Pictured: Josie Romero, the eight-year-old 'sex change girl' who was born a boy

dailymail.co.uk ^ | Oct. 15, 2009 | Sara Nelson

[Free ThinkerNY]

Josie Romero loves the colour pink, braiding her hair and having her fingernails painted.

But life has not always been easy for this sweet and charming eight-year-old, who was born in the body of a boy.

The transgender youngster, then called Joseph, knew at the age of four that she was the wrong sex and even told her parents: 'I am really a girl.'

At five, she was refusing to have her hair cut and only wore colours like orange which were nearest to girly pink.

By the time she reached six, Josie had been diagnosed as transgender and was beginning her transition to becoming a female.

Mother Venessia, 42, said: 'When she was a toddler, she was always trying to turn her boy toys into girl toys.

'She used to take her army figures, wrap them up and rock them like a baby.

'As she grew older and started to talk, she always said: "I'm a girl".

'We used to correct her and say: "No you're a boy".

'But by the time she was four, she was insisting: "No I really am a girl".

'We started to realise she wasn't just playing. She would always correct anyone who called her a boy.

'She'd wrap one of my scarves around her waist to make a skirt. It was her favourite game.'

Venessia and her husband Joseph, 42, an airforce engineer, from Vail, Arizona, made the brave decision to tell their daughter's story to help other parents of transexual youngsters.

[grey_whiskers]

Probably a hormonal imbalance in utero.

Still, I hope the kid doesn't end up like this:

Cheers!

[autumnraine]

Actually, I’d be curious of a chromosome test for him. Tula, an English model, had a chromosome disorder that gave him/her an extra one and boy does she look better as a woman.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Post #31 might interest you. ;-)

[Bender2]

Re: My 5 year old has been insisting that he's a robot for years

When I was a kid... I once thought I was human but it was only a batch... of bad beer.

I occasionally like to feel my famine side... especially if it get me free drinks!

At the bar last night... that was YOU?

I keep all my chicks so satisfied... they never feel like roosters.

I occasionally feel like a woman... especially with a side order of red cabbage.

My kid brother kept saying he was really a girl... but he stopped after I shot his big toe off.

And imagine that Shatner told me... I was crazy for feeling that way!

Ever time my doc... gets out his glove, I wish... I was a girl!

Clyde once said he thought he was a girl... but after I dropped him in the male gorilla cage for a night, he stopped all that crap.

Me and my Deadskin Tribe... all wish we were squaws!

If I were a woman... what would I do with my steel balls?

One of my writers said they wanted to be a woman... but after a night of wild sex with me, he went back to being a just funny looking guy.

Looks like I picked the wrong day to give up sniffing glue... and wanting a sex change operation!

Ya know, in Spain, when a I feel like a woman... I just get an extra hooker.

John, George and Ringo all felt like we were really a girl band... but they stopped it when I suggest we call ourselves "Paula and the Pussycats!"

Any you blokes out there want to be woman... I can make that happen!

Ya know big... threads like this makes me feel sad for you humans.

It makes me wish... I were drunker--

And with a big batch... of donuts!

[big'ol_freeper]

Speaking of donuts, just where is the Dunkin Donuts?
I need some to go with my beer today.

[Bender2]

Re: Speaking of donuts, just where is the Dunkin Donuts? I need some to go with my beer today.

Gadzooks, big! Just ask your gal pal sitting... behind you!

[SamAdams76]

Why is it that feminists decry the fact that little girls are forced into gender roles like wearing dresses, being made to play with dolls, etc., but when it's a little boy getting feminized, they think it's a swell thing?

Anyway, no way that little boy can grow up to live a normal life. Girls can be tomboys but ultimately, they grow into women. Boys can be sissies but ultimately, they must contend with the fact they they grow into a man's body.

Nobody says a woman can't grow up to be a construction work or a boy can't grow up to be a nurse. So it's best to be who you are and learn to live with the body nature gave you.

Nobody at the age of eight years old is mature enough to decide one's sex and the parents shouldn't be doing it either. I know when I was eight years old, I wanted to become an astronaut. However there weren't adults around who indulged me by putting me on a spacecraft and sending me into space just because that's "what I wanted to do." I was simply told that once I grew up, I could do whatever I wanted but I couldn't do it right now.

Had the parents taken a harder line with their son over this nonsense, it's very likely he would have grown out of this phase and gone on to a more normal life. Hell, I remember playing with my sister when I was that age, dolls and all that crap. At that age, you simply aren't old enough to fully understand gender and sex. The parents should have raised this kid as the boy he was born as and let him make those kind of decisions for himself when he became of age.

[bannie]

"She'll" probably grow up to ba a famous model. They're often androgoneous.

[virginiaspook1]

You are so right! A lot of this is culturally driven and an interest in “pink things” doesn’t necessarily indicate a female gender identity. The parents would be much better off to let the kid explore that aspect of his personality - which he’ll probably grow out of eventually. At any rate, to make radical changes at this age would be deadly!

~*

[virginiaspook1]

It is possible that the child is intersexed. There are medical tests for that. This appears more like gender dysphoria though. As mentioned before, so many of these things are culturally driven. The child is way too young to make that kind of determination! If he is physically intersexed, that would be obvious.

~*

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

We had neighbors who had their 2nd son 3 months after my youngest son was born. By the time he was 2 it was clear something was not quite right. By the time it was six, it was quite clear and undeniable. He was a little girl in a little boy's body.

I would not have believed it had I not witnessed it on a daily basis. He would love to play dress-up. One day he was so angry (and/or frustrated) because his mother would not let him in her closet, he took the Christmas tree skirt from under the tree and used it as a dress.

There was a denial stage. As the realization crept in, they prayed it was just a phase and he would take an interest in the “little boy toys” that gathering dust. Of course they turned to their pediatrician who gave all of the right advice. Maybe he would take an interest in the things his older brother likes: baseball, rough & tumble games, dirt bikes, etc. But after all was said & done, the only thing male about him was the outside of his body.

I am not sure what happened because we moved away when he was 7. I often wonder what he is doing now at 18 years of age. Was it gender “confusion” or one of nature's burps?

But I did learn there are no absolutes in this life. One blanket statement does not fit all. Some people are born this way. Some behaviors can be learned and those same behaviors can be inherent.

[EggsAckley]

Sorry, this is NOT in the UK..........

“Venessia and her husband Joseph, 42, an airforce engineer, from Vail, Arizona.......”

[GeronL]

I missed that. There have been several instances of this in the UK recently I thought there was another one.

[a fool in paradise]

'She'd wrap one of my scarves around her waist to make a skirt. It was her favourite game.'

We are born naked. Clothes are dictated by fashion and culture. He may have wanted to crossdress but it isn't genetic.

[rmlew]

Good point. Personally, I think that this mangled boy was just born defective.

[shadowcat]

parent is gay

[POWERSBOOTHEFAN]

But how common would this be? It seems very rare,and those who believe they were born in the wrong body don’t always have anything biological to back up this belief.

[Flying Circus]

That is sadly along the lines of what I was thinking when I read this. Rather than deal with the self-image illness they facilitate it and feed it.

I have to wonder how much the mother played into this and encouraged the girlish behaviors? Could she desire for a daughter cause her to subconsciously mold the boy into the type of child she wanted? A child’s understanding of sex roles at this age is fuzzy and open to manipulation. If instead of genital mutilation they opted to adjust the confused sexual identity this boy would be likely be much happier and less conflicted when adolescence hits.

[Flying Circus]

I have a little boy who insists he is a kitty-cat. I figure we’ll tolerate it as long as he doesn’t start tomcating around at puberty.

[Flying Circus]

The man doesn't look like the baby-daddy to this boy.