Frack, bpeerson, AllJoe, and woever,
I get it now. You were confused as young children and didn't know who or what you were because no one ever noticed or accepted your need to be something else. Or, worse, they pushed you to be what they thought you should be. You didn't understand your feelings. Later you stifled them to fit your beliefs and accepted the identity others told you have to have. Your own confusion explains why you would think another child would be as unclear you were. Fortunately, a child whose parent notices and lets the child go naturally in the direction the child needs to go doesn't instill that kind of confusion.
As for the rest, again, please read the article. You have completely misunderstood the point: The medication DEFERS permanent changes until the child is older and more mature. Not providing this would mean making permanent changes the child might not want as an adult.
Anything can happen during the birth process and being born transgender is just one of them. If a child can be born with both sets of sexual organs why is it so hard to believe that you can be born transgender. There is more to what defines you sexually than having a vagina or penis. Anything can go wrong and often does.
Sorry, It does not say anything about a child being born as a hermaphrodite! And if that were the case then a whole different set of rules would apply to the developmental progression of said such individual. Freaking idiots.
I agree entirely Flashff4. If we are talking about hermaphroditism than CLEARLY it is a different set of rules because we can base something on biology and what we know for certain is not right. Its easier for doctors to assess the situation and they can properly guide to the best course of action. As it stands now, based on the article, doctors are just taking the parent's word for it and performing surgery based on desire. That's not right
Barbara Ann, I suppose you are against breast enhancement surgery for six year olds too? Must they have to wait until eight or nine before you consent? That's not right.
benji2 wtf are you talking about???? you confused soul! lmao
flash is missing the point, but that's to be expected. The question is given hermaphodites occur, how does this fit the hard line argument that hinges entirely upon what set of sex organs one happens to be born with? And ultimately this same argument some are trying to use can be turned around in their face too. What if this needs to happen to prevent the child enduring a childhood filled with confusion and unhappiness? These professionals are trying the best they can to deal with a situation that needs to be addressed. We cannot just shelve all this because a child may or may not be fully aware of what they'll want years later in life. Thus your arguments in this sense are largely moot. And forcing a child to stay what they are until a designated age of consent doesn't work for a host of valid reasons.
Barbara Ann-
"...CLEARLY it is a different set of rules because we can base something on biology and what we know for certain is not right..."
I don't see how this changes anything. What is it for certain that you know beyond any doubt is NOT RIGHT again? Oh, that's right. The very fact you alone think it's just not right. LMFAO...
My fault, Barbara. I was just kidding but shouldn't have assumed that everybody would recognize my post as sarcasm. Enjoy your day.
Barbara Ann, again, you missed the class on reading comprehension skills. NO SURGERY is being done at these young ages.
They are deferring puberty until the child matures and can make an adult or nearly adult "choice." Sheesh.
You're screaming about permanent choices when the whole point is to AVOID a permanent choice at ages 8, 9, 10-13.
@Steve...I guess the bull@!$%# you are spewing is right??? You lack any type of intelligent line of reasoning and think that because you are commenting on the internet that you are of some superior class of people who has all the answers figured out? rotfl ,,,gtfoh...good night sweetie:)
The kids are alright. The adults are screwed up.
It is appalling to hear such a thing exists, let alone people acting as if it normal, and supposing that such a thing is legitimate. It is exceedingly sorrowful to behold society falling even further into perdition.
Another highly educated individual who knows beyond any doubt what the words, "normal" and, "legitimate" means better than the experts who know better than to be so vauge and presumptous without valid reason.