It's far more controversial than the "Dutch oven protocol."

My initial feeling is that I am not okay with this. But I am interested to hear what everyone has to say.

This kind of stuff just blows me away. It must be so hard on both the parents and children to try and make these decisions. I can't imagine being ready to make decisions like this as young as 10, seeing as how at 10, my friends and I still liked to pretend that we were horses sometimes.

While I am glad that medical professionals are learning to take this more seriously and help transgendered people, I'm always nervous about anything that screws with a growing person's hormones. :( But at least they're paying attention to this issue now.

Thanks for getting a trans perspective Jess, that's cool.

if you have the conviction and courage to live the life you should, i say more power to you. gender identity disorder is a real, diagnosable disease, and i'm sure these doctors are being diligent and not trying to exploit these kids.

i've also got to hand it to these parents for being supportive enough of their children and their future happiness to get them treatment for their disorder.

Fucking with hormones can be really dangerous, especially when somebody is still growing.

Maybe I'm cynical, but I think the doctors who are all for this are partially, if not mostly, in it more from a research "let's see what happens" kind of way rather than any sort or compassion.

I'm still conflicted. Children may very well be too young to make this decision, but I'm not transgendered so I don't know what it's like.

What I'd REALLY like, more than anything else, was a society in which your born gender didn't determine your role in life, or what "shirts you'll wear".

Oy, can you not illustrate this story with a pic of an ugly middle aged person.

Here's some public domain images of trans kids from a Dutch magazine.
[ai.eecs.umich.edu]

Wouldn't it be kind of tough to figure out what gender you want to be if you're not developing any sort of sexual feelings?

The article made me a little doubtful, but after reading Jeniffer's email it makes a little more sense. If it's just a taste of the things to come then it makes sense. It doesn't seem like these are the same medications that people take when they ARE making the change, so it would get them into the frame of mind that they have to take all these medicines every day and that they're body will be affected etc etc.

I'm going to assume this was invented by doctors in Holland, hence the name "Dutch Protocol." If so, it makes me that much more glad to be half-Dutch. As a society, those people are always on the cutting edge of acceptance. Love 'em.

The only analogy is that I knew I was gay at about 3 or 4 years old. Gender identity is probably similar. I'm all for teenagers coming out of the closet. if this helps trans teens live happy, well-adjusted, loving lives, I say go for it.

And bravo to the parents who address this head-on, instead of hiding in denial.

@MaeHemm: That's exactly how this looks to me. While I'm all for people being able to live as they feel is right for them (broad generalization) I worry about doctors being so willing to experiment on children who are already in a delicate position.

Delay puberty? I'm 23 and I just got all my pubes. Maybe my parents wanted to make sure I was really a 'mo.

To add to my post, hormones don't just influence sexual organs they also affect brain development as well as other parts of the body.

@AlannaBanana: this isnt about sex and being attracted to other people, its about living your whole life in the wrong body. much more complicated.

Child actors do this stuff all the time (delay puberty) so I don't think it's that dangerous. I'm looking at you JTT.

I think this 'take a hormonal pause and think about it for a few years' approach is actually a pretty good idea.

I mean, has anyone ever heard of someone who gender-reassigned in their teens and then regretted it? So far all I have heard about is how a person "could" regret it.

It concerns me with kids going through puberty so much younger, too. Making this kind of decision at 12 or 13 is very different than at 8 or 9.

Some people may not think the kids know themselves well enough (though I don't agree), but you also have to trust that the parents know their child well enough to support what is best for them. I doubt any parents would let their child pursue this unless they weighed the longterm consequences. Initially, it seems against nature to fuck with puberty, but I think that the few families that choose this will benefit from it.

@MaeHemm: I'm skeptical too. Not only do they get to have gender confusion, they get to be medical guinea pigs as well. Can you think of anytime worse than puberty to have your hormones even more 'effed up?

I'm leery of messing with their hormones - that's some scary, serious stuff. If it were my son or daughter, I think I'd try to hold off on the hormones but up the cosmetics or help her bind her breasts, maybe? I guess I'm saying I'd try to help my child appear as he or she wants to appear without the hormone treatment.

@nicebrownboy: Uh, transgendered does not automatically = 'mo.

This is craziness. I don't think the little ones should undergo this type of hormone cocktail. Can we please stop playing mad scientist with the children's bodies?

This may have been said already. This idea reminds me of the parents who stunted their daughter's growth due to her being mentally disabled.

I realize these children aren't mentally disabled, I'm not so sure about medically delaying their development.

@AlannaBanana: That's a heterosexist assumption.
Transgender is about a disconnect between mind and body, not liking stuff that's stereotypically for those of the other sex.

@Inkymonkey: I have heard of one young man who later regretted his decision. But that could happen with people much older also.

@AlannaBanana: That's a really good question, but it's important to keep in mind that the gender that someone identifies is separate from their sexual orientation. You may find that a biological male identifies female but is attracted to women.

@ineffable.me: uh huh... and isn't that tied inextricably to sexuality? Which this treatment inhibits? I think one's sexuality has plenty to do with one's sense of self.

Well, yesterday someone mentioned in the comments that she learned in a sexuality class that the majority of young boys who identify as girls/like dressing up in "girl" clothes/etc didn't turn out to be transgendered, but gay men. I don't know if that's true or not, but I am wary of urging kids to make these life-changing decisions so young. However, I find this hormonal treatment/procrastinating a better option than early surgery.

Personally, I found "Some trans activists feel that the Dutch protocol stands between the child and an early, complete, and more efficient transition" a worrying. Maybe I'm just intolerant/close-minded/etc, but I don't think it's a good idea to sign up every little kid who says he or she feels like the opposite gender for surgery.

@LaMorena: Yup, got it, but I guess my point is that I don't see this treatment of inhibiting sexual development as the way to resolve confusion about gender identity.

@MissKittyFantastico: I pretended I was a dolphin for like three hours one day at the beach last summer.

I was alone.

I am 19.

Admire this woman for having the courage to tell her story and live her life as she's done, but not sure where I stand on the Dutch protocol cocktail.

@Archetype: same. im conflicted.

there was a show on oprah about trans kids/teens.. there was a 16 year old who was a transgendered female to male, who's parents allowed her to have surgery to have her breasts removed at age 14 i believe.. must take a lot of courage on behalf of everyone involved to take such steps at such a young age.

but im someone who thinks this is something they must know/feel from birth, and won't change as they get older. so maybe an early start isnt a bad one?

@SarahMC: What you said.

Maybe Jez should consider including links to informative trans writing when it posts about trans issues. The comments sections fill up so quickly with ignorance and insensitivity.

@nyobserver: I'm iffy on this too but...until as a society we can be more accepting of different bodies and gender/sexual identities, this is an extreme solution for a small number that I think should at least be considered.

As a teen, I read The Last Time I Wore a Dress by Daphne Scholinski, about her identification with "maleness" as a young girl, and being placed in a mental hospital at fifteen to learn "female" behaviour and "feminity training." Today Daphne is transgendered, now named Dylan, and speaks at events.

@SVreader:

"a worrying. Maybe I'm just intolerant/close-minded/etc, but I don't think it's a good idea to sign up every little kid who says he or she feels like the opposite gender for surgery."

People that are going to use this hormone therapy for their children are NOT just signing up kids that are saying they feel like the opposite gender. It is much more complicated than that and the families/children go through a lot more than just a stint of confusion.

@Inkymonkey: i've heard much more about adults who finally went through the transition that wished theyd done it much much sooner.

i think its almost impossible to understand unless you're actually going through it. i cant imagine what it must be like.

Seems pretty cool...I mean the alternatives are pretty disconcerting I would think for a kid and the family. In life it's good to know there's a named plan in place for all contingencies. And so futuristic too, little androgynous kids who at a certain point in life get stamped with a gender assignment and then go off to live their lives.

@AlannaBanana: Yes, that's a big issue, definitley something I would love to know more about with this treatment. I guess they're weighing that against the development of secondary sex characteristics like breasts/hips for women and broadening of jaw/more hair, deep voice for men. It sounds like the thinking is that if they can put those on hold until the person is older and can decide about surgery, they can make an easier physical transition.

But yes, I can't imagine being a teenager without the raging hormones and discovery of your sexuality.

I don't know. I think you have to be really really careful with this--especially when children are involved.

I don't want to claim any gender confusion and I know I'm probably simplifying the issue ... but I feel like I can relate to Boylan's shirt story. I went through a small phase, when I was probably ten or eleven, where I was convinced that men had it better and women's lives were horrible. I wanted to grow up to be just like my dad. I think I even told my mom that, if I ever had kids, I would be their dad and someone else could be their mom. My dad, after all, got to take us hiking and exploring while my mom stayed behind and made sandwiches. His life looked a lot more fun. I think I was just really immature at the time, but if you had asked me back then, I would have chosen to be a boy ... but I LOVE my life as a woman now.

Like I said, I know I'm oversimplifying it. I'm glad there are psychologists involved, but it still makes me very uncomfortable. I don't think most kids are equipped to make that kind of decision.

Still not sure how I feel about the treatment, but how do we weigh the difference in potential physical damage from the drugs vs. almost certain psychological damage when puberty comes along and supersizes the wrongness of a kid's gender? All the memoirs and such that I've read suggest that puberty is the time when transgendered kids feel the worst about themselves.
And speaking as a gay girl, I knew I was gay by at most eight years old. I also knew I was the girliest girl in the world.

@BitterSugar: But there was absolutely no way that she consented to that. I'm sure that this measure is taken with the full cooperation and understanding of the child.

I'm conflicted about this, too, but it has more to do with the medical policing and understanding of gender going awry than anything else. I think that this is right for some children in some circumstances. My concern is trusting physicians to determine which circumstances those are.

Did any of you listen to the NPR story before commenting?

"The hormone blockers are the first stage of the treatment, but there's a second stage that's possible. Once children have postponed puberty for three or four years, at around age 16 they can choose to begin maturing sexually into the opposite gender, the gender they want to become. To do this, they begin taking the hormones of the opposite sex. For males, taking estrogen at this point will bring on breast and hip growth - and all the attributes physical and emotional of females. The reverse will happen for girls who take testosterone. Spack says this treatment can help make an adult transgender male almost indistinguishable from a biological male in terms of physical appearance.

"We can make it possible that they can fit in in the way they want to. It is really quite amazing," he says.

If, however, puberty is not blocked - if it is allowed to happen naturally and sexual maturity takes place on time - fitting in as a transgender adult is more difficult. An adult man who chooses to become a woman by taking estrogen will still tower over other women. He'll have larger hands and feet, a pronounced brow, and facial and body hair that will need to be removed. These are physical attributes that can set a transgender person apart and make day-to-day life more difficult."
--NPR

@spekkle: I realize that, and that's why I said that doing this hormone therapy for a while seems preferrable. What really worried me, again, was the "Some trans activists feel that the Dutch protocol stands between the child and an early, complete, and more efficient transition."

It sounds (at least the speaker had this impression) like some activists want parents to skip this hormone treatment and go straight to gender re-assignment procedures. Since there do seem to be people who said they were the opposite gender when they were young but then identified with their biological gender, I think parents and the medical field need to be cautious.

Did anyone else actually listen to the NPR story? It was absolutely heartbreaking and at the same time inspiring. Essentially, the little girl (who was born a boy) was absolutely miserable for most of her early childhood - the parents did the whole try to socialize her as a boy - but it broke their hearts and drove her to massive tantrums that would last for hours. Just referring to her as a boy would set them off. When she was nine or ten (I forget), they gave up and started treating her like a girl. It started with a family vacation where she finally claimed her identity. The relief that it brought ALL of them (including her older sister) was palpable.

The story about how her gender change was 'outed' to the extended family made me cry (in a good way).

They are planning on the hormone treatment. She's already terrified of growing into a body that doesn't reflect who she is. Think about it - puberty is stressful enough - now imagine you're developing into a man instead of the woman you KNOW you are. Yes, fucking with hormones is scary, and the second part of the treatment means that if the new gender is chosen then the child will be sterile, but if you'd heard the story you'd understand why parents of these children would choose this path.

@AlannaBanana: I don't know about that because if born female and you identify with being male, when you grow breast and begin menstruating, I can only imagine how much more conflict that causes.

Some say gender is largely socially constructed but I do believe there is something inherent there as well. From a very young age, I identified as female and then realized my attraction to males. If I was still the same "person" but happened to be born male, there's no doubt that I would be transgendered. This issue is very complex to those who haven't experienced it first hand.

@LaMorena: Exactly. It's much easier to transition prior to puberty, especially for mtfs.

@LaMorena: I didn't discover my sexuality as a teenager. Technically, if you're a stickler for detail - in college. And not to make light of repressing hormones but I could've done without thinking I was total shit and treating my parents likewise. Sex had zero to do with my development. Wow, that might come off as really catty. My bad.