Keira Bell launches bid to ban cross-sex hormones for under-18s

This is from the BBC article.

Cross-sex hormone therapy is used to help people transition to a different gender from the one they were born into.

The same sentence appears in the linked article (by a different author) about the mother trying to stop her daughter being given testosterone.

But what does it mean? Nobody ever explains what they mean by "transition to a different gender". They can't be using gender to mean sex, because people can't change sex. If it's not being used as a synonym for sex, is it correct to say that people are "born into" a gender? If they are, surely it's only in the sense that a gender is imposed on them because of their sex, so since that comes from society, not the individual, then that can't be changed by superficially changing someone's physical characteristics, because it's not about the individual, it's about society.

This seems to be one of those statements which people repeat as though it makes sense, when it's obviously meaningless as soon as you start to analyse what it might mean. And this absurd idea about changing someone's gender, without being clear what is actually being changed, is what leads to children being given harmful medication.

I can really relate to Kiera. When I was a child I desperately wanted to be a boy, and presented as such. I grew out of it around 11 years old and thank God there was no one talking about me transitioning, puberty blockers etc etc. If I had been born a couple of decades later I feel I may have had a very different expereince. Diagnosed with autism in later life helped make sense of it all.

I have so much admiration for Keira - trying to protect children from the harms she was subject to. A very inspirational woman.

Good! Hope there’s a good outcome, to protect everyone from potential harm buying dodgy hormones.

Keira, you are an amazingly brave woman. Thank you!

Wow, Keira.

Brava.

Wow. Hugh Pym seems to have woken up.

There is a lot that the BBC needs to do to catch up on this awful medical scandal, but this is a step in the right direction from their main health correspondent.

Well done Keira Bell for keeping up the pressure 💪💪

The use of a clear and easily understood phrase like "cross-sex hormones" shocked me. I thought the BBC usually obfuscated.

But in a letter sent by Sinclairs Law, Streeting has been told the law firm will seek a judicial review - a way of challenging the lawfulness of a decision by a public body - unless he follows suit with cross-sex hormones.

Can judicial reviews backfire? For example, could a judge conducting such a review find the puberty blocker ban unlawful as a result? Is there anyone here with greater legal knowledge who can offer insight?

Well done Keira. The BBC report is very factual as well.

There are numerous children buying hormones on the grey market. And adults too who don't seem very mature.

My dh has a sibling who is an adult and who i know for a fact is being encouraged online to buy hormones to transition. It was the only time I debated telling her mum as what if she ends up in a & e, just because you are above 21 doesn't mean you wouldn't buy dodgy hormones (people seem to get the dosages from reddit) and end up in ICU particularly since she is also chronically ill. Thankfully she doesn't seem.to be doing it. So dangerous esp for younger people