I also forgot to mention Littmans more recent research on adolescent girls(biological) being trans boys.
She investigates the possibility that some are following trends and social conformity.
This has also been controversial in the trans community because some see it as trying to prove that adolescents are confused about their gender identity and don’t deserve to have any autonomy over medical decisions like hormone treatments.
Now, as I said before. I believe that people have full autonomy over their own bodies. 100%.
However, I don’t extend this to children.
I think children don’t understand the risks associated with hormone therapy.
And I , who was once a teenager myself, agree that many teenagers are prone to following fads and trends of their peers.
I don’t see how anyone can deny that happens at a high rate in children and teenagers.
I also don’t deny that a teenager is capable of knowing themselves. They can. They do.
But it’s a time of development. It’s a time of exploring oneself and Identity. It’s not the right time to make permanent, life long, risky decisions, that someone who has only been alive for 15 years can actually understand what that means.
We don’t let teenagers get plastic surgery, tattoos, buy alcohol, or even lottery tickets. Because we understand that they can’t evaluate risks yet.
Are there (hormone injection) exceptions to be made for some teens. Absolutely.
Littmans research aims to discover which trans teens will continue being trans and which will flip back to their biological based gender. That way the kids who will benefit from hormones get the hormone intervention and those that it will harm, get supportive therapy instead.
It helps reduce the risk of kids taking hormone injections and permanently disrupting their sexual development because for 6 months they thought maybe they wanted to be in a different body.
I honestly would think the trans community would support this type of research because it’s going to help reduce the risk of regret transitioners.
But as with all research on trans, it is often weaponized against the community. So their concern is valid on that front.
But if we ignore this type of research or try to stop it; What could happen is we get people who start suing medical doctors and maybe have bad relationships with their parents. Because as a teen who was exploring their identity, the adults in their life quickly suggested hormones and allowed that to start when it shouldn’t have.
“I really wish my parents didn’t let me take hormones when I was 15 and depressed, and thought transitioning would fix all my problems. Now I’m sterile and don’t have the body I should have had”.
-these stories are going to be way more damaging to trans rights and more specifically, adolescents trying to take hormones that do need them.
There already are such people on social media. And the number will grow if we don’t find better ways to evaluate kids.
We have to find ways to determine which kids feel this way consistently and long term. And those following trends.
Especially young girls turning to trans guys. Because many young women see how women are devalued in our society and don’t want to be on the oppressed side.
Lots of things may influence teenagers. We need research to better help them
This argument is the one that pisses me off more than anything any adult does (and I’m around 50): I made these mistakes when I was young so I think we need to stop you from making the same mistakes. It’s so patronizing.
I often hear it from conservatives explaining why young people are voting the wrong way. I’ve heard it from the religious when explaining why young people will eventually come (back) to Christianity. I’ve heard it from anti-drug people for why marijuana should be illegal.
We certainly could use studies on this sort of thing, but this statement alone makes me suspicious of your personal views on the subject because people I’ve heard make this sort of statement are always coming from a biased position and they never realize it because it’s so foundational to their opinion on the topic.
Thank you for taking the time to write this
I also forgot to mention Littmans more recent research on adolescent girls(biological) being trans boys.
She investigates the possibility that some are following trends and social conformity.
This has also been controversial in the trans community because some see it as trying to prove that adolescents are confused about their gender identity and don’t deserve to have any autonomy over medical decisions like hormone treatments.
Now, as I said before. I believe that people have full autonomy over their own bodies. 100%. However, I don’t extend this to children.
I think children don’t understand the risks associated with hormone therapy.
And I , who was once a teenager myself, agree that many teenagers are prone to following fads and trends of their peers.
I don’t see how anyone can deny that happens at a high rate in children and teenagers.
I also don’t deny that a teenager is capable of knowing themselves. They can. They do.
But it’s a time of development. It’s a time of exploring oneself and Identity. It’s not the right time to make permanent, life long, risky decisions, that someone who has only been alive for 15 years can actually understand what that means.
We don’t let teenagers get plastic surgery, tattoos, buy alcohol, or even lottery tickets. Because we understand that they can’t evaluate risks yet.
Are there (hormone injection) exceptions to be made for some teens. Absolutely.
Littmans research aims to discover which trans teens will continue being trans and which will flip back to their biological based gender. That way the kids who will benefit from hormones get the hormone intervention and those that it will harm, get supportive therapy instead.
It helps reduce the risk of kids taking hormone injections and permanently disrupting their sexual development because for 6 months they thought maybe they wanted to be in a different body.
I honestly would think the trans community would support this type of research because it’s going to help reduce the risk of regret transitioners.
But as with all research on trans, it is often weaponized against the community. So their concern is valid on that front.
But if we ignore this type of research or try to stop it; What could happen is we get people who start suing medical doctors and maybe have bad relationships with their parents. Because as a teen who was exploring their identity, the adults in their life quickly suggested hormones and allowed that to start when it shouldn’t have.
“I really wish my parents didn’t let me take hormones when I was 15 and depressed, and thought transitioning would fix all my problems. Now I’m sterile and don’t have the body I should have had”.
-these stories are going to be way more damaging to trans rights and more specifically, adolescents trying to take hormones that do need them.
There already are such people on social media. And the number will grow if we don’t find better ways to evaluate kids.
We have to find ways to determine which kids feel this way consistently and long term. And those following trends.
Especially young girls turning to trans guys. Because many young women see how women are devalued in our society and don’t want to be on the oppressed side.
Lots of things may influence teenagers. We need research to better help them
This argument is the one that pisses me off more than anything any adult does (and I’m around 50): I made these mistakes when I was young so I think we need to stop you from making the same mistakes. It’s so patronizing.
I often hear it from conservatives explaining why young people are voting the wrong way. I’ve heard it from the religious when explaining why young people will eventually come (back) to Christianity. I’ve heard it from anti-drug people for why marijuana should be illegal.
We certainly could use studies on this sort of thing, but this statement alone makes me suspicious of your personal views on the subject because people I’ve heard make this sort of statement are always coming from a biased position and they never realize it because it’s so foundational to their opinion on the topic.