
Why the surge in gender dysphoria among teenage girls? - kgwgk
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-why-the-surge-in-gender-dysphoria-among-teenage-girls/
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empath75
I know this is controversial and I have adult friends that I believe are truly
transgender and seem happy after transitioning, but man do I feel
uncomfortable diagnosing prepubescent or adolescents as ‘transgender’. I think
kids should absolutely be allowed to choose their identity and dress how they
like and be called what they like. I’ve got a 2 year old boy and if when he’s
five he wants to wear dresses and call himself Tina, I’m okay with that, no
judgement, but at the point where there’s medical intervention is where I draw
the line. Puberty and hormones are weird and unpredictable and you never know
how someone will be when they’re 20 or 22 compared to where they are when
they’re 12 or 9 or even 16.

If someone is a full grown adult and fully understands the consequences, they
should be able to do what they like, but for children I don’t think adults
should be pushing permanent life-changing medical treatments on them.

Edit: I'm just going to add another thing. As someone who thinks traditional
gender roles are largely bullshit, I think it's unfortunate that kids who may
prefer clothes or activities traditionally associated with the opposite gender
are being pushed to believe that they actually _are_ that gender. Why can't
boys like to wear "girly" clothes and play with dolls without being told
they're actually a girl inside? Why can't girls cut their hair short and play
sports without being told they must really somehow literally be a boy?

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lightbyte
I agree that it sounds uncomfortable for a child to make just a permanent
life-changing decision like that, but the counter point is that transitioning
is _significantly_ easier on the body and mind before puberty happens.

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eximius
It's definitely a catch-22.

In the vein of 'do no harm', I'd tend towards delaying it, even though it
might be harder later, rather than proactively pushing a treatment that will
later be revealed to be a mistake. It's too hard to present the options to a
child without putting bias and pressure on them.

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falcolas
I agree on the value of delay. During childhood, we all wanted to be
firefighters, police, the president, and astronauts. We don't start those
children down a permanent path based on those choices, we (mostly) let them
become adults before locking down career paths.

There are some exceptions to these rules, of course. One in particular is
athletes. Society happily will fundamentally alter a child's or adolescent's
body in pursuit of athletics.

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eximius
I can't help but wonder how much is attention seeking - wanting to feel
special, different - which is a disservice to those who really would normally
have this... Condition sounds negative, but I'll use it for lack of a better
term.

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waterpigcow
I don't think it's a conscious choice. I would think its a psychological
phenomenon possibly more common in those who are naturally attention seeking
but i doubt they intentionally mean to seek attention. i do agree that if they
are attention seeking it could detract from the rest of the trans community.

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eximius
I'm certainly not attributing malice to it, or conscious choice. As someone
else said, the newfound acceptance of talking about it could have made it a
new outlet of attention seeking. Most people at that stage in their life don't
choose that kind of thing and don't self-reflect unless it's pointed out.

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waterpigcow
I think this is fascinating, I think that ROGD could be a real thing but
nipping science because it's politically inconvenient is not a good thing to
do and has disastrous consequences. that being said i'm not sure that ROGD is
actually politically inconvenient to the left, it merely expands the
definition of trans. I do think this article uses slightly outdated
terminology, neglecting to use AMAB (assigned male at birth) and AFAB
(assigned female at birth) instead calling males or boys "girls who identified
as boys."

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pmdulaney
I think that as girls in US culture approach puberty they suddenly realize
that being a more-or-less generic young person will no longer allow them to
maintain an acceptable status. They feel the pressure to dress and do their
hair and own nice outfits, etc. Some don't want to do that, period. Others
sense that they will not be deemed attractive no matter how hard they try.
They want to exit from the "game".

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CapacitorSet
That's curious. The article made me think of an anecdote recounted to me about
four 20-something boys figuring out they identified as girls in rather short
succession, where the witness also hypothesized there was a social effect.

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alexmorse
Because it's becoming acceptable to talk about it

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krona
If that is the only explanation then we would see far more boys being
diagnosed.

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eximius
Not necessarily. The underlying cause could be biased towards one gender. We
don't know what causes it.

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krona
I said "If that is the only explanation...".

