British tabloid The Sun ran an article about a 12-year-old boy who is already in the process of becoming a girl. Much of the controversy surrounds the school's handling of the issue and fears for the student's safety but I was also struck by the young age.
The student left the school year as a boy and returned in the fall as a girl, with long hair and a new name. It's not shocking that the students were a little surprised. The school called an assembly and told the students about the situation and even accommodated the student with a separate bathroom. But they did forget to tell the parents.
One parent told The Sun, "They behaved appallingly by throwing this hand grenade into the room and then leaving the inevitable questions about it for unprepared parents. Maybe we could have explained sexual politics and encouraged our kids to be more sensitive if we'd had a chance to be involved."
I think that's reasonable. But what do you guys think of the larger issue, is 12 too young for a sex change operation?
– Andy
12 is way too young for a sex change. I know that some people can tell by 11 or 12 if they are gay or straight but changing the sex of a child that hasn’t even finished developing seems insane. It just doesn’t seem like it was thought through by the parents.
i think if he’s serious, it should be young. they can get him on female hormones now so he can actually build a female body in adolescence, and not have to deal with an obviously male body later while trying to live as a female.
12 too young? Hell no! I was voted “cub of the year” at Ramrod when I was six.
I knew i was gay at 9. too young, probably not. Traumatic, absolutely.
Part of me wants to say, “Yeah, that’s too young. What if he changes his mind as he matures sexually.” On the other hand, I’ve heard so many transgender people saying they felt like they were “wrong sex” their entire lives. I suppose it would probably be easier for her and the people around her to make the transition at an earlier age, both psychologically and physically.
While I applaud the school for trying to accommodate/protect her, it may not have been the best decision on their part to do nothing and hope no one notices. If this had happened in the U.S., you can bet there would have been lawsuits galore.
As a transman, I’d like to point out that although the child is transitioning at 12, this does NOT in any way imply that the surgery will be done at 12. What usually will happen will the child will be put on hormone blockers for a few years until they’re 15 or 16, at which time, they will be given the hormones appropriate to their transition, so they can begin the puberty appropriate to their mind’s gender, but allowed time to reconsider. Then, when they are 18, they can have SRS, which will change the genital configuration. And yes, I support a child being allowed to transition when they desire. I wish I had that opportunity instead of having to wait until adulthood and having already suffered the wrong puberty and body for years.
I’m not transgender and I have no experience of their struggles mentally or physically so I can’t say if 12’s to young or not. I don’t know the first thing about it so who am I or anyone else for that matter to say anything. If some think there’s an age where you’re too young, do the same thing there’s an age when you’re too old?
Way too young, absolutely. If it is reversible using hormone blockers, I can see someone a the age of consent deciding it. 12 is too young to know for sure. Feelings may develop by 12 but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
Wow, I wish I had something really profound to say here…I knew that I like boys by the time I was six…hell I’d been peepee peaking and looking at other guys butts since I could remember in swimming pool locker rooms…
I wish I could of just shouted ‘I like cock!’ then and not had to go through all the actions and reactions of trying to be straight during puberty and beyond…
But I seriously doubt if most 12 years olds are totally aware of their gender identity, or sexual orientation…for certain.
Case by case basis I guess…
Tough question…
i don’t think there is a “one size fits all” solution. but i bet in this case it is not too young. i am not transgender, but maybe if people took the time to talk to a few of those who are and listened to their experiences, they would know that most of them feel the way they feel their entire lives even outwardly expressing it by cross-dressing at as young of an age as 3. i think it is great this young person has parents who *listen.*
knowing you’re gay at whatever age has NOTHING to do with a transgendered tween..we don’t know what the physical aspects are of the child, if she’s more male than female or more female than male in the genitalia dept…if it’s purely from an identification perspective, than yeah, they’ll give him or her more time to know whether to have surgery. If it’s a physical thing and an identification then no, 12 is not too young.
Surgery won’t happen till age 18.
I’ll say that again.
SURGERY WON’T HAPPEN TILL AGE 18
What’s more, in the UK, she won’t even be able to access hormone therapy till then.
She will be condemned to have a mostly complete male puberty, facial hair, the works.
In more civilised countries, they administer puberty-delaying gonadotrophins, to allow her time to mature. Then, at an age where she reaches the age of consent, cross-gendered hormones, which, a year later, produce effects that are irreversible.
Then later than *that*, surgery.
But saying that won’t sell papers. Neither will it sufficiently demonise her or her parents. They won’t mention the psych exams she’s had since she was 7, nor the continuous monitoring she must undergo by a whole team peer-reviewing each other. That doesn’t fit the lede.
I wanted to be girl as a kid but now i keep thinking “thank fuck i didn’t know that was an option!” I don’t want a vagina, i like being able to whip it out and take a leak when i want, plus i’m sure very few guys would stay with a girl finding out she was born a man.
motoro, have you ever been to an adult video store? Unless they are gay centric, there are usually just as many she-male videos (for straight guys) as there are regular videos (for straight guys) I’d say its apparently a pretty big fetish.
Anyways, I say the only problem I see here is that if the parents are progressive enough to get their kid a sex change, maybe they should be progressive enough to get the kid out of public schools that offer no protection and to a school system that will, or at the very least keep them out of school and get them a tutor while they’re transistioning!