transamerica
Hot on the heels of NPR's
two feature stories on
transgender children comes
news of a Haverford, Pennsylvania 3rd grader who will be making the transition from male to female. Apparently, parents are up in arms because the Haverford School District sent out a letter giving parents one day of notice "of planned counseling sessions with 100 third-grade students to explain that one of their male classmates would soon begin wearing girls' clothing and taking a female name and to ask that they accept him as a girl and not make unkind remarks." Most parents and students have taken the transition of this transgender student in stride, but a few have been
openly critical of the way the school district chose to handle the situation.
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transamerica
Yesterday's NPR report
two transgender boys and the different ways they were being raised was accompanied by another story, this one about a
controversial treatment known by some as the "Dutch protocol" that allows preteens with gender-identity issues (like transgender memoirist Jennifer Boylan, at left, once had) to delay the onset of puberty. According to
NPR, "...kids who meet the criteria for gender identity disorder are given monthly injections of a medication that blocks their bodies from releasing sex hormones. This means that while the children continue to grow taller, for the three or four years they are on the medication, they are kept from maturing sexually." That's the first stage of the treatment, which occurs between ages 10-13. The second stage starts around age 16; at that point the teen is allowed to choose which gender he or she wants to become.
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transamerica
There is a fascinating story up on
NPR's website about two little boys who wish they were girls, and the different approaches their parents are taking in dealing with their gender confusion. Basically from birth, both Bradley and Jonah favored girl things. Bradley wanted to be Dorothy from the
Wizard of Oz for Halloween when he was 2 1/2, and insisted on wearing his Dorothy hair (made out of a tea towel) for months after; Jonah, according to NPR, "was 2 when his father, Joel, first realized that no amount of enthusiasm could persuade his child to play with balls." (Heh, balls.) But seriously, folks. Both these boys wanted to be little girls pretty much from the moment they could
express the desire, and while Bradley's parents have tried to force him out of it — by taking away his Polly Pockets and Barbies and encouraging interaction with other boys — Jonah's parents have allowed him to embrace his desires. At this point, Jonah's parents refer to him as "she", and she herself tells people her name is Jona.
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Remember Thomas Beatie, the
pregnant transmale, who looks like a dude, but is with child like a lady? Well Beatie's neighbors in Oregon are calling
bullshit on him, saying that the pregnancy is a
fake. Ron Schlieper, who lives near Beatie in Bend, Oregon, told
ABC News, "Quite frankly, I think it's a hoax. I saw him a few days ago, and he didn't look like that." The
Advocate, the magazine that published Beatie's first-person account of his pregnancy, is standing behind him. "We asked Thomas to provide the name of his doctor, and she confirmed that he was pregnant and that his pregnancy is proceeding as it should," according to
Advocate editor Anne Stockwell. Is he the Peggy Seltzer of pregnancy?? [
Guanabee,
ABC News]
transamerica
The concept of gender in mainstream culture is becoming less conservative by the day. Of course it's not like being at Smith, but when
Benny Ninja can vogue his little butt off on a graffiti-ed stage with a bunch of drag queens during prime time and no one bats an eyelash, you know things have come pretty far since
Leave it to Beaver. One of the last truly gendered events is pregnancy — unless you're
Thomas Beatie. Thomas is a man, and he's knocked up. Well more specifically, Thomas is biologically a woman, but he decided to go through gender reassignment. Getting down to the nuts (heh) and bolts of it, Thomas took testosterone and had his breasts removed, but he kept the vagina. His partner, Nancy, is unable to bear children, and because the pair really wanted a biological baby, Thomas went off his bi-monthly testosterone injections and after a few harrowing attempts, is now expecting a baby girl in July.
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