cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/94477
cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/94475
The decision to halt the universal prescription of life-altering drugs is long overdue considering there was never any evidence that permanently manipulating a child’s body would remedy his or her mental struggles.
In recent years, pharmaceutical companies and bureaucracies began marketing a sterilizing chemical regime as a way to “pause” puberty for the growing number of kids who claim to struggle with gender dysphoria.
On the contrary, the increasing body of evidence shows that pumping kids full of neutering drugs causes irreversible harm, including sexual dysfunction and permanent infertility, a higher risk of cancer and cardiac events, impaired vocal cords, bone density issues, and transition regret.
If a child is under any psychological distress, permanent physical modifications shouldn’t be an option: the distress is psychological, not physical. Psychological distress should be addressed by a psychologist, maybe a psychiatrist, not a surgeon. Personally, I believe that care should include helping the child to be comfortable with themselves in their own body, as that will help not only in the case of the child’s current gender dysphoria, but also later on in adult life when reality really hits you.
https://www.childrenshospital.org/programs/center-gender-surgery-program/eligibility-surgery
It isn’t
Blocking hormones and then replacing hormones isn’t physical modification? Or chopping off body parts at 15 yro? In what world is that not physical modification?
They are just one hospital, and they still do chest surgeries on children 15 years or older.
Only after the following, reasonable requirements:
Informed consent is the very basis for modern medical decisions. This is a reasonable standard to avoid harm. And this isn’t an overnight thing that you can just get approval for, it takes years to get to this point.
They definitely are doing it responsibly; I just don’t agree with it. I’m generally against any form of plastic surgery or body modification. Teenagers can also be hormonal, stupid, heavily influenced by others, and rebellious. With current cultural norms, at least in the US, I wouldn’t trust any child to make an adequately informed decision, especially without heavy influence from politically active parents. I work with children, and know multiple prepubescent boys and girls who talk about being the opposite sex or about being some other form of LGBTQIA+ when they haven’t even developed sexual attraction yet. That’s another conversation though, lol.
There are children who spend years of their childhood socially transitioned in some way or another. If they’ve done so, (which is more or less what the medical requirements are), and still after years are ok with their choice to have socially transitioned, and couple that with medical professionals being responsible, I don’t see how there is an issue.
I also suspect the top surgery is more meant for people who are born inter sex, because I know if I was born inter sex, and identified as a man, I would not want to keep having man titties.
Gender and sexual attraction are two different things. You don’t need to have any sexual attraction to have a gender identity. For instance, an ex of mine was ace, but she was still a woman. And gender identity starts forming as early as age 2:
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/gradeschool/Pages/Gender-Identity-and-Gender-Confusion-In-Children.aspx
Here is a good starting resource that can help break down the differences in these definitions:
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/02/996319297/gender-identity-pronouns-expression-guide-lgbtq
What about this study? Read the abstract, its short. It’s a nih.gov website…
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35758886/
64 downvotes??? When there’s like no votes at all for the comments. I read thru your links too and they are not convincing. Just you here pushing this agenda. How in the world can children consent to having their puberty blocked??? THEY ARE CHILDREN. There is a reason why children are called children. Let them make that decision at 18. Is that really so unreasonable?
Read up on the author. https://www.cmf.org.uk/resources/publications/authors/?id=294
The guy is clearly biased and immediately disqualifies himself by writing books about why evolution isn’t real and why the brain must have a soul. He’s no scientist, he’s a religious fanatic pushing his own radical agenda. And if that’s not enough for you, the linked study has factual inaccuracies in the abstract, such as whether puberty blockers have a positive impact on dysphoria. The fact is that statement misleads by suggesting that puberty blockers are intended to alleviate gender dysphoria, when the reality is that they’re meant to prevent it from getting worse while other treatments (mostly social in nature, but also therapy and psychological evaluation) are meant to alleviate dysphoria and provide time for the patient to consider if those treatments are working or not, which informs the decision to continue on that treatment path.
No reasonable person is suggesting that children can make these decisions on their own. They’re making the decisions with the aid of family and a whole team of medical and mental health professionals over the course of years and years. Nobody wants a kid to transition if they’re not actually trans, because studies have shown that actually makes dysphoria worse.
The bottom line is that preventing a child from accessing that assistance is going to make them less able to make a healthy decision at the age of 18 than they otherwise would, with the aide of professionals, at the age of 15.
What is all this talk of there being more than two genders? Guess what… it’s pretty simple. There’s two physical genders Male and Female. One can have tendencies towards one side or the other but that doesn’t meant there is more than two. turn the page now. lol
Removed by mod
I believe this is a great example of a “straw man argument”. A false and easy to knock down claim is made and said to represent your opponent, then it’s knocked it down and said, “see how weak your position is?”.
Minors are almost never offered permanent physical modification anywhere in the world, and every effort is made to allow time for figuring things out. That’s the whole point of puberty blockers, they delay potentially horrifying changes to allow a few more years to for such a major life decision.
I’m a trans person myself and have been through all of this. I’ve had to go over incredible hurdles with nearly everyone trying to make any gender affirming care difficult, expensive, and paid for out-of-pocket. I had to bust my ass and become and engineer so that could afford thousands in psychologists and $35K for surgery on top of living expenses.
I didn’t become trans because a drag queen read me a book or trans lady made a bud light video, that’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard.
What was my false claim? That those identifying as trans are going through psychological stress because they’re uncomfortable with their bodies? If someone identifies as trans and it isn’t because they aren’t comfortable with the body they were born with and truly believe they belong to the opposite sex, I’m pretty sure that’s just cross-dressing. If the trans community truly wants acceptance and support, they need to distance themselves from those who are just “trans” for a kink or internet and social points.
Almost never isn’t never. It should be never.
That’s propaganda. Do you seriously believe stopping a normal biological process has no lasting effects? Even if it was true that a biological process could simply be paused, if a child is uncomfortable with their current body, would “pausing” it in that state not further make them hate themselves? Sounds like abuse to me.
I don’t think anyone ever has. Also, who’s straw-manning now?
Besides all that, my comment was that if you’re having psychological stress, seek psychological help, not surgical. I don’t see how that’s controversial.
Besides all that, my comment was that’s already the case, if you think otherwise stop getting your news from Fox.
Literally never watch or read Fox, lol. Stop strawmanning.
Maybe not Fox specifically, but you have the same incorrect talking points as all of right-wing echo chamber.
Also
There are people going to drag shows with guns to stop drag queens from reading books to kids. There are people giving death threats regarding a trans woman making a bud light video. It’s clear the implication is that the drag queens are trying to turn kids trans, recruit or spread the gay otherwise what’s the problem (for the right)? So that is not a straw man, it’s evidence based.
You were strawmanning me. You have no evidence that I support those actions or beliefs, which I don’t.