Transgendered at Eleven?

[WineKitty]

Okay, I am going to post this after a failed attempt at another forum which quickly degraded into a battle of GIFs.

I am a strong advocate of GLBT rights and have spoken up very loudly on S & C on this subject many, many times.

However today I saw this on FaceBook:

http://www.glaad.org/blog/media-cove...g-equal-future

Transgender young people are a population that is vastly underrepresented in the media, and it has been encouraging to see the media using these stories as opportunities to educate and raise awareness. Jazz, an eleven year old transgender girl, made her second appearance on 20/20 where she was interviewed by Barbara Walters. The true heart of the story lies in Jazz and her family working together to take on some of the challenges that transgender youth face - as well as a few of the challenges that all preteens face.

How can one make the decision that one is transgendered at ELEVEN? I am sure it is around this age that one would begin to realize their feelings (or even earlier) but should a kid of 11 years of age be taking hormones and such?


My son, who is gay, told me that he knew from way early on.


So I don't dispute that this child IS transgendered. However, I just am not sure that taking hormones THAT young is a good idea and that perhaps that decision making should be made further down the road?


Am I wrong to feel that 11 is too young to be making life-altering decisions such as puberty suppression?

[SmileyFace]

I saw that 20/20 1-2 wks ago.. it was pretty interesting. I never heard of a transgender that young to be taking hormones but I never really doubted there were any either. Overall, most people I've heard who are transgender didn't start hormone therapy (is that what it's called?) until they were at least 18. I know someone who's transgender and they didn't start hormone therapy until a year ago at age 20 or 21. I'm personally not against that girl Jazz taking hormones at age 11... but while watching her 20/20 special, I also thought in the back of my mind "Wow.. that's a bit young" but I didn't really... feel like I'm against how she was doing this and that her parents supported all this. Other than that, I guess I'm just thinking it from the perspective of simply an individual who makes their own decisions, etc. I'm sure if I was a parent, or just simply thinking from a parental point-of-view, I too would be a bit concerned/skeptical about someone as young as 10 or 11 taking hormones. I often feel that for many of us, no matter what sex or gender we are..no matter what our background is and where we came from etc etc etc etc, we're still unsure (or however you want to word this) of ourselves in some way as we start understanding the complexity of a person and what's going on with themselves and around them. So I suppose that's where the concern lies overall.

[UltraShy]

Am I wrong to feel that 11 is too young to be making life-altering decisions such as puberty suppression?

That's a really difficult question. On one hand we don't let 11-year-olds make most decisions because they're too young to understand the full ramifications of those decisions. But a problem comes up here because this would seem to be an issue that's time-sensitive. If you're going to switch genders, doesn't it help if one gets started on that ASAP instead of trying to undo all the changes that nature does during puberty?

It seems similar to an 11-year-old making a choice on abortion, where they should be allowed to make the choice simply because it's not a decision that can be put off till they're older and better prepared to make decisions. While other things such as getting a tramp stamp aren't time sensitive. A tramp stamp can wait till 18, at which time they're old enough to make a bad choice.

At 11 I seem to recall that girls still had cooties (still not sure what cooties are, but girls had them). So I'd certainly have to question the maturity of 11-year-olds, though I'm sure this can vary greatly on a case by case basis.

[Antidote]

I don't know much about this area, but if she genuinely wants to change genders, the earlier she starts hormone treatments the more convincing the end result will be. I've seen a lot of transgendered people express torment and depression over not looking ''convincing enough'', or wasting years living in the wrong body - their words. So this process has serious consequences.. whether it's not done, whether it's done but causes damage by delaying it. I imagine her parents are concerned about this. And this child (I've seen her on tv), seems to have an unwavering conviction she is supposed to be the opposite gender, and has shown behaviours / preferences that are typical of girls from early on. It needs to be researched though - how often transgendered people change genders and then regret it? And whether youth increases the risk of regretting it. My guess is that rate is low, but idk.

[compulsive]

From what I have heard, the transformation works far better if its done when you are younger. The issue would be how to differentiate between a legitimate transgender child (I am the opposite sex) from one who is not transgender but perhaps just wants to be the opposite gender at this moment. I think it would be bad in they were to change their mind. So it definitely has to be a clear cut. Some of them seem to just know early on.

[WintersTale]

I think some do and some don't. It's a hard question to ask.

I also watched that show, and I definitely think it is possible for a child as young as 11 to know that they were born in the wrong body. I knew, from the age of 11, that I was attracted to girls...nobody had to tell me that. I just knew. So sexuality and gender identification, IMO, can be determined as early as 10 or 11.

And people assume that children are dumb. They aren't. Kids know when something is wrong, and if they are intelligent kids, they realize that there needs to be a change.