Julie Grant dies & BBC decides to end their article with this...

[ThinkOfAWittyNameLater]

Julie Grant was the subject of a series of BBC documentaries in 70s & 80s. It all started when she complained about the use of the word "transsexual" to describe a "transvestite".

BBC article's last paragraph is

She remained active in the trans community throughout her life, though her views - in particular that children should not be allowed to have gender reassignment surgery - were seen as controversial by some of her peers.

I don't know about anyone else but this has seriously pissed me off enough to start my first ever thread

Am I over reacting?

*speech marks are only used to emphasise the words, I don't mean to imply (not do I believe) that these terms are false, unreal, or anything else negative.

Must learn to proof read before posting

She remained active in the trans community throughout her life, though her views - in particular that children should not be allowed to have gender reassignment surgery - were seen as controversial by some of her peers.

I wonder if this is even true? I thought the push for surgery and treatment on children is a relatively new phenomenon.

OP, you might want to have your title altered - the name is Julia Grant, not Julie.

Yes, Mermaids have just tweeted this article.

So it's now controversial to not want to sterilise and surgically alter kids.

Just read this and thought very pertinent.

I think Im being obtuse. Why did that last paragraph annoy you?

Don't get it?

This is a person who broke down a very real social taboo by exposing their private life to the nation to help others not feel alone, or freakish. She did it to give hope to other transsexuals and educate society as a whole. She continued on that path of service for her entire life.

But the last thing BBC has to imply is that she ended up on the wrong side of history. Seriously?

Why was it in any way relevant to the article to finish with the apparently controversial idea that children shouldn't be pumped full of drugs that will have far reaching health consequences for their entire lives?

Wasn't there a Victorian scientist who got a journalist friend to write a damning obituary of his arch rival? It reminds me of that.

But you could also read it as a way of signalling that she wasn’t an extremist TRA- she actually shared a lot of views with GC feminists. I think it’s right that they’ve acknowledged that.

her views - in particular that children should not be allowed to have gender reassignment surgery - were seen as controversial by some of her peers.

Gender reassignment surgery on children is illegal.

Whenever we say that activists are pushing to lower the age of medical intervention for children we are told we're scaremongering - that everything takes years, that nothing irreversible is done before age 16 and surgery is not allowed before 18 (so STFU T*).

Suzie Green of Mermaids should know. She took her 16 year old child for gender reassignment surgery in Thailand because it wasn't legal in the UK. After that, Thailand also raised the minimum age for gender reassignment surgery to 18.

NO reputable organisation has come right out and said children should be allowed gender reassignment surgery - not even Mermaids. Even Green and Webberley haven't outright said that because they know it would go down like a cup of cold sick. The most Green dares to do is uncritically retweet other people recommending double mastectomies for 13 year olds in a country where that's legal. She didn't comment, she was just the messenger. She wouldn't publicly put her own name to those views.

The BBC have just casually suggested that it might be controversial to think children shouldn't have gender reassignment surgery.

PencilsInSpace
Sadly they're just biding their time. Webberley should be struck off for prescribing to children online, but you're right, she wouldn't come out publicly in favour of surgery for children until the public have been softened up a bit more.
I wonder how well they felt the Anna Friel programme went in that respect? I don't think it was quite the game changer they requested were hoping for