WH encourages gender reassignment surgery for minors

[Freija]

This is utterly horrifying, for real.

Except it is not real and really ridiculous to think it is. It is pure rightwing hyperbolic shit-stirring at best and spun in a direction to make you seem horrified. Think of the poor chillens – the government wants to cut their junk off. Oh my! This is media based manipulation at its finest or worst depending on your point of view.

All that is being shown or endorsed here is support for evidence based science. Some kids are trans and they are going to be trans regardless of government or religion or unsupportive families. There is no denying that fact as much as some would wish it so and even if some legislative bodies (cough-Republicans) seem bent on making the lives of these kids as miserable and intolerable as possible which is little more than promoting a made up culture war to pander to their base. It is absolutely disgusting to use the health and lives of children as political pawns.

This is more than just horrifying .. there simply are no words to describe a government like this.

Like what? A government that wants to look out for all kids not just the ones that are straight and not transgender (and probably white and Christian)?  From my perspective what is horrifying is that the overreaching government thinks it knows best when it comes to health decisions made between parents, their doctors and their children.

What I DO have a problem with is doctors handing out puberty blockers to small children like candy and/or at parent's urging without proper testing and therapy.

It is simply a conservative wet dream to think this is happening. Puberty suppression isn’t prescribed without a long-lasting and intense pattern of gender non-conformity or gender dysphoria nor without counseling and evaluation and they aren’t given until puberty has started and reached Tanner stage 2 or 3, usually around age 11 or 12. Most kids wanting puberty blockers are unable to attain them either due to lack of familial support, lack of insurance and lack of available providers.

Without insurance puberty blockers can cost between $12,000 to $18,000 per year for injections and $18,000 to $20,000 plus hospital costs for an implant that lasts about 18 months. It is reported that fewer than 20% of patients receiving puberty blockers have them covered under insurance.

Article Link- Two classes of trans kids are emerging – those who have access to puberty blockers, and those who don’t

I also have a BIG problem with any sort of sexual reassignment surgeries before the adult age of consent. You do YOU but no "chopping" of parts before you are an ADULT who has been through years of psychological testing, therapy and have actually lived full time as the desired gender without feeling weird about it.

I think it is important to make a distinction between sex reassignment surgery, which simply isn’t as widespread as people think it is and other gender affirming procedures. Except in very rare and unique cases, genital surgery is never performed on someone younger than 18. Presently, where there is underage “chopping” is breasts or “top surgery” which is being done on some 15/16 year old natal girls (trans boys) when their distress level is extreme and it should be noted that trans boys outnumber trans girls 4 to 1 these days, just the opposite of past numbers. I should also point out that the majority of FTMs don’t even have “bottom surgery”.

Article Link-A flawed agenda for trans youth

My Masters degree in in Developmental Neurobiology.

And chemical changes made during a time of growth on the human brain (neurotropic compounds, hormones) can have long-lasting, even permanent impacts.

And you’ve extensively studied this particular subject yourself and reviewed current findings on all of this? I’m guessing you completed your masters before GnRH agonists were even invented and are you implying negative effects? Maybe we should outlaw all puberty because those pesky hormones can have long lasting consequences?

Focusing on potential harms ignores the fact that wellbeing is broader than physical health alone. I began a late and mild natal puberty at 15½ and began taking estrogen a year and a half later at 17 and my brain seems to have developed okay, developed okay, devluped yokay. Shit!