Do new pronouns and name for a child claiming the other sex count as "therapy"?

[MyAmpleSheep]

Moving on from what a very young child understands when they say they are the opposite sex, is positive affirmation (cross-sex pronouns, a new name etc.) a neutral act, or a form or therapy?

Is there an obligation to properly investigate and assess the child before embarking on this course of action?

What does such an assessment consist of? In what sort of case is the child not recommended for "positive affirmation"? If never, then why bother with assessment?

I note in passing that I understand the Cass Report to describe social transitioning viewing social transition not as a neutral or automatic intervention, but as a significant psychosocial step that requires careful clinical assessment rather than an immediate or unguided default.

I'm really interested to hear answers from anyone who tends to the "children just know" point of view. Do you see assessment merely as illegitimate gatekeeping between a child and their happiness?

I was following the discussion in the previous thread, and I was reminded of this piece.
This is a story about the influence that parents and therapists may have on the gender identity of very young children.
https://www.pittparents.com/p/true-believer
I have also listened to the interview the mum gave on Gender, a wider lens.
https://www.widerlenspod.com/p/109-what-if-we-are-all-wrong-a-mothers-e3d?utm_source=publication-search
Another interview was given to triggernometry.

It's neither a neutral act nor therapy....

It's at best bad/unwise parenting, at worse abuse.

Thanks for posting those @Mountainlarch . It is scary how easily adoption of an unevidenced ideology can lead good people to do bad things. Hopefully that family and those boys have emerged without too much damage.

Meh, what next parents can't teach their children about their particular sky fairy because its a "significant psychosocial step that requires careful clinical assessment rather than an immediate or unguided default"?

This sort parental busy bodying interference is only going to open a can of worms.

I was thinking more about in schools and peer groups, where there are safeguarding obligations.

Parents, with good reason, have wide latitude to screw up their children in all sorts of ways without state interference.

What's a "sky fairy"? There's no such thing in any major religion, is there? Or are you using the term to sneer at the concept of God?

There was discussion about PBs in the House of Lords yesterday. It’s worth a read, if nothing more to highlight the range of issues the children have who have visited the GI clinics and the numbers who have been discounted from even being considered for the trial.

Accepting a trans child eases their dysphoria. So does coming out, but that exposes the child to anti-trans bullying and street violence, which greatly impacts mental health.

Trans boys bind less when they're accepted, for example.

The vast majority of trans children don't ever get access to gender-affirming care. I wonder if you realise that. Waiting lists are over a decade long.

Trans children badly need their parents and wider family to accept and love them, because the world is a violent and hostile place when you're trans.

Social transition is the child's choice, and very much not an easy one.

I would love you to walk one day in a trans child's shoes, through the hell that is school. You might understand that trans kids are perfectly normal human beings capable of making their own decisions.

Street violence.

Against a four year old.

I think we're on different planes here.

Also unless I grossly misunderstand, I don't think many four year olds are binding their chests.

Link to the debate.

https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2026-10-22/debates/6AEF0EB6-954C-43C0-8F9B-34C5F7783A95/PubertyBlockersAndCross-SexHormones

There's a mix of sensible people who think this experiment on children should never have been allowed and some true believers.

Cass is a true believer

https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/hormone-treatments-and-age-consent-government-policy/

On another thread, a Mumsnetter said she wrote this.

Two things jumped out at me.

One is that they admitted that the vast majority of gender- confused children are merely temporarily confused and are responding to other issues in their lives. Given that it's likely quite a few of those children go through a phase of not merely admitting to being confused, but strongly insisting that they are a different gender, the looming conversion therapy bill looks increasingly sinister.

The other is that I didn't feel 100% sure whether Hilary Cass really believed in innate gender incongruence from birth, or whether she just felt that children who had been socially transitioned very early were a lost cause psychologically anyway, and would probably be happier if they were physically transitioned too.

Which thread was that?

That’s a yesterday memory. It’s now gone forever.

I found a (short) thread about the briefing, so I've added the link to the debate to that thread.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5589060-hormone-treatments-and-age-consent-government-policy?reply=155521653

I accept and love my son. I don't accept that he is any way a woman. Unless you change the definition of "woman" to be gender identity based, how can you say that I'm wrong? We cannot make other people see us as we see ourselves, so he cannot expect me to change my perception of him just because he has changed his perception of himself. But he seems to think that I don't accept him. So how do we square this particular circle?