Hmm..parents can't agree on their childs gender

[Rennadrel]

I'll take "How to confuse your child" for $500, Alex.

[Spectral]

That is, simply put, wrong. No doctor is going to give a kid hormones or surgery before they are a legal adult and can decide by themselves. They are going to get hormone-blockers at best (and they should) to delay puberty until they can legally decide.

Spew your transphobic bullshit somewhere else. Or even better, dont spew it at all.

Puberty blockers aren't well studied at present and the rhetoric that they're perfectly safe isn't well-backed by science. In particular, cognitive effects aren't clear - this study showed puberty-blocker treated children had IQs 8 points lower than the control group, but the sample sizes were too small to draw any strong conclusion. We know beyond any doubt that bone mineralization and fertility are impaired by use of these drugs.

Basically, you'd better be pretty damned sure that a kid isn't going to revert to gender normalcy before you start screwing with their hormones and that sureness cannot plausibly be available for a 7 year-old.

[Cerilis]

Puberty blockers aren't well studied at present and the rhetoric that they're perfectly safe isn't well-backed by science. In particular, cognitive effects aren't clear - this study showed puberty-blocker treated children had IQs 8 points lower than the control group, but the sample sizes were too small to draw any strong conclusion. We know beyond any doubt that bone mineralization and fertility are impaired by use of these drugs.

Basically, you'd better be pretty damned sure that a kid isn't going to revert to gender normalcy before you start screwing with their hormones and that sureness cannot plausibly be available for a 7 year-old.

I can't imagine a greater torture for a transgender child than being forced to go through the puberty of the gender they are convinced they are not. That's How to get a teen to suicide 101 right here. It's downright evil, even if they eventually decide to not transition (and they can just stop the blockers anytime).

So, no. Blockers are still the way to go.

[Puzzlesocks]

A lot of kids become aware of their sexuality before they're 10, some earlier than others.
I don't see why it would be any different about their gender identity.

Not if the kid gets the help she needs and legally gets a change in papers.

When I was 7 I thought I could telepathically connect with animals and spirits. At 14 I attempted my first relationship with a girl. At 16 I started my first relationship with a guy. I had suspicions, but it took me until around 25 to understand I was actually Asexual. There were several times I felt like I was in the wrong body, hundreds if you count the number of times I wished I was a girl while I was in a long-term gay relationship. Except I didn't want to be a girl because I felt like one, but because I thought it would make life easier and less complicated. Heck, sometimes with the right drugs I still think I was born into the wrong body, maybe I'd connect to myself better if I was a Jaguar?

I'm considered a pretty smart fellow as far as IQ is concerned and I wasn't able to fully connect that I didn't feel sexual attraction towards anyone until 25, I just assumed I had some form of sociopathy for a long time. If I had even decided at 18 to go get turned into a girl I would have been making a serious mistake... but I do support any adult making that decision for themselves (though I recommend great caution and planning). I think people need to be allowed to have those freedoms. A child should not be making these decisions, and the parents should not be forcing these decisions on a child.

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I can't imagine a greater torture for a transgender child than being forced to go through the puberty of the gender they are convinced they are not. That's How to get a teen to suicide 101 right here. It's downright evil, even if they eventually decide to not transition (and they can just stop the blockers anytime).

So, no. Blockers are still the way to go.

I can imagine much greater tortures, considering I'm dating a MtF, and I myself am Asexual. If puberty is so evil, the rest of life is going to be absolute hell.

[Lynarii]

So here is the problem as I understand it.

A 7 year old kid absolutely can and probably DOES know what they are. It's like looking at your own hand, you see it, you know it. A trans man doesn't wonder if he's male any more than a cis man does, they both know in their heart of hearts who they are.

Where the problem comes in is that knowing and being able to express to others are VERY different things. We can't actually say what the child knows, we aren't in their head. We can only say what they express to us, and this is a topic that full grown educated adults struggle very much to accurately translate what they know into something that other people can understand. Most people are fortunate in that they never have to try, since our internal picture of who we are is close enough to the external that it's not a topic worth engaging on. But to expect a 7 year old to be capable of expressing their unique view of themselves to others is absurd. The reason to wait until the child is older to take action is NOT because who they are internally is going to change, but because hopefully they will have better tools to express what THEY actually think and not just say what other people tell them they're supposed to be saying. To me, that's the true concern and true challenge of a situation like this. How do we filter out the parents thoughts and influence and actually get a true idea of who the child thinks they are?

[Spectral]

I'll take "How to confuse your child" for $500, Alex.

Given how vicious divorces get, you can count on this being weaponized - "I get the house or I'll get your son chemically castrated".

[Citizen T]

Gender discussion is not allowed. closing now...