'I'm not meant to be a bloke': Woman who changed gender to become man called Lee says sex swap was a huge mistake

[TrashyTerf]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6351711/Hemel-Hempstead-transgender-man-60-regrets-gender-reassignment-surgery-11-years-on.html

Warning: DM link! (Although I'd rather click on a DM link than a Guardian link these days!)

Trigger warning: child abuse details included below

*"A transgender man who had a sex change 15 years ago has branded it the biggest mistake of his life and wishes he was still a woman.

Lee Harries, 60, of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, was born Debbie Karemer but underwent gender reassignment surgery at the age of 44.

After years of struggling with his sexual identity, he had his breasts, uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, before doctors made a prosthetic penis for him.

But years later he says: 'I'm not meant to be a bloke' and believes he is not transgender.

Mr Harries, who married his partner Alan before he transitioned, has undergone counselling, where experts have told him he has PTSD as a result of being sexually assaulted by his father."*

ARosebyAnyOtherNameChange

It's because Stephanie gets hundreds of emails a week from worried parents of children identifying as trans. I'm guessing she is drawing her conclusions from their testimony.

In terms of expertise, since there is no test for gender dysphoria, or indeed transgenderism, I'm not sure who would be considered experts.

Certainly the people who run Mermaids, GIRES, etc, have no medical qualification.

It would be so much easier if there was a test. Instead of subjective assertion.

At the moment, you have, quite evidently, people who are merely gender non conforming been told they are trans. Plus, of course, cross dressing fetishists claiming the same.

Stonewall including the world and his wife under the trans umbrella has a lot to answer for.

did also find a paper saying 'The findings supported the clinical impression that a large percentage of adolescents referred for gender dysphoria have a substantial co-occurring history of psychosocial and psychological vulnerability'

Just to also point out that the prescribing information for blockers notes that they should NOT be prescribed to anyone with a mental health condition (anxiety, depression etc.)

Hence why the push to change the standard of care is so strong

Just to also point out that the prescribing information for blockers notes that they should NOT be prescribed to anyone with a mental health condition (anxiety, depression etc.)

So there you go.

It would help me, enormously, if someone could describe conditions that are considered under the terms 'psychosocial and psychological vulnerability'.

I can only access the abstract, sorry

There's evidence that the GNRH agonists themselves (what TRAs call "blockers") can cause depression and poor mental health, which is one of the reasons why giving them to kids who're already struggling with those issues isn't a great idea. There's a fair bit of information on the side effects of Lupron specifically online for anyone who cares to look, based on the experiences of the adults to whom it was prescribed for its original purpose. Lots of physical side effects too.

ARosebyAnyOtherNameChange & Datun - here's a PDF of the full paper.

CrashBank

Thank you.

describe conditions that are considered under the terms 'psychosocial and psychological vulnerability'.

Look how differently these two conditions are written about:

1. Gender Dysphoria
   affirmingly, sugarcoating and setting up false expectations of eg that you can achieve ‘functioning’ opposite-sex genitalia produced by surgery: www.nhs.uk/conditions/gender-dysphoria/

2. Body Dysmorphia Disorder
   Written about Medically, dispassionately, and sympathetically while being clearly of the view that if the patient can’t accept physical reality of their body then they need professional mental health help- no suggestions of eg having permanent cosmetic drugs or surgery to affirm the anxiety disorder that is distressing the patient: www.nhs.uk/conditions/body-dysmorphia/

from a current thread:
my comment:
I think that some adults can become very invested in (often unresolved) issues that they relate to personally. It happens a lot in situations where there are children & vulnerable adults and however well meaning they often lack the ability to critically reflect and centre the needs of the people they should be supporting.

LangCleg's
Yes. Across the board: not just about trans issues.

Another fundamental reason why we have safeguarding. It's to protect from the well-meaning but harmful as much as it is to protect from the deliberately malign.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3377721-Joss-Prior-on-Posie-Parker-feminism-Mumsnet-FWR-boards-etc?pg=6

Its is absolutely across the board and seen within professionals, volunteers, advocacy groups

Thanks, CrashBank!
So, from that paper, these were their 15 'variables considered to indicate psychosocial/psychological vulnerability':
(1) a prior outpatient assessment (unrelated to gender identity issues per se);
(2) a prior trial of outpatient therapy (unrelated to gender identity issues per se);
(3) psychiatric day treatment;
(4) prior inpatient admission;
(5) prior (or current) trial of psychopharmacologic medication;
(6) having dropped out of high school;
(7) an individualized educational plan for school-related problems;
(8) suicidal ideation;
(9) self-harm behavior;
(10) suicide attempt(s);
(11) a history of physical abuse;
(12) a history of sexual abuse;
(13) family involvement with a child protection agency;
(14) placement in residential treatment and/or homelessness; and
(15) a prior DSM diagnosis (not including GID).

Of note, two-thirds of the youth were gay (as in, same-natal-sex attracted).

No clinical control group - the authors point this out, and suggest that the appropriate control would be 'youth referred for
other clinical reasons to an academic health science center' rather than a random healthy sample.

recent comment by clinicians in BMJ:

"Regulated medical practitioners should follow a framework of evidence, not simply respond to client expectations. Creating that evidence to inform quality standards is an ethical imperative. We need research to explore the interplays between gender identity, mental health and neurodevelopmental problems, sexual orientation, autogynephilia, and unpalatable gender roles" (continues)

www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k4490.full?ijkey=6lX93kQA0lz5YoB&keytype=ref

thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3410257-BMJ-article-We-need-research-to-explore-the-interplays-between-gender-identity-mental-health-and-neurodevelopmental-problems-sexual-orientation-autogynephilia-and-unpalatable-gender-roles

and Grasspigeons yes I think that is very concerning too. Unfortunately there are a lot of vulnerable adults out there who would be much better off with talking therapy rather than surgical.

But I think there are rules on age for those surgeries. Whereas the trans treatments and surgeries are done to underage children who are not adult and there are even greater consequences . As not adult they can be though of as not giving proper informed consent