There's a nice article on transgender teens from yesterday. It's the typical debate about how early to allow a child to start chemical aspects of transition. It appears more and more doctors are seeing the implications of transgender children dealing with their natural puberty. For some transgender children, going through it can be so painful that they end up choosing to end their lives.
I remember. It hurt going through puberty. I developed a mustache around 8th grade (13 years old). At that time period, I was about 5 feet (152cm) tall and weighed about 90 pounds (41kg). I wasn't very big, but that darn mustache was horrible. The psychological pain I went through was incredible. I tried to hide it, of course, but it was still visible when I shaved. When my uncle noticed it in the summer of 1983, I felt so ashamed. Weird, I know. Most boys would relish the onset of their manhood, but I was just the opposite. Too bad I was such a shy kid...perhaps things would have been different if I had the internet and a more courageous voice.
Now, doctors are reviewing how early and what types of hormones or hormone blockers to use. This, of course, relies on the child telling their parents that they are transgender, and the parents respecting their child's situation. Lots of "ifs" still.
2 comments:
This article reminds me of how I felt when I came out to my parents. That was a disaster.
I have mixed feelings about something like this as it's a really slippery slope. I almost feel as if it would be unethical to give a teen, under 16 or so, hormones, but I have no problem on the hormone blockers. Delaying puberty will not hurt and it gives you some extra time to make sure this is the right thing.
Childhood is often very difficult regardless of gender issues and sometimes we just need some time to come to grips with certain things. I don't know if I would have been ready for all of this in my teens, in fact I know I wouldn't have, but then again, that doesn't mean others wouldn't have been.
Every person is different I guess and I just would hate to make a mistake. In my situation, I wasn't ready till my 30's and now, 4 years later, I am wondering if I made a mistake. Transition for me has been a disaster of epic proportions and I'm more miserable now than ever before. I can't imagine having had to deal with this at 16.
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