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The article below describes an Australian court's decision that allows a 10-year-old boy to begin sex change therapy (the title of the article is misleading--the court did not authorize surgery on the 10-year-old; it allowed the boy to being drug therapy to stop the outset of puberty).
Although I guess the obviously "Debates" topic might be "How do you feel about the court's decision"? However, I pose a different question: how would you handle this as a parent? I cannot imagine the confusion and pain of someone so young not feeling "right" about something as fundamental as their gender matching their sex. I mean, that just seems like one of those fundamental, understood parts of one's identity. I am not sure how a child could even convey those feelings other than through socially non-normative behavior. I can't imagine what kind of stress this causes on the family and pain for everyone trying to deal with it. However, on the other hand, I am not sure that a ten-year-old's feelings should be the determining factor for altering healthy biological development.
Anyone?
__________________________________________________ _____________
Children's Health
Court Allows Sex-Change Surgery for 10-Year-Old Boy
Published April 18, 2011
| News Corp Australian Papers
A court has allowed a 10-year-old boy to become the youngest Australian to have sex-change therapy, the Herald Sun reported.
The boy, known as Jamie, has lived as a girl for two years, dressing in feminine clothes, using the girls' toilet at school and "presenting as a very attractive young girl with long, blonde hair," the court heard.
Jamie's parents, medical experts and psychiatrists feared early-onset puberty could lead to self-harm or suicide and supported an urgent application for the child to receive sex-change therapy.
Family Court Justice Linda Dessau ordered that Jamie be allowed to start drug therapy to stop male puberty and that the court reconvene when she turned 16 to consider approving the second stage of taking female hormones to feminize the body.
The court heard that Jamie saw herself as a "freak" and a "girl in a boy's body," and had first identified as a girl when she was a toddler.
Her mother said although doctors had told her Jamie would be the youngest patient to start such treatment, she was confident it was in her best interests.
The mother said the family had started treating Jamie as a female in 2008 after her non-identical twin brother accepted her condition and announced: "I have a sister."
The mother was concerned that without treatment, Jamie's voice would break and an Adam's apple and facial hair would grow.
"At the moment Jamie can live comfortably as a girl, is socially confident and suffers no teasing or social isolation."
A medical expert said when he first saw Jamie in February 2009, she "looked convincingly female in every way" except her genitalia.
Although I guess the obviously "Debates" topic might be "How do you feel about the court's decision"? However, I pose a different question: how would you handle this as a parent? I cannot imagine the confusion and pain of someone so young not feeling "right" about something as fundamental as their gender matching their sex. I mean, that just seems like one of those fundamental, understood parts of one's identity. I am not sure how a child could even convey those feelings other than through socially non-normative behavior. I can't imagine what kind of stress this causes on the family and pain for everyone trying to deal with it. However, on the other hand, I am not sure that a ten-year-old's feelings should be the determining factor for altering healthy biological development.
Anyone?
__________________________________________________ _____________
Children's Health
Court Allows Sex-Change Surgery for 10-Year-Old Boy
Published April 18, 2011
| News Corp Australian Papers
A court has allowed a 10-year-old boy to become the youngest Australian to have sex-change therapy, the Herald Sun reported.
The boy, known as Jamie, has lived as a girl for two years, dressing in feminine clothes, using the girls' toilet at school and "presenting as a very attractive young girl with long, blonde hair," the court heard.
Jamie's parents, medical experts and psychiatrists feared early-onset puberty could lead to self-harm or suicide and supported an urgent application for the child to receive sex-change therapy.
Family Court Justice Linda Dessau ordered that Jamie be allowed to start drug therapy to stop male puberty and that the court reconvene when she turned 16 to consider approving the second stage of taking female hormones to feminize the body.
The court heard that Jamie saw herself as a "freak" and a "girl in a boy's body," and had first identified as a girl when she was a toddler.
Her mother said although doctors had told her Jamie would be the youngest patient to start such treatment, she was confident it was in her best interests.
The mother said the family had started treating Jamie as a female in 2008 after her non-identical twin brother accepted her condition and announced: "I have a sister."
The mother was concerned that without treatment, Jamie's voice would break and an Adam's apple and facial hair would grow.
"At the moment Jamie can live comfortably as a girl, is socially confident and suffers no teasing or social isolation."
A medical expert said when he first saw Jamie in February 2009, she "looked convincingly female in every way" except her genitalia.
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