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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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This whole article smacks of blood-letting in the 15th Century or similar bizarre medical practices from humanity's dark history. A boy likes wearing dresses and playing with dolls when's he 7 or 8 years old, so the doctors and his parents inject him with estrogen and then cut off his penis when he turns 12 or 13??? Sounds pretty Medieval. This is probably not a real medical condition, problem, or syndrome.
"What we've got here is a failure to communicate." - Cool Hand Luke, 1967
Sorry but you couldn't be more mistaken. You base this response on the fact that you haven't experienced this. So by that standard, almost nothing is truth except your little world of make believe.
@Vegains -
So..... simply attacking me (or anyone else for that matter) = truth?
No, you are merely stating your opinion......same as me.
Truth = reality, not personal experience. Truth EXISTS, independent of an individual person. You have no personal claim to it on this matter or any other matter......just like everyone else.
Another "f" in reading comprehension. Nobody is giving young children estrogen therapy or cutting anything off. They are only DEFERRING the physical changes of puberty until the child can make an adult or nearly adult choice to proceed one way or the other.
Preserving the child's choice so that he or she isn't stuck with changes he or she doesn't want.
Please say you get it this time.
Blocking puberty for a period of time may be ok. It seems today children are maturing earlier than ever, and they really may not be mentally mature enough to handle it. I remember being extremely mortified when I began to mature physically at 11 after having been a pretty rough and tumble tomboy most of my childhood. It was a very difficult time, but in time I grew to except it and am a well-adjusted heterosexual woman. My biggest concern with intervention at this early age is that these children are not sexually mature and that hormones may begin playing a larger role than we realize. Yes, we are all different and I'm sure some are truly transgendered however, I think nature should take its course before heavy handed medical treatment is applied. At the same time, I understand why fully maturing as a male or female would be fundamentally hard for the truly transgendered....after all this rambling, it is a dilemma...we want to do what is right for our children, and this is an area that is fraught with danger either way you cut it.
Being female, I can only associate with that and I know girl crushes are quite common in the growing up process. It's hard to know whether you child is just going through a natural phase, or whether this might point to homosexual tendencies. In a lot of cases only time will tell.
Sports, playing with certain toys, sisters and/or brothers, etc. will not determine whether a child is homosexual, transgendered, or straight. Comments like that are just ridiculous.
Transgender and homosexual are completely unrelated. Gender identity and sexuality are very, very different. One is completely asexual and the other is based on sex.
A few years ago, NPR did a 2 part story on this subject. If I can find it I'll post a link (Or at least try)
Parents consider treatment to delay son's puberty (news>health>childrens health) NPR
HTTP://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90273278
This is child abuse and completely insane. Transgender children? Really?
We just invent this crap to subvert traditional society and pad the bank accounts of corrupt doctors, lawyers and so-called 'activists'. If nature made you a male, then you're a male. If nature made you a female, than you're a female. Period, end of story. It's biology, and not up for debate.
If you think you're a woman trapped in a mans body, then you need psychological therapy. If you want to cut your penis off, then you need to be locked up because you're a danger to yourself. Dragging CHILDREN into this situation, before they're even fully developed mentally or physically is criminal.
And this has nothing to do with being gay or lesbian. Gays and lesbians aren't a danger to themselves or others.
No, it is real.
I dislike homosexuality, but this is a real medical situation.
I have seen it.
When someone can't handle the reality, floundering in denial is the most reliable solution.
Willie, take your hairy troll butt and put it back under the bridge where it belongs.
These are the people who suffer an actual "born that way" situation.
Not the thousands of others who have trained their minds "that way".
I feel for these people, they must suffer a great deal.
I do not however, have the same compassion for the "rainbow league".
Perhaps we should start modifying babies in the womb, or genetically engineer them so they have no sex. Then, when they (or their parents) decide what sex they want to be, they can be surgically altered to to that sex. This is getting terribly frightening.
Another reading comprehension F, this is getting tiresome. Please read, people!
The idea of being transgendered BEGINS WITH THE CHILD, not the parent. This treatment enables the parent to enable the child to mature to a greater age before permanent decisions.
Parents can't make children be the gender they want, although clearly some force their children to go along with the "expected" gender or face shame and ridicule.
Btw, do you not know how cruel and harmful your comments would be to a transgendered child? Of course you do. Clearly you don't care.
My Barbie dolls had to drive my brother's toy trucks beause I couldn't afford a Barbie Corvette. Am I messed up because of that?
I know several MtoF transgendered ladies and they are NOT men in dresses, but women in a non-fitting body. All of you who claim such tolerance need to do some seolf-examination and see why you are okay with certain differences but draw the line at the idea that a girl's mind could have been placed in a boy's body. With the ones I know, it isn't a choice, it is a fact.
There are always people who lack empathy. Just because they personally have not suffered in some specific way, they can't imagine anyone else does.
Willie-
Irresponsible? Oh, this is rich! Irresponsible to whom? Society? Themselves? You? Please explain that one. The more your kind gives reason, the more you reveal just how uncomfortable you are with your own identity, that it can be shaken so easily. Lol!
For a child that has not reached puberty yet sex is about physical
plumbing. How a child could want to be a girl or a boy before that I think has
something to do with their upbringing.
I do not believe anyone should be having these kinds of discussions or making
these kinds of decisions until natural hormones have been allowed to make the
changes that come with puberty.
Many of you are flat out incorrect about assuming at what age what sort of hormonal feelings ought to begin to stir in children and pre-adolesents. Again all children are different and no single scenario can be regarded as gospel or even normal for a vast majority. Though it was not a major obsession for me or anything I recall before the age of 9 having dreams about a little neighbor girl that involved me getting an erection that woke me up. Other times I had fleeting thoughts and I did look at attractive women, though not quite with the eyes of an adult male, that gave me the sense I must be a boy (if I had bothered to ask myself at the time). My cousins who were barely 6 at the time got caught naked in bed with a neighbor girl during a big sleepover with other neighborhood kids. Sure, this was largely innocent stuff, but the feelings and attractions were certainly forming and recognizable to at least some children, in terms of peer acceptance as well.
Thinking about the logistics here - So if you are a man and want to be a woman the taxpayers will pay for the operation. So you have the operation. Then you change your mind and want to be a man again. Will the taxpayers pay to have it put back on? Do you get your old one back or somebody else's?
You can have 'it' frozen in case you change your mind. A word of caution however: the process of removal, re-freezing, and re-attachment can only be performed a limited number of times because you lose about 3/4 inch or so of tissue on every repetition.
Of course the taxpayer covers the entire cost, but only for the first 2 or 3 times that a patient changes
his, noher, no, their mind. After that, a 33% co-pay is applied. I can send you complete details if you are interested and can get you onto the operating table this afternoon if desired because there was a late cancellation.Taxpayers are not covering the surgeries. Where do you get your information? In fact most insurances are not covering any of the treatment at all. And even the ones that do, the money does not come from tax dollars.
The post was sarcasm, fiction, a spoof, intended only to highlight the ridiculous and baseless worry raised by the uninformed post of 'taxed' that taxpayers will pay for things they don't like.
Most 6 year old can not figure out if they want to have spaghetti or a peanut butter sandwich, they change their minds about what they want to be (Fireman, Police officer, Marine, Pilot) 4 times a day... yet some how they KNOW they are trapped in the wrong body... I do think this is a PARENT issue... although I will with hold final judgement until a later date
You made a perfect point. Kids change their minds all the time, transgender kids NEVER DO, they feel this way all of their lives. On another note, as a parent, we can't MAKE our kids do anything. We can guide them, hope for the best, but we can't MAKE them do anything. Do you really think anyone can MAKE a child be a different gender. Go ahead, tell your son he is now a girl, and see how that works for you. It's NOT possible.
To anyone that thinks this a choice - get a grip on reality. No one would choose to be hated, disgraced etc because of being TG. Same sh!t as being gay only worse because Americans can't deal with people that aren't 'normal' whatever that is. If it helps them be more comfortable, cool, the only reason I wouldn't date a TG is I like boy parts so f all the repugs who aren't really republicans. I'd gladly accept a TG as a friend cos I don't plan on having sex with my friends. Wave your bible all you want, people are people and may not conform to some ignorant book written centuries ago second-hand, I judge people based on their actions not their religious zeal.
Is their anybody that you left out in that over excited and insulting post
All this talk is a vivid example of how 'prehistoric' most peoples' minds are------ignorance abounds!!!
Yeah, but your statement can be viewed from or apply to either camp.
What a bunch of B.S. - How does a kid know they're the "wrong" gender? Boys play with dolls (girl dolls), too. That doesn't make them a girl!!! Adults are the ones screwing them up!! This whole bunch of baloney is being laid at society's doorstep and forced down our throats.
What a bunch of B.S. How do you know they don't know? Because most other kids don't? You know that for sure too, do you? Wow, amazing. And the scientific links to back up your claim can be found where? Your doll analogy is lame at best.
uh-oh du-oh, you used the tell-tale phrase "forced down our throats." Why do all Republicans seem to harbor such graphic sexual associations with things they claim they don't want? Very telling.
Hey, nobody said anything about assigning gender based on what a child plays with. They are talking about diagnosing gender identity and/or dysphoria (go on, look it up) based on some pretty stringent criteria. Same way you diagnose appendicitis, really.
Also, people need to stop equating sex with gender with orientation. Three different things. Anatomically, there is male, female, intersexed (various, but neither all one and/or the other) and neuter. Gender includes at least male, female, transgendered and third gendered, which can be expressed in a variety of ways. Orientation, heterosexual, homosexual, degrees of male/female bisexual, and orientations to genders and or sexes other than male and female.
These things were once more common in Western culture and are still commonly recognized and embraced in other cultures, which express them in a variety of ways like the Hijra of India and many pangendered people today of whatever anatomical "sex." There is ample evidence that there have been more than two sex categories, gender identities and orientations for most of human history and most likely within humans' ancestors history--comparative behavioral analysis with our closest relatives points to that.
So it is not male or female, period, not at all, not medically, anatomically, neurologically or culturally.
the rule look down the next time you use the bathroom , what you see is what you are live with it. the problem with this world is it is living against gods law, yes i know that drives you crazy but till you get your own universe you live with what you got. this is gods world and we will either live by his rules or pay the price. in other words sin is still sin.
Do you even know what you're talking about? If you look down and there's both, then what? Oh, that is very, very rare and so doesn't count in this assessment? Whenever you try to draw a hard line where no such line exists you'll wake up with egg on your face everytime.
Quite frankly, this issue just confuses me. Very much like the people who have this identity problem. My nephew( now niece) had surgery at age 21. It's all remains confusing and sad; for everyone involved. He was very much a boy all his life until after adolescence. I still mourn for Jeffrey.As an expert in early childhood development and psychology, I remain unconvinced that 6 year old children "know" that they are of the opposite sex and are trapped in the wrong body. My best friend and her family remembers fondly that she wanted to be a "duck" when she grew up. She's a good mother and teacher.( She loves to swim and lives now on the edge of a lake). In some of these cases, I think there might be just a little too much support and attention given to a random idea of a child.
It sounds more like you have the identity problem and are confused about who ought be confused about all this. An expert in early childhood development? And your credentials would be what to back up your claim? Children are all different, and don't fit the mold you insist upon. I've heard many others who claim such credentials who aren't so smart or enlightened as they'd like to claim either. "Random idea of a child"??? Is it that simple and cut and dried to you? If your argument is reduced to this mentality, you have no business being involved in early childhood development. The problem more than the solution.
From reading the posts and watching the video of the mom, child and doctor, this complex issue confuses most of us. This is not about sexuality, it is not about playing with dolls and trucks. It is about identity and about living in a body that somehow doesn't feel "right." The medical solution are hormone treatments to change the body and then really drastic surgery that can not be reversed. The child in the video is afraid of the blood test. The consequences of the hormone treatment makes her giggle; he will have "breasts." This child has no idea of the consequences and future ramifications about what he will be undergoing. My nephew, went through the process. At least, he was over 21 and had the capacity to consider the consequences. He also had the maturity to endure the consequences of that infection that set in and the other corrective surgeries.
Children have random ideas and great imaginations; all of which should be supported. This is a complex issue; families need to have a full range of professional support as they explore the child's identity confusion.
As far as you challenging my expertise, I have and enjoyed a long career in my field. I have worked with very children with complex special needs. My honesty about my confusion remains; it allows me to remain open to learn new ideas around this issue of transgendered children and the potential for methods to meet their needs.
Still missed it and show where your heads really at, despite your calm seeming demeanor and desire to sound professional. This matter is not about a mere, "random idea" on the part of the child by any account or suggestion presented. And some children are far more advanced in this area than you may be willing to admit or are trained to address. "...this complex issue confuses most of us." Really? Who exactly is this, "us" as to there being most of those involved??? A mechanical contract engineer of 30+ years, I wish I could count the number of degreed engineers I've worked with or under who sounded really on top of things in the engineering meetings, and didn't know their — from their — in the field when it came time for installations in the real world. So don't be offended if your so called expertise means little to me.
My thoughts remain the same. This topic is complex and confusing. So yes "confusion" is apparent in this issue. Even you brought in your 9 year old sexual experiences into this discussion. The child is talking to us about the confusion about gender; a boy's body and a girl's identity. The girl is not talking about her sexual feelings in the video.
I'll let you move on and attack other posts.But then again, no one but you gets the last word in.Right?
When did you know your gender? When were you sure you were female? Was it 21, 30?? when? I knew I was female as a young child, as does this child. If you don't support your niece you will lose her. The suicide rate for transgender people is 51%, this is high because they don't get supported. Does it matter to you what is in her pants?? It shouldn't, you should just want a happy healthy person. "Jeffery" is happy being a girl, let her be. Why are you mourning Jeffery anyway, SHE is still with you. She is the same person wearing different clothes and asking to be called she. Love her before she feels so hated she takes her life. Your point about the duck....and she grew out of it right?? Transgender people don't grow out of it, they instead become increasingly more depressed and confused because they don't want to hurt their families and they don't like what's happening to them. Just learn to love everyone, whatever their gender and you will be able to accept your niece for what she is.
where were all these transgendered kids 20 years ago or even 5 years ago? this is yet again the homosexual activists trying to create an issue that isnt there. isnt it time for another parade?
Just because these issues seem to have been little heard of long ago means nothing. Many medical conditions existed before it was fully understood or a pattern was recognized and acknowledged. Particularly something socially as sensitive as gender identity. History is full of extensive evidence to refute your sheltered position on this matter that gays just popped out of nowhere after the liberal, orgy infested hippie commune movements of the '60's and '70's.
Honey, I am NOT homosexual. If anything, I am asexual, by choice.
There you go, yet another orientation. Human beings are wonderful, diverse creatures!
Uncle Henry-#69- I posted a link to an NPR story (#55.1). It is dated 4 years ago (May 8,2008). From the story, this situation has been treated, at least in Europe, for some years before its writing.
Homosexuality and transgender are two separate things. The only reason transgender seems to be more prevailant is because they used to hide among us. Now they have realized through social medias and brave girls like this one that they now can feel they aren't alone.
This article makes me so sad!
These children must be SO confused whether being raised in Trans-Gender or Gay relationships!!!! (aka Rosie O'Donnell)
Peliso (Millionaire- 1%'er) in San Francisco is worried about "Happy Meal's toys"...but doesn't give a crap about children who are being raised in an abnomal enviroment!!!!
God made Roosters and Hens.......NOT Roosters & Roosters!
He created Adam & Eve.........NOT Adam & Adam!!!
How do Adam & Adam have children?
If there is a deliberate god that created the sexes, he or she created a whole bunch of them for us, not only two. And then another whole bunch of gender identities. And yet another whole bunch of sexual orientations.
Children are not confused by their parents' sexes, genders or orientations. They don't internalize them. Does a daughter raised by a single father become male? or lesbian? Of course not.
If that were the case, Opie Taylor would have grown up homosexual or repressively celibate, confused by living in an all-male household (excepting Aunt Bea) and the Sheriff's long-term abstinence. That's your "logical" conclusion.
Prior relationship. Adoption. Surrogacy. Intentional community. How about cloning? Parthogenesis? (guess that would be for Eve & Eve). Many ways.
The ignorance expressed by so many of the comments I have read is beyond words. To be transgendered is a complex interplay of biology,psychology,and culture.It is a difficult reality for many people. I know,for I am transgendered.Unfortunately,there were not treatment opportunities available to me when I was growing up.
I am transgendered. I always knew I was somehow different, but I didn't know what that difference was. I wanted the softer and nicer things that came with being a girl, but growing up in Rough and Tough Wyoming, a boy doesn't consider girl's clothing or mannerisms. So I over compensated and tried to be the roughest and toughest of the boys. That got me afoul of the law and I have paid for that mistake since my early twenties.
When I was 48, I traded my boy briefs for lace panties and the whole world changed for me. What had been a life of ups and downs and bad relationships smoothed out to an even keel and strong friendships. Whole attitudes changed and I am happy with who I am.
As for acceptance, my conservative republican friends accept who I am and comment on how I look, not how it is for a "man" to be in a dress. But the liberals and democrats focus on what I am, not who I am, to the point of not accepting me and in one case a death threat.
"Dawn in Wyoming"
The Democrats are more concerned about banning "Happy Meals".
They don't really care about others!!!!!!!!
Oops.......I forgot.....he didn't LIE and Flip....He "evolved"!
Obama was totally against same sex marriage UNTIL he was headed to Calif. (the NEXT Day), for huge Celeb. fundraisers and the Gay/ Lesbian/TransGender "Ricky Martin" Party in New York the next day!!!
Dawn, you appear to have landed in upside down political land. I'm sorry if that's your experience with one group of people vs another but I can assure you it is not common for things to land that way elsewhere.
A difficult issue, this one. My experience as a counselor and administrator of social programs has made me aware that people are born with a predisposition to same sex attraction as well as, though unrelated, predisposition to drug dependency. They are what they are through no choice of their own.
There are several factors involved which I would like to point out:
As already stated, gay people are higher at risk for suicide than the rest of the general population. This may be due to their rejection by society but I have found that they hate themselves for their deviation and so are self destructive by nature.
Secondly, they are not reproductive, which means they do not spread reproductively.
It seems to be a genetic error which, like albnoism just happens.
Many of our greatest minds and certainly the actors we so enjoy, have this predisposition.
I am glad to be both a father and grandfather with a sexy 60 year old wife.
This transition from "Gay" to "Transgender" seems a bit scary but these folk need to use their own words to tell us who they are.
Most of us do not despise ourselves. We are affected by the no-acceptance and misconceptions that society places on us. I am so much happier than I was masquerading as a boy. Suicide? Not for this girl. I am too busy enjoying life to end it.
gay and transgendered are two different things. A transgendered female (male body) could be lesbian (attracted to women) or straight (attracted to males) although if straight identified by others as homosexual prior to full sex reassignment.
You know it is so much more simple to accept people as they present themselves regardless of whether you have a category or word for it or not.
I wonder if it isn't truly a combination of things. Are there really more of these transgender children or is it something about our society and habits that are contributing? Is is something to do with our food chain? It has been noted that male fish are sensitive to all the estrogen we dump in our rivers and they show transitioning traits to female. Who is to say that something like this is not affecting kids? There is always that possibility, though we are told it isn't so.
Despite what is said about growth hormones and such given to cattle, I can't help but believe that some of it gets on the table. Looking at pictures of myself, my sister, my mother and grandmother when we were each of us 10 to 12, none of us looked as developed as some girls of the same age now.
They are still all God's children and should be able to live as they wish.
An individual can be born with the appearance of one sex while having the hormonal and brain chemistry of the opposite sex. Luckily, must parents don't go to the Internet trolls for advance on raising their children.
I went through counselling and psychiatry from the time I was ten until over 21. They always concentrated on the aberrant behavior and finally decided I was just one of thoose bad boys that will never be redeemed. Late in my forties I noticed that my behavior was more like overcompensating to be a boy, changed that attitude by changing my clothes, and have never looked back. Life is now wonderful.
This is a man-made problem! Children need role models, a boy needs a man and a girl needs a woman. Anything else is inferior and possibly damaging.
According to you, someone who knows nothing but black or white. Inferior why? Because you say so? Diversity is what makes life exciting and stimulating. Without it we'd all be boring clones. Probably much like you!
If you like diversity, how about a man and a woman as parents?
I think it's a natural problem with man-made solutions.
"If you like diversity, how about a man and a woman as parents?"
Isn't that cute? A Neo-Nut trying to employ the word diversity like they think they know what it means?
What is it about this issue that makes the bigots panic so much?
What is it about this issue that makes the gender blenders so ecstatic?
Did you not see the program, this child has an active mother and father.