By Gwendolyn Ann Smith
Transmissions
When I first started to deal with my own transgender nature, I grabbed what few books I could on the subject, trying to find out what I could, desperately looking for some sort of guideposts in dealing with an issue I'd been struggling with – that I know of – since I was three years old.
Of particular note to me in one of these few books was that people did not begin to deal with their own transgender leanings until they were in the mid-30s, at the earliest. At that time, I was in my early 20s. The book in question was about five years old at the time.
Since that time, I've seen this age drop further. Mid 20s is still not that uncommon, mind you, but I hear of more and more teen transgender men and women. At least one stateside surgeon reported doing genital reassignment surgery on patients as young as 15, but only in the rarest of cases. In one recent article, a 14-year-old and her parents travelled from England to the U.S. in order to undergo hormone treatment to delay puberty. This after the teen in question attempted to overdose a couple of times, as well as once threatening to cut off her male genitals.
Yet, it isn't just teenagers who are transitioning.
In Castle Rock, Colorado, an eight-year-old is returning to their school as a girl. She has not yet undergone any of the measures above, but is living in her preferred gender. The school is doing what they can to accommodate this student, including a pair of gender neutral bathrooms and providing information packets for students and parents on transgender issues. For better or worse, the teachers will be avoiding pronouns with this student, instead addressing her only by name.
How wonderful is this?
As I said above, I was first aware that something was different about gender identity when I was three-years-old, and was told I could not have the same sort of shoes as the other girls. I was regularly cross-dressing, in private, by the time I was seven. Much like the first example above, I tried to castrate myself when I was 12. How might my own life be different if I had had the opportunity to transition as an eight-year-old, or start testosterone blockers at 14?
This said, I wonder how young is too young. I don't ask this out of any misguided fears, much like what one would see from the more conservative elements of our culture. Nevertheless, we're discussing times well below the age of consent. Most transgender support groups will barely accept a member in their teens, let alone one who's age is in the single digits. The medical profession contends that hormone blockers will lead to a raft of other medical issues, such as osteoporosis, while others argue over just how certain these young transgender girls and boys are about their gender identity.
I can't answer the issues about bone density or other physical issues like it — but I do know that I was sure from an early age, and that belief did not end. This wasn't a "phase" any more than I suspect it is for the above cases. I suspect that for both of them, there are hundreds more.
The rational approach seems the simplest. Take these children on a case by case basis, and listen to their needs and feelings. Answer the questions on bone density, but weigh them carefully against the needs of a transgender youth to lead an otherwise productive life. Meanwhile, educate in the hopes that more parents will be ready for the day their child comes to them needing help with issues of gender. In the above examples, these kids only got to where they are with the support of their families.
How young is too young? When your child comes to you asking for help, that should never be a question.
