Interesting Article

I read an article on the transkids.us website. It discussed some interesting points, but I do wonder if it misses the point as well. Here are some questions (bulleted) it says the concept of gender identity raises followed by my answers (normal text):

• Why are intersex children subjected to unconsented traumatic genital surgery to prevent the "cognitive dissonence" of gender ambiguity which is assumed to result from their unacceptable genitals while phenotypically normal adult males who have been effectively socialized as men generally become very gender variant as a result of voluntary transsexual medicalization?

I think that this person mischaracterizes the views of some of these people, assuming they all hold the same views. It has long been my understanding that most transsexuals do NOT favor forced genital surgery on young children, however.

• Why is the "gender expression" of spontaneously feminine boys labeled Childhood Gender Identity Disorder and most often therapeutically discouraged and the "gender expression" of adult male crossdressers and autogynephilics socially and legally sanctioned?

You can thank your close ideological buddy Zucker for that one, as he is closely tied to Blanchard, Bailey, and Lawrence. It's Zucker that pushes for disorders like Childhood GID, while transsexuals generally oppose GID being where it is.

• Why do the treatment protocols for m2f transsexuals fail to address treatment of extremely feminine boys at a meaningful age, when it will help them achieve good social and sexual function as girls, while facilitating feminization of adult men who will become less socially and sexually functional as a result?

You make it seem like the adults who receive such treatment benefit from that exclusion. None of them favor that either, and they wish they had more acceptance of their feelings as children as well.

• Why are intersex children of all socio-economic backgrounds subjected to unasked for destructive surgery early to "correct" their bodies and gender development before they can express gendered behavior, while hsts transkids expressing early and unambiguous feminine gender behavior are denied obviously helpful medical procedures as teenagers because they are "too young"?

You can blame a combination of social conservatives (who mean well but misunderstand the condition in question) and over-cautious medical practicioners who are worried about the legal consequences.

This article, seemingly compelling at first, comes out with all sorts of mischaracterizations of the motivations of m2f transsexuals and doesn't even attempt to discover why some m2f's wait so long.