Posted by Every time I see a story about “USA: 8-year-old child sex change“, “8-year-old boy has ‘sex change’, or Boy, 8, has ’sex change’, that is Unbelievable!, it sickens me. Not because of the children, but because of the media. These children are transgender, not transsexual. They are simply being allowed to self identify, without any surgery or hormones. Trans-children won’t need hormones blockers until the onset of puberty (which happens in a range from 10-18 years old), and generally don’t have sexual reassignment surgery until after they are 18.
But facts be damned, the media churns out these screaming headlines that imply that these kids will be having genital altering surgery. This is child exploitation at its worst.
I completely agree with you. I do think that a good may come from this though. Putting a child’s face to gender variance in a typically positive portrayal helps to lessen the demonization that we have faced & still encounter.
I think the work that TYFA does, does more good to promote positive portrayals than any of these rags. They simply use kids.
There’s no denying that. In my experience though. I have known a couple of people who had previously been negative or at best copasetic towards trans people tell me that they saw one of the media things (I think 20/20) & say that they understand better that this isn’t something that we have a choice about.
Doctors can explain options but shouldn’t provide opinions unless medically necessary!