Hormone 'blockers' could be offered to under-16s seeking sex change

By Victoria Richards

Sunday, 20 September 2009

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Sex-change experts are considering reviews to current UK guidelines that could see treatment with "hormone blockers" extended to under-16s and transgender surgery to under-18s.

The moves, if approved, would be taken as a positive response to campaigning led by Kim Petras, currently the world's youngest transsexual, who at 16 succeeded in lobbying the German government to allow her to undergo a sex change.

The British Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes has said it is looking at its rules, after it was revealed that a 12-year-old British boy hopes to become the world's youngest gender reassignment patient.

Born "Tim", the German teen said her birth as a boy in Cologne in 1992 was an "accident of nature". She won the right to become a woman last November.

But she is aware of how hard the fight for gender reassignment is. "I was bullied, especially by people who I didn't know or from other schools. I had to fight to be myself for my entire life."

However successful, her story is likely to be scant consolation for the two British children who were "outed" last week by their schools as suffering from "gender dysphoria" – feeling trapped in the wrong body.

One, aged 12, from West Sussex, attempted to make the transition from primary to secondary school while going from schoolboy to schoolgirl, before being recognised by former classmates.

Another,only nine years old, was presented to peers as a "new girl", having returned to school after the holidays in girl's uniform and with a long ponytail.

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Comments

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This is the new standard.

compashun_any1 wrote:

Sunday, 20 September 2009 at 03:18 pm (UTC)

This standard was already adopted by WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) several years ago (2001) and more recently by the Endocrine Society in the USA:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/09/transsexual-kids-wait-for-then-delay-puberty-to-treat.html

The fact is Britain is way behind the curve in the way it treats transsexual people. Most in the know would describe the system as archaic and out of touch. So YES, change is needed.

I also dislike the way you portray Kim. You make it sound like she has made this up. Your writing style is It's quite disrespectful. Putting quotations around gender dysphoria is not necessary. Transsexualism is a well established medical condition. One that's been around since the dawn of time. I would argue it's this paper and society that has the gender dysphoria because you can't accept this natural diversity created by nature.

Stop being dismissive about transsexualism. Transsexual people exist and it's time you got over that.

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Role of Homophobia in Transsexualism

historybuff2 wrote:

Sunday, 20 September 2009 at 05:51 pm (UTC)

Missing from this ar and related articles is the role played by homophobia in it's broad context in transsexualism. Persoally I do not accept that gay people and transgender people are two entirely different groups of people, as many transgender activists claim. The widespread nature of homophobia, especially in religiously conservative societies, but also in western Europe and the USA, have offered young queer people the chimera of becoming heterosexual instead of homosexual if they undergo transgender treatment. It should also be noted that transgender people are offered other incentives to undergo gender reassignment, such as the right to legally marry, which is denied to gay people.

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Re: Role of Homophobia in Transsexualism

comradekaff wrote:

Monday, 21 September 2009 at 05:32 am (UTC)

Thanks for reminding us all about the LGBT angle on this, homophobia, transsexuality and toxic gender stereotyping share common ground, the same flower pot actually.

But I'm not sure if the LGBT lumping together helps anyone really, except to ad weight and numbers to the trannie cause which is no bad thing. However, I have experienced problems in lesbian circles when we have shared the same platform with trannies, on many occasions we have been asked by an ignorant public (this was in France) if we too want to be men. Many lesbians struggle all their lives with rigid gender role classification, and I know many who when little girls had presumed they were faulty men because they were emotionally and physically drawn to other women, or enjoyed so called masculine pursuits or hobbies.

Vast subject anyway, and we'd all be better off if society was not pathologically hung up about what is female or female, and didn't see the sexes as parallel railway lines.

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Re: Role of Homophobia in Transsexualism

compashun_any1 wrote:

Monday, 21 September 2009 at 12:17 pm (UTC)

Your argument is so full of holes. Ask any gender expert on the planet and they'll tell you gender identity and sexual orientation are completely separate things. Also you seem to think people transition so they won't be gay. Completely WRONG. Transsexual people can be straight, gay/lesbian, bi or asexual..... just like everyone else! The percentage of people in the general population that is gay is approximately 10%. The percentage of transsexual people who are LGB is much higher, more like 30%. So you argument is completely destroyed. Maybe the issue we're really dealing with is YOUR heterosexism? But don't my word for it, contact Dr Milton Diamond at the University of Hawaii. He's the foremost gender expert on the planet. Your thinking process shows an old, discredited bias. And we have privileges by being transsexual? Get real! Try living in my shoes. And in Britain married people who transition are FORCED to divorce in order to have their true gender officially recognized. Boy that sounds like a real bonus for being trans. I suggest you talk to Dr Diamond and some transsexual people because you really have no clue what you're talking about.

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Re; re; Homophobia and Transsexualism

historybuff2 wrote:

Monday, 21 September 2009 at 04:09 pm (UTC)

Excuse me; why has the transgender community and transgender medical industry refused to condemn the focible gender reassignment surgeries conducted on gay men in Iran?
Why do so-called transgender 'doctors' continue to exploit homophobia in the parents of queer youth by offering them (for a fee of course) the alternative of making their effeminate son into a hetersexual woman? That's not pandering to homophobia?
I know many gay men that have ben tempted by this idea and 'transitioned' and have been told by their 'doctors' to deny that they ever lived as a gay man.
One of the most frequent things said by transgender doctors, advocates and transgender sex workers in justifying their services is 'not everyone can be gay', as if any gay person has ever suggested that everyone should be gay.
Why is it that so many transgender individuals express disgust at homosexuality, if this was not a factor in their 'transition'?

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forgotten_alias wrote:

Thursday, 29 October 2009 at 10:11 am (UTC)

You cannot equate sexual orientation with gender identity, who you see yourself as being is not the same thing as who you would like to share a bed with. As has already been stated, trans people come in a variety of orientations, and are not just attempting to become straight. In fact, the statistics show that trans people are more likely to see themselves as not being straight, than being straight which completely invalidates your argument that gender dysphoric people are simply trying assume heterosexual roles out of dissatisfaction with being gay. In reference to the article itself, I feel as though it does not adequately explain what hormone blockers are and is potentially misleading. The use of blockers is not the same as people undergoing a sex change, blockers are designed to delay on the onset of puberty, the idea being to allow younger people more time to decide if they which to undergo full transition or not without the onset of irreversible changes to their bodies incurred during puberty. As such, blockers do not change a person's physical being, but simply delay change, allowing the patient to make a mature decision about their future. It is nonsensical to upgold the current system in which blockers only become available after many have already undergone puberty and irreversible damage has already taken place.

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