Louie Theroux Transgender Kids

[dancemom]

Is anyone else watching this?

Yep! I had no idea they offered those kind of treatments in the U.S. to children. It's really interesting...

Fascinating. Camille is very young.

It is a good question, can it be a case of them just exploring or is it all so definite so young? Angelina Jolie is going through a similar thing with one of her children at the moment isn't she? (I think I read)

One part of me thinks it's amazing they can help these children while they are young before they go through childhood / puberty but the other part thinks it's too young!

it's way too young. i find it really unsettling

I kind of feel like Crystal/Coles mum is pushing her? Maybe it came across wrong? But if the child says she's "almost" 100% sure then why is mum trying to say you ought to start hormones. Surely the child needs to be 100% sure for a good period of time.

I find this worrying. When I was 5/6/7 I was convinced I wanted to be a boy and dressed like one and asked everyone to call me a boys name. But it was nothing sexual, I was just a tomboy (and early feminist). I can't see how anyone can be sure of a lifelong commitment like this before they even know what sex is or have been through puberty.

I am very unnerved by Camille. It feels like normal experimentation.

Older teens interesting.

Crystal is another worrying one. She seems quite happy to be both, but mum wants her to be a girl I think

And the specialist who described two year olds as saying they were the opposite gender - surely that is significantly down to the role that parents place on gender - my 2 yr old is barely aware of girl/boy divides!

I also wanted to be a boy at the ages of 4 until about 8 or 9. I'm really glad my parents didn't think I should be condemned to a life of taking hormones, surgery to attempt to recreate male genitalia (the results of which are apparently not very good), and being sterile. It's very sad imo.

I don't see why they can't let them wait until they are adults before having treatments. Surely saying 'well, if you still feel this way when you're 18 then you can look at the options then' isn't being unsupportive... It's all very final isn't it. Older teens it is more interesting, but at 4/5/6 etc...

My DH works in a college & one term was told one of his students had changed gender. Fine, got on with it, talk to tutorial group, all handled sensitively, as you would hope.

By the following term, youngster had changed their mind & was back to their original gender.

It terrifies me that parents would go down the hormobe etc route with young people who may just be going through a stage. Give them time & space to develop & grow, don't force them into any gender 'box'.

Mmmm Crystal/Coles mum has issues.

If the kid is saying he will be a man when he grows up the mother needs to stop calling him "she". Maybe he's just a boy who likes dresses. Which is fine. Doesn't mean he thinks he's a girl.

I thought the kids comment about how he sometimes does boy things and sometimes does girl things interesting. His mum needs to have a talk to him about how stuff/activities don't have to be gendered.

Nicky seems depressed and under pressure.

This woman is saying kids don't really have the ability to think things through properly aboutvtheir future until their mid teens, so why on earth are they giving them drugs before that age?

And I think it's very wrong to stick these young kids on a TV programme with Louis asking them personal questions.

I've been watching this on and off. Can't believe surgery is being offered to children. Absolutely wrong in my opinion. One or two of them seem confused as to whether they are a boy or girl. All the more reason not to force them into a decision at a very young age.

Agree viva, this little one is far too Young to be on a show like this, I don't understand why the parents would do this

Viva, yes and no.

One one hand- the parents will have signed off on it and so its really then open to scrutiny as its their decisions that ultimately affect their kids and I think Louis has a great manner with them and manages to encapsulate some of the issues around the subject.

It's pretty new to the general public and almost as unanswerable as the nature vs nurture debate

Camille's dad seemed to be encouraging her to be a girl.

Really them* as in the parents who are open to scrutiny rather than the kids. Sorry for typo

Dunno. Louis isn't a psychologist, how does he know how his questions may affect/upset the kids?

What if the kids reverts to their gender of birth and in five years time is mortified by the whole thing but it's on YouTube, etc for ever and ever.

Well it's the parents choice and the kids should be asking why they agreed to put them on tv in that case.

Louis doesn't try to be a psychologist, he is just a person asking questions and sounding genuinely interested in a non "Shock! Horror!" way.

He has a huge following via the bbc so I think it is important/right that that he is covering topics that don't really get discussed. (Apart from sensationalist nonsense in the tabloids)

Far too young.

I would have said I wanted to be a boy until my early twenties. My issues were related to other more complex insecurities and problems fitting in.

I think Louis has been very good actually, he has been very careful about how he phrases things, not pushing one side and keeping the questions very open.

But I agree about the kids changing their minds and then finding this stuck with them on YouTube.

I felt Camille basically wants to dress up and twirl. ds did that at 3, loved a twirly skirt. I remember one boy at toddler group, went straight for the dressing up box and the pink tutu and wore it every week.

I really wonder if the parents had been willing to have a dressing up box and to allow their son to wear twirly dresses, without labeling them as 'girls stuff' whether Camille/Sebastian would want to be a girl. Dad seems very strong about her being a girl too.