George, I am sorry for the pain that your family has gone through. Your note conveys some (assuredly not close to all) of the gut-wrenching trauma of the process to date. It sounds like your family made hard decisions based on the best advice they could get.
However, new information has come to light, some of it quite recently. First…
George, I am sorry for the pain that your family has gone through. Your note conveys some (assuredly not close to all) of the gut-wrenching trauma of the process to date. It sounds like your family made hard decisions based on the best advice they could get.
However, new information has come to light, some of it quite recently. First, the studies showing that medical alterations yielding an apparently different sex reduce mental health issues, especially suicide, have been reviewed and found wanting. Most critically, they did not follow their subjects long enough. Immediately after surgery and recovery the subjects were enthusiastic. But five years later their mental issues, including suicide rates, were just as bad as before.
Further, the consequences of surgical and hormonal alterations are better known today. All of the individuals who have genital surgeries lose fertility. They also lose the ability to reach orgasm. The hormonal therapies cause high rates of heart and circulatory problems such as strokes for those wanting to appear female. For those wanting to appear male, the testosterone causes a slew of serious problems and the less-serious problem of pattern baldness for many.
In a court case in the UK the primary clinic for caring for individuals presenting with gender dysphoria, the Tavistock gender clinic, lost its charter to do so. A key part of the court findings was this: Essentially all boys and girls presenting with gender dysphoria who were given puberty blockers eventually moved on to take opposite-sex hormones and (for many of them) surgical alterations. However, if "watchful waiting" was used about 80% would become comfortable with their bodies by early adulthood.
The same drugs used as puberty blockers are used for chemical castrations.
We do indeed have powerful technologies. The question is, do we have enough wisdom and humility to use them well?
George, I am sorry for the pain that your family has gone through. Your note conveys some (assuredly not close to all) of the gut-wrenching trauma of the process to date. It sounds like your family made hard decisions based on the best advice they could get.
However, new information has come to light, some of it quite recently. First, the studies showing that medical alterations yielding an apparently different sex reduce mental health issues, especially suicide, have been reviewed and found wanting. Most critically, they did not follow their subjects long enough. Immediately after surgery and recovery the subjects were enthusiastic. But five years later their mental issues, including suicide rates, were just as bad as before.
Further, the consequences of surgical and hormonal alterations are better known today. All of the individuals who have genital surgeries lose fertility. They also lose the ability to reach orgasm. The hormonal therapies cause high rates of heart and circulatory problems such as strokes for those wanting to appear female. For those wanting to appear male, the testosterone causes a slew of serious problems and the less-serious problem of pattern baldness for many.
In a court case in the UK the primary clinic for caring for individuals presenting with gender dysphoria, the Tavistock gender clinic, lost its charter to do so. A key part of the court findings was this: Essentially all boys and girls presenting with gender dysphoria who were given puberty blockers eventually moved on to take opposite-sex hormones and (for many of them) surgical alterations. However, if "watchful waiting" was used about 80% would become comfortable with their bodies by early adulthood.
The same drugs used as puberty blockers are used for chemical castrations.
We do indeed have powerful technologies. The question is, do we have enough wisdom and humility to use them well?