A disturbing story from Australia.
A sad little girl who has been given male hormone medication since the age of twelve (by court order) is about to have her breasts removed at age seventeen - again by court order.
Given the current cultural fascination with sexual ambiguity it seems very likely that those who have to deal with this child have focused on this aspect of her problems, quite most probably to her further detriment. And instead of helping her cope with the reality she finds herself in they have been vainly trying to modify that reality through drugs and now radical surgery.
And this immediately raises the question, will any of this do anything at all to enhance this child's quality of life?
To which there is no pat answer.
But recall that less than forty years ago the solution to this child's problems might well have been seen as the removal of the frontal lobes of her brain - a procedure that fills us with horror today.
And I'm picking that in the future that we will view this child's gender reassignment in much the same way.
A sad little girl who has been given male hormone medication since the age of twelve (by court order) is about to have her breasts removed at age seventeen - again by court order.
"Sex-change operations are just a form of mutilation."
If you follow the link and read the story it is immediately apparent that this child has major problems that go well beyond those of so called gender identity dysphoria.medical ethicist
Nick Tonti-Filippini
Given the current cultural fascination with sexual ambiguity it seems very likely that those who have to deal with this child have focused on this aspect of her problems, quite most probably to her further detriment. And instead of helping her cope with the reality she finds herself in they have been vainly trying to modify that reality through drugs and now radical surgery.
And this immediately raises the question, will any of this do anything at all to enhance this child's quality of life?
To which there is no pat answer.
But recall that less than forty years ago the solution to this child's problems might well have been seen as the removal of the frontal lobes of her brain - a procedure that fills us with horror today.
And I'm picking that in the future that we will view this child's gender reassignment in much the same way.
Yes, this particular case fills me with alarm. As I have said on my blog, most children with GID seem to come to terms with their sexuality at puberty. Delaying puberty with drugs just increases the problem and allowing a 17-year-old to have life-altering surgery is extremely dubious.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if there was ever a time when someone advocated a lobotomy for this "condition" Andrei, but it does make a colourful title!
We call that "shock therapy" in the business :-)
ReplyDeleteWhich was also advocated in years gone by....
Tragic cases, both of them. What staggers me is that the medical and judicial professions seem to acknowledge GID as a purely mental affliction caused by environmental factors (non-RMA related!), which surely suggests therapy can at least ameliorate the condition, if not cure it? Macdoctor above seems to hint at this...?
ReplyDeleteWorse, there is massive hypocrisy here which could have disastrous consequences. If a child can demand a sex change, why can't they demand the right to engage in sexual relations? So if this GID treatment was made legally consistent, it would lead to legalising paedophilia!!!
There is a parallel between the above and the recent law change allowing underage children to get abortions without parental consent. That also allowed children to make an 'adult' decision with massive consequences, when the adults involved should be taking responsibility for the care of the child, instead of endorsing child abuse (even if self-inflicted).
Utterly tragic all round...