a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by Super_Cyan
Super_Cyan  ·  3430 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: At Age 3 — Transitioning From Jack To Jackie : NPR Ed : NPR

That's a really interesting way of looking at it. Like there's always kids out there that want to be fire trucks or attack helicopters or something that's just overzealous, and I thought that gender identity with this was the same thing.

I figured that it was just them going "I'm a boy!" and that's about it. I never knew that some had sustained behavior that made what they wanted something they actually believed - rather than a phase that they went through.

I think the puberty blockers are a pretty nice middle ground. One one hand, if they realize that they didn't want to transition, they wouldn't have to try to reverse everything. On the other, if it's what they actually want, they can just go ahead with it when they're allowed to consent. Something as life changing as transitioning shouldn't be something that people just wake up one morning and decide "Hey, I'm going to be a guy from now on." There's social ramifications. There's years of treatment. It's not like going "I'm going to be a cyclist." - it's a lot more serious. As an adult, you should be trusted to think through your actions, but I can understand why you wouldn't want a 15 year old to make such a large decision while they're that immature (yet, we plan their whole lives over the decisions they make at that time period). If you put the decision off, while keeping them, essentially, a blank slate, it can help then think about their decision without having to force them through as much misidentity (from themselves).