Transgender Children

[Trifoilum]

Hormone therapy is a cancer risk, and surgery is risky.

it is a risk people are willing to take <3 just like having guns or falling in love.

(.....it may sounds frivolous, but really. It's a risk people are willing to take, and it's a risk people deem worth it)

There -ARE- people who don't take hormones and surgery because of the risks, but I don't think either of them are bad or worse than each other because of it.

 

[Tamagochi]

That's what I don't get. Other's opinions is not the same as one's identity... Except in cases where identity is externalised. There's some conditions which feature externalised identity, but these are usually treated with therapy, not with surgery.

In theory yes, one's identity can be totally separate from the body. In practise not so much. The feeling of cognitive dissonance is so strong, that it eventually takes over and drives people to signup for extensive surgery and all the risks involved. I think they would still go for it even if everyone around them wore AR glasses.

It's not that transgendered people are so excited about wearing frilly dresses and getting the kick out of what society considers girly (or vice versa). Rather it's a battle against the feeling of wrongness that emanates from core identity. And you can't rationally explain that.

 

[Elis]

This might be quite controversial, but understand that I don't think it's wrong to be transgender and I think anyone should be able to do what they want to do and be accepted as they are.

My stance on this is that I don't think that anyone who is to be considered under age should be allowed to undergo these permanent changes. I understand that I sound dismissive, since puberty is something you go through in your teenage years, but I think that the teenage years can be quite a volatile time and that anyone in this position should wait until they at least become of age.

I think my general concern coincides with what @acd wrote from years ago, that what color we like doesn't define what gender we belong to. This is not to say that being transgender is wrong. I just think that by condemning anything that deviate from the norm, we also push ourselves into corners.

 

[the]

How much soy do I need to eat to take advantage of its feminizing abilities? Can soy be a substitute for hormone therapy?

 

[88chaz88]

My stance on this is that I don't think that anyone who is to be considered under age should be allowed to undergo these permanent changes.

As a general rule, nothing permanent is performed on minors in transition. The most severe thing that gets prescribed are hormone blockers, and even then only after professional evaluation. Hormone blockers work by delaying the puberty process so essentially the child has more time to come to their own decision as an adult as to whether they'd like to continue their transition, and most do. Those that don't can come off the blockers and will undergo the puberty process as they would have done whenever they were prescribed them.

The closest you come to an irreversible change is surgery, and trans children certainly don't go under the knife.

 

[Faye]

I was pretty upset when I saw this thread pop back up. This thread hurt me five years ago when I was repressed and questioning.

What @88chaz88 said.

They do not allow transgender children to make any permanent changes. What they typically do is prescribe a specific kind of blocker that delays puberty, usually the GnRH agonist Lupron. The child undergoes evaluation as they enter into their teens, and then (age 14+) they are either put on hormone replacement therapy and given testosterone/estrogen or are taken off the puberty blocker. If it is determined that they are not transgender and are taken off the blocker, they go through puberty as their birth-assigned sex the way that anyone else would. If they are given hormone replacement therapy, they go through puberty of the gender they are transitioning to. Puberty blockers are indicated for people up to age 19 by WPATH; although, I do not see why any 18 or 19 year old would bother with them when they could just take hormones and regular blockers. The process is pretty much a way to safeguard minors against making dumb decisions. Also, most (if not all) states require an endocrinologist to oversee the process whereas people who are over 18 can see general practitioners for hormones.

Very few transgender people are able to go this route by the way. Lurpon is extremely expensive, and most insurance plans refuse to cover it. Forcing transgender people to go through the wrong puberty is like forcing cisgender people to take testosterone or estrogen against their will. Imagine if you had been forced to take cross-sex hormones starting at age 12. How would you feel?

 

[Faye]

The result, if you have a transgender child that is not able to transition, is that they go through the wrong puberty and are likely to end up a depressed and dysfunctional adult like me. I became extremely suicidally depressed at age 12, and that depression persisted with no relief whatsoever until I started taking steps to transition at age 24. Of course, not all transgender people become depressed, but the 40% suicide attempt rate is real. Most are depressed because they are stuck living as the wrong gender. If they are able to transition in their teens, that number and other mental health outcomes change to being very close to the general population.

I wish every day that I had been able to go on puberty blockers at age 12 and begin hormones when I was 14 like others get to. My teens and twenties have been completely lost to it, and I am still depressed because of it.

 

[Faye]

I think that forcing them to be something they don't want like that will probably ruin their lives. The person might commit suicide because of it.

The link wont work, btw.

Good job repressed me from five years ago.

 

[88chaz88]

God I wish I knew as much about this five years ago as I do now.