Sunlight in Australia

[octaurpus]

I am very, very surprised to see this. Trailer for an upcoming news story in Australia on one of our commercial networks. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=877974177284537&ref=sharing

My heart is breaking for that poor girl.

They’ve found an Australian detransitioner who’s willing to talk (note the accent). That’s new.

It won’t register with the educated The Age/ Guardian Australia-reading elites. They don’t watch channel 7.

But this could be big. (This, and the general public’s sudden adulation of a bunch of soccer-playing lesbians, is going to help turn the Australian public away from this homophobic ideology, I think. Or at least I hope.)

when is it running?

Tonight at 8.45pm.

I've never seen anything mainstream here like this.

The sport stuff is one thing, but Australian kids being pharmaceutically and surgically altered hasn't been mentioned in the mainstream here, that I have seen. Even I'm shocked by the 15 year old in the trailer who's had her breasts removed, and I've been following this story internationally for years now.

However, I do think the issue of men in women's sports has opened the can of worms.

So happy to see this story.

It was on last night. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12475521/Transgender-surgery-regret.html

Are there comments anywhere? I saw it was on but thought Father’s Day bad timing as probably more of the people wanting to watch this are women and for those of us with kids and a partner we generally let our partners choose on Father’s Day/are pooped after the day out/other activities.

If you look up 7 news spotlight youtube channel, there are 4 videos which make up the 30 minute story. Comments all turned off.

Oh wow, I'm an Aussie and had no idea this was on. I don't watch a lot of TV, particularly free to air. I'm going to try to watch it on catch up.

No comments on the fb page either.

Still, I’m pleased it’s done. Channel 7 is same stable as The West Australian who have a fervent TRA in Kate Emery. I will keep track of letters to the editor for a few days.

The comments on that Daily Mail article aren’t that positive. A lot of people saying, well she’s an adult so she should take responsibility for her decisions. Forgetting that she was apparently put on testosterone as a 16yo.
I think a lot of people have lulled themselves into complacency in Australia thinking that,, because it isn’t the Wild West gender clinic land like the US, there won’t be so many detransitioners. But I’m starting to wonder.

So, it isn’t legal for ‘top’ surgery to occur until after the age of 16 and ‘bottom’ until after 18 in Australia, and not until after extensive counselling. It isn’t performed widely or generally.

This is nothing more than froth.

I think you’ll find that once you venture out from the gender bubble, almost nobody thinks 16 year olds should be having double mastectomies. And I doubt many would agree with 18 year olds getting hysterectomies and vaginectomies.

Setting my timer for the pivot from “it hardly ever happens and there are extensive safeguards” to “actually it’s good that it is happening and should be available at even younger ages with no gatekeeping”.

There is a Sydney woman who last year announced she was suing her clinician who has detransitioned too.

https://amp.smh.com.au/national/absolutely-devastating-woman-sues-psychiatrist-over-gender-transition-20220823-p5bbyr.html

She was 19 and her mental health issues were over looked and she was rushed into transition.

I expect that there will be people waiting to hear what happens to some of the detransitioner court cases before they start suing themselves. And at the moment detransitioners are dealing with abuse from extremist trans rights activists who don’t want the detransitioner stories told.

I noticed some comments on Twitter earlier saying ‘there are so few and the same ones are always rolled out’. Showing absolutely no comprehension of the abuse these people get for making their story public. And showing that they have no comprehension of the fact that there was likely poor mental health to start with so why would any of them subject themselves to that public abuse now? Of course it is a few voices at the moment.

OCaptain, I'm interested in how 'extensive counselling' works, where that so-called 'extensive' counselling occurs within an 'affirmation only' framework? Certainly in Victoria, the affirmation model is mandated by law.

Can you be any more derisive and misinformed?

What 16 year old should be getting a double mastectomy?

Either you have no fucking idea that a double mastectomy is a major surgery and is life limiting in the scar tissue or you consider that a 16 year old has the capacity to know exactly what they want in life. I can tell you as a parent of a 16 year old, many of them have no idea what courses to do for their future education let alone having the ability to understand the ramifications of transitioning. And I, myself, made major life altering decisions at 16 years old that I regretted in my early 20s. 16 is not some magical age of enlightened thinking even for a mature 16 year old.

And do you understand the failure rate for a phalloplasty? The operation you euphemistically call ‘bottom surgery’? The one the rarely works and again leaves a female body significantly debilitated even when ‘successful’?

Do you even understand the life limiting and usually life shortening negative side effects of taking exogenous testosterone as a female human of any age? For a start, what teenager needs to go through a condensed version of menopause?

So your post simply shows you are either never been a parent or you have no concept of the treatments you speak of. Either way, you also seem to not understand that the majority of ‘adult’ transitioners are also very vulnerable and simply not getting the level of care they should be before they start any treatment at all. Just because a person is 18 years old doesn’t mean they are not incredibly vulnerable and being misdiagnosed due to waiting list pressure or malpractice.

Well said, @Helleofabore.

@Helleofabore 💖

15 year olds have have mastectomies in Australia.

You can watch some of the interviews here:

https://m.youtube.com/@7NEWSSpotlight/featured

I knew I would be attacked. But you have to know that these surgeries occur so infrequently that on the scale of issues to be inflamed about, this would be low. 18 is the age of legal consent in Australia, so after this time, any medical decisions are made by that individual. And, yes, for life-changing decisions such as this, an individual (and before the age of 18, their parents and/or guardians) have to undergo counselling.

This TV show is known for creating click-bait controversy out of very little.

And yes, I do have children, thanks.

@Helleofabore

Just because a person is 18 years old doesn’t mean they are not incredibly vulnerable and being misdiagnosed due to waiting list pressure or malpractice.

I never asserted this. I do apologise if I offended you.

@OCaptain I don't know how frequently they occur (and think even one would be one too many) but surely you can see that with an affirmation-only protocol, that is the path they are leading young people down? This is NOT good practice. Don't you think these young girls deserve better?

A 15 year old girl had her breasts removed after 1 appointment with a psychiatrist not too long ago.

How many times does that need to happen before it’s a problem for you?

I suppose I'm not one to think it applies to all "young people". I recognise it is a. extremely infrequent, b. not something you can order on a whim, and c. is one piece of a complex, highly personal puzzle. I don't fall easily to sensationalised content like this. What about the often quoted mantra, 'my body, my choice'? Does this only apply in some circumstances and not others?

For the record, I don't agree with surgeries like this and wouldn't want my children to have anything like it. However, if it is best for that individual's psychological health into the future, perhaps it is best. And perhaps it is better delayed until they better understand the consequences.

You’re right, “my body, my choice” is a mantra.

A mantra is either a formula repeated in prayer or a commonly repeated phrase in advocacy or for motivation.

It’s not reasoned argument and probably a bad route to a life-changing decision such as a full mastectomy.