What studies?Mothra said:The problem with this analysis is that studies have shown no net benefit from the "treatments" for dysphoria you advocate - hormone therapy, gender reassignment surgery, etc.Frank Galvin said:We allow medical treatments to be performed by some doctors despite the refusal of other doctors to perform the procedure all the time. That does not make the doctors or the treament right or wrong, the discrepancy makes it a judgment call. And again, it should be parents who make the judgment.90sBear said:I know many doctors and other health care workers. They run the political, religious, social justice, ethical, money-loving range just like anyone else. I can find you doctors who would never prescribe puberty blockers for children to transition or perform any breast removal surgery on a minor. So are they all wrong? Your description makes it sound as if this is universally accepted care amongst all health care professionals. I can assure you it is not.Frank Galvin said:Starting with your last point. Doctors actually are less prone to being influenced by "outside voices" for many reasons. First, the screening process for med school insures that doctors have uncommon, verging on rare, intellectual abilities. Second, doctors' 7-10 years of training before they practice independently drills into them, almost above all else, the need for evidence-based decision making and the need to protect the patient. Third, powerful disincentives towards ignoring evidence exist in the form of licensure and malpractice proceedings. Doctors are far from infallible, but they are not "like everybody else." The opposite is true.90sBear said:1) At what age do you think puberty blockers are being given? At what age do you think it is appropriate to start?Frank Galvin said:Puberty blockers are prescribed at the onset of puberty.So what you describe (and what most of you imagine about the medical treatments at issue) is not happening or not happening in the manner you believe.Jack Bauer said:
When a 4 year old boy says he likes the color pink or plays with dolls and your reaction is to put him on puberty blockers, YES the state needs to step in.
Most likely it is a phase or he may be turn out to be gay, but he doesn't magically just become a girl!!
For a child who is assigned female at birth, Dr. Cartaya says puberty typically starts between the ages of 8 and 13. For a child who was assigned male at birth, the range is between 9 and 14.)
2) At what age do you think surgeries are being performed? At what age do you think surgeries are appropriate?
Breast removal for trans boys at age 15
We have also seen the reverse: moms and dads pushing for FTM top surgery for their childrensome as young as 14 or 15.
I am most interested in the child's freedom to fully mature and make their own life changing decision as an adult, not as a 8-10 year old with who knows what outside voices encouraging them one way or another. Medical professionals as a whole are no less prone to being influenced by outside voices including financial gain than any other group.
With that in mind, my understanding of blockers and hormone treatment comports with what the Mayo clinic says:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/in-depth/pubertal-blockers/art-20459075
Your ages are generally correct. I agree that children that age can't make these decisions for themselves. I also agree that the therapies are not appropriate unless there has been sustained and deep-seated feelings of dysphoria. I obviously have no problem with parents who do not seek or refuse treatment even when there has been sustained and deep-seated feelings of dysphoria.
What you and most on the thread are missing is that there can be harm to not acting when there are sustained and deep-seated feelings of dysphoria. Doctors are trained to understand the difference between phases and actual dysphoria. Parents are the best judge of what is right for their kids. It is a judgment call and a terrible one to have to make. But if it is my kid, I want to be the one that makes that decision. You want to make it for me.
As for your judgment call, I ask you the same question I asked before. Which is the worse outcome:
An adult person more fully develops physically and emotionally (some research says this really doesn't happen until 25, but we have largely settled on 18) and makes an adult decision to have surgery/take hormones that can permanently change them and in their mind goes through an unnecessarily challenging adolescence (like a lot of other kids) waiting for what the child thinks is an unfair amount of time.
or
A child takes drugs/has surgery that permanently changes their body and they end up regretting it later in life but the change has now been done and reversal surgeries are difficult, expensive, and have mixed results. Again, It is unknown exactly how much influence a parent or physician or anyone else influenced them in this decision and did not do their due diligence in making sure it was what was absolutely best for the child.
Your question is unfair, which is why I did not answer it before. By phrasing the harm in the first option as you do (" goes through an unnecessarily challenging adolescence (like a lot of other kids) waiting for what the child thinks is an unfair amount of time') woefully understates the harm and risk that some teenagers deal with if they are dysphoric.
When the treatment you advocate for produces no net benefit, it might be a good time to re-think whether those treatments are medically necessary.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-the-science-on-gender-affirming-care-for-transgender-kids-really-shows/