what do you think?

[iMischa]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8237908/court-allows-10-year-old-boy-to-become-a-girl



A 10-year-old boy has been allowed to start hormone treatment to help him become a girl.

The Family Court heard the boy, known as Jamie, had thought of himself as a girl since he was a toddler, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Jamie insisted on wearing girls' clothes and he refused to use the boys' toilets at school.

The child's mother said he would become upset when she tried to encourage him to act like a boy.

Doctors diagnosed Jamie with gender identity disorder when he was seven.
He began dressing like a girl at home and his family started treating him like a girl in 2008.

The next year his parents moved him to a school that accepted him as a girl.
The court was told it was crucial Jamie begin hormone treatment before male puberty set in and he started developing facial hair and a deep voice.

Meanwhile, new laws in the UK will allow children from the age of 12 to have access to drugs to block the onset of puberty.

British doctors used to be prevented from offering children with gender identity issues any medical intervention.

The National Research Ethics Service has given approval for a specialist clinic in London to prescribe the drugs.



not really after a debate on whether or not people believe in Gender identity disorder, but whether or not it should be treated this young in this way?

i'm of two minds about it. are there cases where a child dx with this hits puberty or just older and snaps out of it?

[decambla]

I'm also undecided about what age hormone treatment should be available

I do however applaud the parents for their support of their child. If only all people in this position had their parents love and support.

[nerdgirl99]

I was thinking of posting the same story! I have no idea where I stand on this one and am very curious about other's thoughts. On the one hand 10 just seems so young but on the other I think it would be worse to be forced to turn into a person you don't identify with. Puberty is hard enough as it is. Such a confusing situation but I think it's excellent that the parents acknowledged the problem instead of hiding and denying.

[iMischa]

bump for the morning hubbers

[Lemonhead]

I think 10 is too young to really know who you are. Her brain hasnt matured enough to be able to make permanent decisions like this.

[earlgrey]

I guess the 'earlier the better' for puberty reasons, it would probably be easier to take hormones and grow breasts and stuff before you have an adams apple and a beard, kwim?

[earlgrey]

and before it gets taken the wrong way I did not mean giving toddlers hormones or something stupid, I just think having to go through puberty and 'become a man' when you really are not one would be very hard and possibly damaging.

[Bubmum]

Any surgery would be delayed for years, so allowing a child to live the gender they "feel" is not harmful imo (more liberating). It is no different than giving a teenaged girl the pill, that alters your body chemistry unaturally.

In what I know from personal experiences with trangendered individuals (or anyone I know with anything that falls beyond the accepted norm of heterosexual definition), people have known from very early on, as soon as they began discovering and identifying the differences that make us all unique.

It would just be so hard to be living in a body that you don't identify with. All of us have something about our body that we want to change. Imagine if that difference made you live a life that you weren't aligned with, influenced how you were meant to behave on every level.

As far as I am aware, the only problems have occured with parents choosing gender for their children. It's so sad that as a society we have to put every single person in a box, and expect certain idealised behaviours. Maybe this wouldn't be such an important decision so early on, if there wasn't such a radical, enforced, imaginary line between the sexes.

[One of THOSE mums!]

I think it has to be decided on a case by case basis, but definitely available before puberty.
In the example, the child clearly thinks it is meant to be a girl. I think battling this is hard enough. Without then having all the changes of puberty to rub salt into already deep emotional wounds.
It can't have been an easy decision for the parents.

[Myztiks#1Fan]

i dont know where i stand on the whole medication that they will now be taking but i am proud of the parents for standing by their child in this.

i would like to think i would do the same for coop too if he felt this way.

[Lemonhead]

i would like to think i would do the same for coop too if he felt this way.

Then you are a better woman than I :(
I think I could definitely handle a son of mine deciding he wanted to be a girl, but if I finally got a daughter, and she was gay or wanted to be a boy...yeah I dunno what I would feel TBH.

I also commend the parents. It cant be easy for them.

[iMischa]

i think it is different to a teen girl taking a pill tho, because no body knows she is taking the pill if she wants to stop taking the pill no one will remember that time she took the pill, and in turn no one will make her life a living hell if she does so happen to change her mind..

i have no idea im undecided. i know someone who ebraced their sons desire to be a girl. he had long hair in pony tails, wore a school dress instead of shorts and top etc have their names changed from peter to petra.. the whole works. the boy grew up and out of it, moved states because he couldnt get away from people remembering him dressing like a girl, he now doesnt speak to his mother, he blames her for allowing this and has said to her "i was just a kid, there's no way i could have made a life long decision back then" it breaks her heart because she thought she was being a supportive mother..

my son has always been feminine..moreso than other boys. last yr in kindy he told me he wanted to be a girl, wanted to grow his hair, play with littlest pet shop toys wear a school dress.

i bought the girls toys... and said to him "if u still feel this way when you start year 1, then we will grow your hair"

this year its a different story. but i was prepared to slowly embrace this if its what he really wanted. so i applaud these parents for not ignoring their child and your right puberty would be an emotional rollercoaster for that child if they waited...but what if...they do decide when puberty hits for whatever reason, they dont want to be a girl? i guess its a case of weighing up the emotional scars?

[iMischa]

i guess at 10yrs of age is the brain developed enough and fully capable of making life altering decisions?

[SpecialPatrolGroup]

At first I was against such a permanent change for a child so young but I saw on the news this morning that the physical effects of the hormones are reversible. I can't imagine that this decision was taken lightly by either her family or the courts and it is probably going to save the poor kid so much emotional trauma in the long run.

[Bubmum]

i think it is different to a teen girl taking a pill tho, because no body knows she is taking the pill if she wants to stop taking the pill no one will remember that time she took the pill, and in turn no one will make her life a living hell if she does so happen to change her mind..

i have no idea im undecided. i know someone who ebraced their sons desire to be a girl. he had long hair in pony tails, wore a school dress instead of shorts and top etc have their names changed from peter to petra.. the whole works. the boy grew up and out of it, moved states because he couldnt get away from people remembering him dressing like a girl, he now doesnt speak to his mother, he blames her for allowing this and has said to her "i was just a kid, there's no way i could have made a life long decision back then" it breaks her heart because she thought she was being a supportive mother..

my son has always been feminine..moreso than other boys. last yr in kindy he told me he wanted to be a girl, wanted to grow his hair, play with littlest pet shop toys wear a school dress.

i bought the girls toys... and said to him "if u still feel this way when you start year 1, then we will grow your hair"

this year its a different story. but i was prepared to slowly embrace this if its what he really wanted. so i applaud these parents for not ignoring their child and your right puberty would be an emotional rollercoaster for that child if they waited...but what if...they do decide when puberty hits for whatever reason, they dont want to be a girl? i guess its a case of weighing up the emotional scars?

Did this Mum get specialised counselling before making this decision? Probably not, as it wouldn't have been available "back in the day". Just a loving Mum trying to do the best for their child. Taking hormones at such a young age is a huge decision, and they are just not handed out..so I am more inclined to trust the decisions of a combined team (therapist, medical specialist, parents and the child) that they are making an informed decision.

The contraceptive pill greatly alters body chemistry..it has been proven to interfere with pheromone interactions, so females are making choices in partners that would not appeal to them if they weren't on this medication. That imo, is pretty life defining (but I totally get your point in context, as to the teasing, life-long issues etc).

And Bada..I didn't say every trans-gendered person knew straight away..I said in the case of the individuals that I know. And there's about 6, and they had very troubled lives, and if they had access to living their lives the way they had wanted to through their teen lives, they would have greatly appreciated that. So if I could time travel with them, and this was their situation, I would have been nothing but happy for them that they could have missed the teasing and taunting, the isolation of feeling different, the suicide attempts in the toilet blocks. Maybe they would have changed their lives later on..but it would have been nice for them to live the life that they were feeling at that time.

[iMischa]

for us, we dont want his hair long because of his sensory issues, we can barely wash his hair once a fortnight because of it.

but..he wasnt talking about just having long hair like other boys, he was trying to pick out sparkly clips and rainbow bobbled hair ties, and pointing out girls with braids and so on saying thats what he wanted

now if this yr he still wanted it, we would have done it. we never said 'no u cant because of this this and this' we just said that if he felt the same in yr one, he could. turns out, he doesnt feel the same, and when his hair gets a bit longish tells me 'mummy my hair is getting crazy'

i dont think that giving in straight away to every 'idea' they have is a good thing imo, he gets picked on SO much, if i had of grown and braided and put glitter hairspray in his hair last yr like he wanted, and this yr he is over it, the consequences from those actions, well i might as well pull him out and homeschool. the majority of the kids that would witness that, would goto the same highschool...and it would be brought up there as well.

[iMischa]

my son wears braceletes and necklaces, im not repressing him..if thats what has been implied...maybe im sensative on this topic because i try my best to embrace things, but i also hafto protect my son from dangerous bullies at school. i also feel that my son is mimicking his friends, whom are ALL girls. because no boys will play with him, they say he is weird (autism) but the girls comfort and protect him, why wouldnt he want to be like them and fit in with them?

[Little-Pink-Hen]

I'm in agreement for it. It would be much easier to transition at an early age. I don't believe it's a phase or they will grow out of it.
Of course I would worry as the parent were they sure, what happens if they get to 17 and decide the were wrong? But what if they don't and there is added years of emotional confusion about not being able to transition
Tough for the child and family to experience

[TripleTime]

i guess at 10yrs of age is the brain developed enough and fully capable of making life altering decisions?

Hormone therapy is reversible, once the hormones are stopped they leave the body & it's all over. Same as with any other medication.

[Guest]

Having a transgender family member and seeing his struggles, yes I do support this. Medically its better to start hormone treatment before puberty sets in. When they are adults then they consider a full op, some choose not to, some choose to do it. Gender identy isn't something I fully understand and only the person who goes through it can fully comprehend the 'feelings' but I don't think it's something you 'snap' out of, or is it about being gay or wanting to dress a certain way.
There were also studies done that showed transgender people have a certain chemical make up in the brain than a 'healthy' brain and being gay without being transgender doesn't have, so it is an actual medical condition to the part of the brain that we identify our gender with. It's not just feelings you grow out of or something that can be helped any other way but to live as the gender your brain identifies with.
I'd do this for my kids without hesitation, I'd know the difference between normal questioning and experimentation, and identifying with another gender completely.

[Sheer Bliss]

I think it's in the too hard basket, and would find it so difficult to have to help my child make that decision.

On one hand - a 10yo DOESN'T have the mental maturity to understand, but on the other hand, the damage that would most likely be done my having to continue to be something he is not would be heartbreaking. A guy I used to work with had the operation a few years ago, AFTER a failed marriage and kids who now won't speak to him. It is really, really sad, but on the otherhand good that she is now able to be the person she has always felt she was.

I agree with a PP that all our gender assumptions on how kids should behave based on their sex is a load of rubbish. My DS was told how girly he looked wearing nail polish and I wanted to go OFF at the other mum that said it to him (in SUCH a condescending voice) but it was at school, so I needed to be polite about it. My DS does jazz ballet and tap - he loves it, DD and he will probably be starting soccer next year too. There is to be NO gender stereo-typing in this house if I can help it.