12-year-old boy undergoes sex change...

Rob Lister

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I do not know what to think about this.

Unhappy as a boy, Kim became youngest ever transsexual at 12

By Bojan Pancevski in Vienna, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 1:12am GMT 29/01/2007

A boy of 12 is believed to have become the world's youngest sex change patient after convincing doctors that he wanted to live the rest of his life as a female.

The boy - originally called Tim, but now known as Kim - has started to receive hormone treatment, in preparation for the operation that will eventually complete the sex change.

Tim was diagnosed as a transsexual two years ago, when doctors and psychiatrists concluded that his claims to be "in the wrong body" were so deeply felt that he required treatment. The therapy involves artificially arresting male puberty, with a series of potent hormone injections before the administration of female hormones to initiate the development of features such as breasts.
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Now aged 14, and officially registered as a female, Kim looks like a typical girl of her age. She dresses in fashionable clothes, has long blonde hair and blue eyes and dreams of moving to Paris to become a fashion designer. Her parents, who initially assumed their son was going through a temporary phase, eventually grew accustomed to seeing him as a girl.
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More at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/28/wkim28.xml
 

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Well, IF they had determined he was genetically inclined to being a girl, and was just born with the wrong plumbing, then that's one thing; but I'm leery subjecting children to ANY major life-altering surgeries at so young an age - unless it's to correct a major defect or save a life.

Of course, I know some womyn (grr) who would argue that male plumbing is a major defect...

Our seven-year-old identifies with the female gender more than the male. We let him play it out as far as he likes, at home... understanding he has to stay somewhat male when he's at school. But we've told him he's not mature enough by far to make any such decisions yet.

What's this kid gonna do when puberty really kicks in, and s/he decides s/he wants to be a boy after all?
 
zaayrdragon said:
Well, IF they had determined he was genetically inclined to being a girl, and was just born with the wrong plumbing, then that's one thing;
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There is no genetic test that can be done. These things are determined behaviourally.

but I'm leery subjecting children to ANY major life-altering surgeries at so young an age - unless it's to correct a major defect or save a life.
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The article clearly states that she is not going to have surgery before she's 18.

I see in the article little to support the notion that she is The Youngest Ever Transsexual In The World. Most transsexuals have been 12, and that is about the age that most transsexuals discover their gender identity. She's now 14 and receives treatment, and since her endocrinologist says that she is the youngest he knows, he probably means to say that she is the youngest ever transsexual to receive oestrogen treatment through the official medical channels. (I guess that doesn't make a good headline) I'm he's aware of cases of somewhat younger children receiving just anti-androgens to delay puberty until they are older... basically to prevent the need for more difficult and invasive medical treatment later. I sincerely doubt she immediately received oestrogens from age 12.

Our seven-year-old identifies with the female gender more than the male. We let him play it out as far as he likes, at home... understanding he has to stay somewhat male when he's at school.
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Cool. That's probably the best way to deal with it as long as his male role doesn't cause too much stress.

What's this kid gonna do when puberty really kicks in, and s/he decides s/he wants to be a boy after all?
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For the girl in the article, that is unlikely to happen. For your son, it might be. In many cases genderdysforic children will grow out of it about when puberty starts. But if they don't, their parents will be faced with the dilemma of waiting until their child is old enough that they trust his/her judgement but faces a much more difficult medical intervention, or preventing much of the difficulty by early intervention when s/he is still very young. Expect difficult choices to make some 5 years from now. Do you have any counselling or contact with a self-help group of parents of genderdysphoric children?

The original Der Spiegel article is much better.
 
^^ It sounds like some half-witted idea that "lesbians really want to be male and 'liking girls' is the way they deal with it". Yawn . . .
 
And here we can see why sometimes replying to a bad joke may be even worse than the joke itself.
 
Earthborn said:
There is no genetic test that can be done. These things are determined behaviourally.
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zaayrdragon was talking about intersex conditions, where physical or genetic abnormality leads to a baby being assigned the wrong gender at birth.
As to the child in question, I would never have let any of my daughters be photographed in those clothes at 12 years old. She looks like a paedophile's wet dream. What the hell were her parents thinking of when they released that photo?
 
I think she's 14 in the photo. And don't forget she's German. They never did have much fashion sense...
 
sophia8 said:
I would never have let any of my daughters be photographed in those clothes at 12 years old. She looks like a paedophile's wet dream. What the hell were her parents thinking of when they released that photo?
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Are you seeing the same picture as me? Jeans, t-shirt and those somewhat silly arm-sock thingies popular in Asia? Looks pretty ordinary to me (no comment on what gets a paedophile wet . . .)
 
sophia8 said:
zaayrdragon was talking about intersex conditions, where physical or genetic abnormality leads to a baby being assigned the wrong gender at birth.
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Could be, but it makes no difference. Even for intersex people there is no such thing as "genetically inclined to being a girl".

As to the child in question, I would never have let any of my daughters be photographed in those clothes at 12 years old. She looks like a paedophile's wet dream. What the hell were her parents thinking of when they released that photo?
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I have seen no real evidence that the girl in the photo Rob attached is the girl in question. Neither the Telegraph article or the original Der Spiegel article have a photo of her, she is not adressed with full name and both articles make it very clear that parents and child wish to remain anonymous so it makes no sense that they would be releasing photos. Maybe Rob can explain where he got it from.
 
Earthborn said:
I have seen no real evidence that the girl in the photo Rob attached is the girl in question. Neither the Telegraph article or the original Der Spiegel article have a photo of her, she is not adressed with full name and both articles make it very clear that parents and child wish to remain anonymous so it makes no sense that they would be releasing photos. Maybe Rob can explain where he got it from.
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It was in the UK Daily Mail.
 
My gosh.

I can't believe they let a 12 year old do this. Shouldn't they at least hit puberty first?
 
Earthborn said:
I see in the article little to support the notion that she is The Youngest Ever Transsexual In The World. Most transsexuals have been 12, and that is about the age that most transsexuals discover their gender identity. She's now 14 and receives treatment, and since her endocrinologist says that she is the youngest he knows, he probably means to say that she is the youngest ever transsexual to receive oestrogen treatment through the official medical channels. (I guess that doesn't make a good headline) I'm he's aware of cases of somewhat younger children receiving just anti-androgens to delay puberty until they are older... basically to prevent the need for more difficult and invasive medical treatment later. I sincerely doubt she immediately received oestrogens from age 12.
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And there is no way she is the youngest person to receive a sex change, there is that famous case that was used for a long time as a case study to show that there is no such thing as inherent gender(as he changed back to male it seems unlikely) where a young child got sexual reassignment surgery from male to female and was raised as a girl. The psychiatrist claimed a success, but he changed back as an adult.
 
Overman said:
I can't believe they let a 12 year old do this. Shouldn't they at least hit puberty first?
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Not if you believe a medical problem needs to be adressed with a minimum intervention possible. During puberty secondary sex characteristics develop, which means that the problems a transsexual faces get worse. After puberty, a transsexual's treatment consists largely of trying to reverse the effects of puberty. If one can be reasonably sure the transsexual feelings will persist, it makes sense to intervene before the effects occur. Otherwise you'll just end up trying to reverse what you could have prevented.
 
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