Posted on 02/20/2012 5:23:47 AM PST by reaganaut1
CHICAGO—A small but growing number of teens and even younger children who think they were born the wrong sex are getting support from parents and from doctors who give them sex-changing treatments, according to reports in the medical journal Pediatrics.
It's an issue that raises ethical questions, and some experts urge caution in treating children with puberty-blocking drugs and hormones.
An 8-year-old second-grader in Los Angeles is a typical patient. Born a girl, the child announced at 18 months, "I a boy" and has stuck with that belief. The family was shocked but now refers to the child as a boy and is watching for the first signs of puberty to begin treatment, his mother told The Associated Press.
Pediatricians need to know these kids exist and deserve treatment, said Dr. Norman Spack, author of one of three reports published Monday and director of one of the nation's first gender identity medical clinics, at Children's Hospital Boston.
"If you open the doors, these are the kids who come. They're out there. They're in your practices," Spack said in an interview.
Switching gender roles and occasionally pretending to be the opposite sex is common in young children. But these kids are different. They feel certain they were born with the wrong bodies.
Some are labeled with "gender identity disorder," a psychiatric diagnosis. But Spack is among doctors who think that's a misnomer. Emerging research suggests they may have brain differences more similar to the opposite sex.
Spack said by some estimates, 1 in 10,000 children have the condition.
Offering sex-changing treatment to kids younger than 18 raises ethical concerns, and their parents' motives need to be closely examined, said Dr. Margaret Moon, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' bioethics committee. She was not involved in any of the reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
What is so weird about this is that:
* those supporting chemicals in kids and surgery in adults to alter gender (a basic biological state) often oppose circumcision, a far less radical and often beneficial (preventing spread of disease)procedure
* they claim to want to minimize healthcare costs, but choose chemical alteration and surgery to modify gender over counseling to treat “I think my gender is wrong”
The family should have IMMEDIATELY corrected this girl, instead of indulging this disturbed thinking. What if this girl had decided she was a cat? Would her parents have given a litter box? BTW, what "treatment" will this girl be given when puberty starts?
I was just pointing out one of the things that is never discussed about this procedure and that is the suicide rates. I particularly wanted to point out the incredible suicide rates for teens because this article was about extreme surgery being performed on very young children.
Child abuse, pure and simple.
I was a stallion - a black stallion and my BFF was a white stallion. We girls did not know what a stallion was except we KNEW it was so good at jumping over bicycles the long way as we did in the first grade. ;)
To: Psycho_Bunny
Scratching you off the sane-sensible-freeper list.
Everyone should be aware of the fact that being a pervert is an act that our government has placed upon a pedestal and made it a government granted RIGHT and imposed laws to enforce it.
How many of us over the age of 60 would have ever believed that back in our earlier days that this would ever happen?
Today’s youth are taught in public indoctrination centers and on all media that this is perfectly normal.
The old 60’s mantra “if it feels good do it” has truly come to pass.
Don’t give them any ideas.
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