Mother's response to Penny Morduant's urgent inquiry into ROGD -

Oh no, I don't believe this - that Emily Westhaver person suggesting Anastrozole (Arimidex)!!!

Anastrozole is a post Breast Cancer drug for menopausal women. I was prescribed this for 3 years after BC treatment and had to have big discussions with my Oncologist about it due to the increase risk of womb cancer when taking this drug. It also interferes with bone cell production so I had to have a bone scan before I started to check my bone density was healthy enough. I can't believe this person so casually throws that out there like this drug is firstly appropriate and that it is risk free.

As far as I can see they have no medical expertise. I'm really shocked by this.

For the parents posting on MN / Twitter etc .

The replies are heartbreaking. It doesn't appear that the TAs commenting have children of their own and seem barely out of childhood themselves. They have been brought up in a world where internet = truth and that those who shout the loudest online = win.

They don't seem to view parents (mothers especially) as real people. Those responses are vicious.

And confusing. I read a few of them ('This is child abuse!') and thought they were arguing for the opposite side, that stopping puberty and promoting transition was child abuse.

How can it be child abuse to take a healthy child with no medical conditions and not give them drugs?

And how can you deliberately pause a child's growth to maturity and then expect them to become mature enough to make a lifechanging decision?

Apologies since I haven’t rtft yet, but the constant comments about young people killing themselves must be extraordinarily damaging. If anything is going to contribute to an increased suicide rate it’s going to be responses like the ones the mother got in the OP.

Do they not realise this? Or do they think it’s acceptable collateral damage?

Tammy and Anchor you have my sincere sympathy too.

It is so heartening that there are so many women on this board who get it. I am profoundly grateful to those who are speaking out and campaigning irl - that's really hard to do when you are in our situation.

I would reiterate the need to contact your mp. Mine had no idea what was going on with young people nor the scale of it until I wrote.

I hope that Mordaunt et al will ensure that parents watching their children being groomed online will be included in this research

You have my thoughts too starkstaring

Starkstaring - I am so sorry to hear what's happened with your daughter

I understand, I really do.

The anime people calling for the consumption of Lupron are such fucking stereotypes.

"Nonbinary Dragon Parent (they/them). Server Ops Support Professional. Member of therpgvalkyries I speedrun RPGs and Randomizers at Twich "

Every time I read these threads I am horrified yet again at what is being done to our children and to their families. The utter evil of those promoting and financially benefitting from this leaves me speechless.

I bet none of these people pushing these drugs has ever been on them. And I can’t imagine many who have would agree to give them to their own children.

And yet every fucking time I try to talk about my (life-ruining) experience of GnrH analogues I am completely ignored. I, and women like me, are completely invisible. Doctors don’t care. TRAs don’t care. The likely outcomes for these kids rips my heart open and these people do not fucking care.

Oh, this is horrible. If it were just some idiots on Twitter it would be bad enough, but these people are controlling official narratives.

Good grief @Starkstaring
I hope nothing more permanent than administrative paperwork happens before your child is mature enough to really understand.

I am going to write too. I have a young adult daughter identifying as transgender. She has autism (only just been diagnosed because she is female) which has led to a lot of mental health problems. But because she is on the waiting list for the gender clinic, none of those core problems are being addressed (beyond medication from the GP).
And very rapidly, from announcement of being trans, she has a new name, a new passport, all her NHS records are now as a person of the male sex, enrolled at uni as her new persona. She hasn't even had her first assessment at the GID clinic.

Two months before the announcement she was trans (at 18), a friend told me about a colleague's daughter who had transitioned FtM. I remember being really incredulous "Wow, that's really unusual, I wonder how someone gets to that point?" - I had not a clue that this was something we would be dropped into just a few weeks later.

@ToeToeToe

Sorry for @ing you in but can you remember the name of the person from the Tavistock who spoke?

I might piss off some people here but I see it as in line with the trend for tattooing and piercing. Your body is intricately tied to your identity and needs to be modified to project your choices and ideas.

Whereas I follow what I assume is a fairly raw radfem idea of the body. We use it to achieve good things in life. Our personalities do not need to be projected permanently on our bodies. Body hair and no make up is beautiful.

To me there is nothing more beautiful than a middle aged woman with grey hair, and ruddy cheeks showing their good health etc.

Colin said that he had taken testosterone for 6 months - and his voice had deepened sufficiently for his needs.That sounds a very short time to have that result - but what do I know...

I was cheering with Colin at this point - but then he said he was waiting for 'chest surgery.' Oh Colin - my heart goes out to you. I do hope you have supportive family and friends who love you for who you are, and not what you look like.

I also thought it was interesting that Colin said he was an art student - and that he liked people being confused by his appearance/identity.
I've heard similar things from my own child - and I think it's to do with having power and agency over one's own body.

Medical and surgical transitioning is the most personal act of 'queering' that can be done. The body becomes the ultimate canvas for their artistic expression and political identity.

Anyway, interesting though this is I don't want to de-rail the thread any further!

says that young people are encouraged to think about why they feel the way they do

Are they really? Are sexism and what porn has done to young men's sexual expectations of their female peers discussed as potential reasons why they might feel that way?

I also heard the interview with the transman on the Today programme. They have taken cross-sex hormones to the extent that they've got the changes they want, particularly a passable male-sounding voice. They said that was sufficient and didn't need to continue taking them. They were aiming next to have their double mastectomy.

In the case of that transman I was thinking that it sounded like the cosmetic aspect was paramount. If that's right then that's a very heavy price to pay to enable a transman to pass in society.

I will also be writing to PM with our own experiences of having a (young adult) child with ROGD.

The speed in which a medical transition can happen is frightening.

The common factors
seem to be the influence of social media, real life affirmation and encouragement from peers and influential adults (this could also be seen as a form of grooming), and a scripted response (lies) told to GPs in order to get onto the pathway for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Which is the key to hormones and surgery
On the NHS.

If parents do not go along with this then they are cut off - very easy once the child is 18, and even at 16 the child has to give permission for a parent to be involved medically.

Stealth and secrecy is encouraged at all levels - which takes away the discussions, safeguards and checks that parents can oversee.

Once the young person is a good way down the path of transitioning then it becomes a fait accompli. Names are changed, anyone who questions or has concerns is cut away and the trans community becomes the new 'siblings' and family.

All the way along it's framed as being something the child has always felt - they just didn't have the words to describe it previously.

I'm just listening to the Radio 4 interview now with the young trans person 'Colin'. The man from the Gender Identity Clinic - calling it 'assigned' female at birth 😡 - says that young people are encouraged to think about why they feel the way they do and that an increasing number are now choosing not to take hormones. I hope he's right.

I would just say to him: the young person will do whatever it takes, say whatever they need to, to get the treatment or affirmation they want. The crux of the matter is: these young people BELIEVE it, they are 100% convinced that they are in the wrong sexed body. The reasons behind their thinking are many and varied - and we should not be rushing to affirm that this means they are trans.

The only way we are going to be able to protect and safeguard our kids is to make permanent medical and surgical treatments the absolute last bastion. While providing proper support for them in the meantime.

Even as I write this I don't think this will work. I don't know what the solution is apart from trying to change society's attitude towards gender stereotypes and convincing our children that it IS okay to express your identity however you wish.

Again, the BBC only give one side of the story - and John Humphrey's attempts to expand the conversation a little bit were halfhearted to say the least.

To be fair it was difficult for him, as interviewing a young person like Colin has to be done sensitively and with care and respect. But I'd have liked to hear an alternative voice within the discussion - I won't hold my breath.