this story desrves a huge wtf. whose parents allow this? yea a 7 year old really fuckin knows if they were meant to be a boy or girl. these parents are retarded as hell.

IRE..most Trans-folks know that they are different around this age. They choose toys and exhibit behavior that is different from the other kids, and usually it's the kids who will tell them they are wrong for feeling this way.

I think the parents are reacting to their childs needs, and not denying the reality of their kid.

So, I ask you, should the parents explore this or bury it, tell the kid to be "normal" whatever that means?

THE KID IS FUCKING 7!!!!!!!! he/she has no idea what they really are for the rest of their life

the kids parents are idiots for doing this.

frankly, im gonna call bs on this whole belief that 7 year olds really know what they "really are". shit i thouhgt i was gonna be an astronaut. i told my parents i wanted to do everything i could to become one. good thing i ddidnt go to a school focused on science cause i would'a flunked the fuck out.

that whole thing about "most Trans-folks know that they are different around this age" i dont buy as being any justification cause i bet theres a shit ton of kids who feel they are "different" at that age and dont act on it like this.

i mean seriously, looking back at your life, if you changed your life permanently based on how you were at 7 do yuo think youd be happy?

I could go on for hours about the redicoulousness of this.

Please try and convince me im wrong cause i dont see how ANYONE ignores the stupidity of the parents on this.

IRE... it's very clear to me you've never met or engaged in reasonable conversation anyone who is transgendered.

Obviously if you've never felt "different" you can't relate at all.

Seven is when many little boys will want to wear their sisters clothes, play with their toys and are not interested in "boy" things. It's not sexual obviously, they are just drawn to it. I use boys as the example, since what few studies exist show that it's about 2/3 MtoF in the trans community. FtoM is actually less easy to spot since girls can play at tomboy a lot easier than boys can reverse roles.

Oh and spare me the parents don't understand. Two years ago a man killed his son for acting like a "sissy".

IRE,

First of all, you can't really compare wanting to be an astronaut to wanting to change sexes.

Second, the vast majority of transgendered individuals will tell you that they "knew" early on that something was wrong. That they didn't feel comfortable in their skin.

At 7, they won't express that feeling by saying, "Mom. I feel like a boy in a girl's body" though some might.

Instead, they're merely expressing what they feel. Wanting to dress like the opposite sex, do things that the opposite sex does.

But perhaps you're right. We should force little girls and little boys to play with Barbies and GI Joes because it's socially acceptable.

Perhaps you need to educate yourself instead of spewing a Bill O'Reilly (tell me I'm wrong!) inspired rant.

plus it sucks when you ask for adidas and they buy you zips

I think it's worth pointing out that wanting to have and do "girl" things is one thing, and attempting a sex-change operation with scissors is quite another entirely. I imagine that accepting that one's seven-year-old child may really be suicidal goes a long way toward convincing one that maybe it really ISN'T a phase.

I'd suggest a spin in this woman's shoes, but I'm afraid the results for the child would not be good.

yes ive felt "different" and thanks for making judgements on my history that youve got no knowledge of!

i was completely different and felt the same way from pretty much everyone at my school up until about high school and i still feel completely different, and not just in terms of superficial things.

im just saying, this is permanent. if this kid in 7 years feels a little bit different, thats gonna relaly suck to be him.

"Instead, they're merely expressing what they feel. Wanting to dress like the opposite sex, do things that the opposite sex does." thats cause they are seven and figuring out life, not coming to definitive answers, they have no idea what societal norms are, they dont have the self conciousness to go this might not be acceptable, they just want to try it.

in no way do i think girls hsould only play with barbies and boys with GI joes.

i dont think seven year olds need to go through sex changes because they feel different. theyve got no grasp on their own life.

Benson,

Good point. Trying to cut off parts of your body is pretty drastic...

I beg to differ with the idea that a 7 year old does not know if she/he is a boy/girl. I point you to a famous case study taught in all psych. classes when GID is taught. It is about a boy whose physician botched his circumcision and the proposed solution, for which his parent were absolutely dilusional for agreeing to, was to be raised as a girl - hormones and all.

http://www.slate.com/id/2101678/

I'll let you read the story for yourself, but the end result was suicide.

Granted, this is a case of a forced external mismatch of internal chromosomes, but it can happen naturally, and the children do know something is wrong early in life. They may not know what it is at the time, but they know something is wrong.

Now that society has recognized this as feasible, parents are able to handle the issue in the earlier stages of life and hopefully avoid the result that so many who suffer from GID succomb to. While there may still be some disagreement on whether or not this is a psychological disorder or a physical one, one thing is for sure, children as young as two can rebel against the social norms of society.

allison, if parents have to teach their children about mundane rulse of society because they dont know better, i strongly doubt they can grasp things psychologists spend thier whole lives attempting to answer.

Actually, he didn't have the SRS. In order to have the surgery you have to go through enormous amount of testing, psychological therapy, and live like the opposite sex for a period of years. SRS is very difficult to ultimately have done, and no surgeon would perform such a drastic surgery on a 7 year old. Especially, without the prerequisite qualifications.

This little girl is living like she feels she should be, but hasn't physically become a girl yet. That will have to wait until adulthood.

Parents don't have to teach their children the mundane rulES of society. And they can't fully grasp things that psychologists spend thEIr whole lives attempting to answer. This is why the psychologists hold the Phd and not the children. This is also why such a drastic answer, SRS, is so difficult to obtain; while children at seven do have the cognitive abilities above that of a tomato, they still don't quite grasp what SRS entails (or probably do not even know SRS exists). At seven, this little girl just wanted to feel normal. Luckily, she has the parents she does.