Guardian article: ‘I’ve had to become my own doctor’: trans young people on life after the Cass review

[RoyalCorgi]

This is by Libby Brooks. I haven't read it but obviously it's going to be a balanced, reasoned look at the issues, giving full credit and recognition to Cass's credentials and impressive research.

Only kidding!

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/15/ive-had-to-become-my-own-doctor-trans-young-people-on-life-after-the-cass-review

Leeches are now used to help skin grafts heal in patients with burns

Poor boy, referred to as Hannah. The GP said that at the age of 12 this boy could consent to PBs. Absolutely nuts.

My, now adult, son spent a whole year in character as Buzz Lightyear. Age 6. He has ASD. Perhaps if he was 6 today he would think he was really a girl. It was his way of escaping from the real world which he really did not understand. Of course he is no longer Buzz.

Kids believe mad stuff, I didn't believe the Queen went to the toilet. Thankfully for her Maj I never mentioned it to a Doctor.

Grin has been taking T prescribed through the GP for 3 years (now 17). So started at 14. Is this the norm. Do NHS GPs prescribe T to children or would this be private?

Gender GP appear to prescribe to kids as young as that. I didn't think the NHS did. Susie Green got cross-hormones for her son when he was 12 by going to New York and getting them prescribed by a gender doctor out there. I think they bypassed the puberty blockers altogether as a result.

It’s disgusting of ‘Hannah’s’ parents to lead them down this path - and yes, they would have to be led at 3yrs old. They’ve fucked their own child up.

My DS at a similar age told me he was a girl like me; he said he wanted to be a mummy when he grew up (the mother kind not the embalmed kind!); he also told me he knew X was a girl because girls wear dresses. I soon put that latter one to rest by asking him if I was a girl/woman and pointing out that I was wearing trousers.

Children of that age are developing their understanding of sex and gender. Many try to fit things into neat boxes, like my son with his ‘girls wear dresses’ stuff. It’s a parent’s job to correct them and explain in an age appropriate way not to indulge their misconceptions and purposely push them down a path that it’s very hard to come back from.

Frankly, when I see or hear about ‘trans children’ of that age, I just know that child wouldn’t be trans if they’d had different parents.

GPs can prescribe it as part of a shared care agreement with a endocrinologist. Some have been doing it with private clinics and others as a "bridging" prescription.
Gender gp has allegedly been prescribing cross sex hormones from 11+ though I'm not sure how true it is though ww know that Michael weberley was struck off for prescribing to a 12 year old

Thanks - I wrongly assumed the bridging prescriptions were for 16+ re GPs and after PBs (not at the same time).

'ironically' if you give a girl who identifies as a transboy puberty blockers the child will end up with a shorter final height than if they had experienced normal female puberty. I can't see how that helps them 'pass' as a man in adult life.

My nephew had an imaginary cousin who lived with his 'other family abroad' up until he was about 5.

Then he told us that they'd died.

He was very matter of fact about it, but also seemed absolutely convinced of the veracity of it. Kids believe all kinds of weird shit, it's how they make sense of the world.

This should not be taken by adults as a sign that they need to be castrated and mutilated.

Hannah had always said she would kill herself if she had to go through male puberty.

Just said so casually. A matter of fact statement. 'Yes, yes, dear. If you can't have drugs that will damage you for life, there's no other choice really.'

This is what those shitty parents and professionals have allowed this child to believe. This is harm. Caused by those who are supposed to be protective.

What this child needs is hope, calm and reassurance. Maybe they have completely ruined his brain already. Who knows what effect it must have being told daily and repeatedly that you're a girl. When you're not. Can a three year old's developing brain recover from that?

As some one remarked on an earlier thread (can't claim the credit!):

"Mummy, look, I'm a dinosaur!"
"That's nice, dear"
"Mummy, look, I'm a choo-choo-train!"
"That's nice, dear"
"Mummy, look, I'm a little girl!"
"Quick, phone the clinic!"

I’ve seen this as a meme: in answer to the “I’m a girl” the parent replies, “Quick! Phone the BBC!”

I hope one day the Guardian has to answer for their promotion of 'Trans children' - I can't believe I read that paper for 20 years, I'm embarrassed.

Kids believe all kinds of weird shit, it's how they make sense of the world.

This should not be taken by adults as a sign that they need to be castrated and mutilated.

Exactly @AstonScrapingsNameChange . It's actually surreal to me that this is genuinely happening. That medical professionals are allowing this and ordering this and agreeing to do it. I feel like we are in the Twilight Zone. It's horrifying. Then I get equally horrified at how so many people just think it's a good thing. Like wtf is wrong with you???? Let kids be kids! I was convinced I was a dinosaur when I was 4 I 'rarred' for about 2 months straight at dinner time rather than talk and my mum remembers I used to ask for lettuce and pretend to eat leaves. Should I have been affirmed and a dinosaur tail and claws sewn onto me??? Because that's what it's like! Kids are just imaginative and creative to make sense of the world it's not serious.

My 7 year old DS has ASD, and I’ve reinforced since he was tiny that liking pink, loving the way a skirt feels as it moves, dressing up as a princess, etc are all wonderful aspects of him.
He is a boy - that is his biology and is unchangeable - who has likes and dislikes across the broad range of possibilities that are available. Anyone can like or love any colour, hobby, book or character.
Oh - it also helped that I explained to my train-obsessed DS that an electric train with a smoke stack attached is just an electric train playing at being a steam engine…

Up to starting school, my daughter had a whole backstory she’d created for herself about the family she had belonged to before she came to live with us (for clarity, she is the biological child of me and my ex). It was very intricate, she knew her old parent’s names, siblings, pets, described where she had lived etc. Her nannie even said once “she’s been here before!” because she had precocious language. I listened to her and said “lovely! Etc” but was clear we were her only parents. She doesn’t even remember it now.

Of course, I could have got involved with past life organisations and websites and helped her explore her (fake) heritage and I’m sure there’s groups, (who are probably mostly harmless) who would have welcomed her insights. She could have been really special!* A child who proves past lives are real! But that would not have been right, it would have been exploitative, created a fictive narrative about who she is and would have needed a whole lot of lying on my part. It would have been hard for her to reject as she grew up as we would have tied all our identities to her previous incarnation.

Kids can talk a right load of shit at times, it’s how they make sense of reality, by sifting through experiences, feelings, testing what is real and what is thought. It’s how they work out the world.

*she is really special, btw. Just not because she lived a past life.

I find it odd that these confused children talk about puberty like it a gigantic studded door with a drawbridge, rather than a natural process that happens slowly over many years. I certainly didn't talk about "going through puberty" with my parents, friends or school, like it was a huge occasion. We were told it was growing up, part of becoming an adult. We were told changes happen but it was something good. You're going to grow taller & get boobs or your voice deepens and you get stronger. Most kids love growing up, wanting to be taller and older is common, so I have to wonder if it's the parents that are trying to prolong childhood by giving their child a cocktail of chemicals. I've never met a child who wanted to stay a child. Children can definitely be scared of growing up but that's usually realising you have to work and make decisions. More research needs to be done into the Munchhaussen by proxy theory in these cases.

My niece was a tomboy (as was I) who used to start sentences with " when i get my willy" & "when my penis grows", and we would laugh and say "sorry darling, that's not going to happen". She's grown into a well adjusted woman who can barely remember saying that. It frightens me to imagine what her life may have turned out if we had acted on those random sentences utter in childhood.

"More research needs to be done into the Munchhaussen by proxy theory in these cases".
Agreed.
Neutralising safeguarding and the agencies that safeguard children has enabled all this. We should have seen Social Services, the NSPCC and the courts keeping children safe - instead they were wining and dining with the men leading this movement, mangling children's boundaries and buying into the notion of the "transgender child" 😑

My DD hated growing up. She’s the youngest with two older brothers and I think being the cute little girly one suited her to a certain extent (wrapping her softy dad around her little finger!), but she did play with her brothers’ toys, wear their hand me down clothes and play their games, so she didn’t look like a ‘typical’ girl might who hasn’t grown up with brothers.

She grew really tall in Year 6 (for her age, head and shoulders above most of her friends and some teachers!) and developed in all the ways girls do long before anyone else. She asked to have her hair cut short (or course, I did it for her - i also had short hair at that age and saw no reason why not).

I can imagine if she’d had a non GC mum her wails about wishing she was a boy, hating her breasts and being happy if she could never have a period again might have come with a dollop of “I was born in the wrong body”.

As it was, at every step, she has been under no illusion that she’s a girl, female, could not change that even if she were able to stop periods, lop off boobs etc

She went through a period of thinking she was gay, having crushes on female friends and celebrities. Again, all totally par for the course growing up and no big deal made about “coming out” etc, just an implicit acceptance that whoever she is and whoever she fancies/loves is perfectly natural and as it is meant to be. No song and dance, rainbow flags or resistance to any of it.

She’s now a very girly looking adult, with long blonde hair, cute little outfits that show off her amazing figure and a crush on a man she works with. At some point she may date a woman, she may cut her hair again, she may put on/lose weight, have surgery (hopefully not) to increase or decrease her boob size or have those godawful fillers or fat removal etc. to make herself look younger/older/more like a fox,

Whatever she looks like, she will always be my daughter, a woman, a female, she has always “lived as a girl/woman” by having short hair and wearing camouflage combat trousers and playing Call of Duty and hating her body for the attention it gets and the ‘gross’ and messy ways it behaves sometimes! She may never want to have DCs but she will always have the option to try because she was allowed to grow up naturally, despite many pointers that could have led another parent down a different path for her.

Well quite. Age 3 my dd claimed to be a jaguar cub.

Most kids love growing up, wanting to be taller and older is common, so I have to wonder if it's the parents that are trying to prolong childhood by giving their child a cocktail of chemicals. I've never met a child who wanted to stay a child. Children can definitely be scared of growing up but that's usually realising you have to work and make decisions.

Oh I hated it, but that was more about having boobs and getting harassment from adult men (as well as boys at school). Also wasn’t a big fan of having periods, getting hairy legs and armpits and having to use deodorant, but that was more of an inconvenience issue. At no point did I want to stay a literal child, I wanted to be an adult female with a boyish figure and no body hair or periods. Honestly if I could wave a magic wand I’d still choose that now, and I’m 45.

Well I think it’s high time we brought back the four humours, blood-letting and astrological charts to decide on the optimal times for ‘treatment’ - they’re all just as effective as puberty blockers!

Joan Smith has written an article about this in Unherd

https://unherd.com/newsroom/blame-parents-for-rejection-of-the-cass-review/