The mostly harmless pedant. ([info]stormdog) wrote,
@ 2008-05-08 18:18:00
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Current mood: pleased

For two days in a row, NPR's All Things Considered has been talking about transgendered children. Both days it's been really interesting to listen to, but the content today was particularly inspirational. The reporter was interviewing the parents of a ten year old transgendered girl and, as well as talking about the experimental way her situation is being addressed, had some simply beautiful recountings of the support that she and her parents have received from other family members. I found my eyes a little moist at a couple of points through the story.

If it's a topic that interests you (and I think I know at least a couple of people who it will *grins*), I highly recommend listening. You can get the programs at the site that I linked to above.


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[info]sabrinageek
2008-05-08 11:42 pm UTC (link)
Who, me? *batbat eyes*

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[info]stormdog
2008-05-08 11:47 pm UTC (link)
*grins* Among others, yes.

Oh, do give it a listen; you'll love it! It's one of those things that just makes you glow at how accepting some people can be.

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[info]sabrinageek
2008-05-08 11:49 pm UTC (link)
*sigh* Yeah, now if I could sneak it onto my parent's radio or something..

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[info]stormdog
2008-05-08 11:56 pm UTC (link)
*hugs*

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Sneak It To Parents
[info]ankhorite
2008-05-10 07:31 am UTC (link)

I'm pretty sure you can find it by thrashing around on the NPR website, especially if you move quickly.

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[info]laureth
2008-05-08 11:59 pm UTC (link)
I head the one about Jonah and "Bradley" yesterday. Wonderful stuff! I hope it wakes some people up.

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[info]stormdog
2008-05-09 12:02 am UTC (link)
Yeah.... I hope so too.

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[info]moiracoon
2008-05-09 12:06 am UTC (link)
Thank you for sharing love...

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[info]stormdog
2008-05-09 12:46 am UTC (link)
I'm glad you enjoyed listening to it.

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[info]custardfairy
2008-05-09 02:42 am UTC (link)
Very neat...I'll have to give a listen. :)

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[info]stormdog
2008-05-09 01:06 pm UTC (link)
Cool! It's definitely worthwhile.

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[info]linnaeus
2008-05-09 02:25 pm UTC (link)
I heard those, and they were fascinating and well done. I really feel for both the kids and the parents. A lot of tough choices for parents who I'm sure want the best for their kids. Still, the whole thing with the therapist who had the one kid's parents taking away any toys that seemed at all effeminate would have been laughable if it wasn't so tragic ("Stop drawing unicorns! Here, have another truck.") Anyway, I wish the best for everyone involved.

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[info]stormdog
2008-05-09 02:39 pm UTC (link)
Me too. I know that the adults involved all have good intentions. We all know where that road can lead though.

You know, when I was a little boy, I remember always wanting unicorns and pegasi on my folders. I think that, due to my other neruological issues, I wasn't very conscious of gender roles, possibly because I wasn't very conscious of other children as individuals until much later than most people develop that sort of thinking. These stories have really made me think. I really feel for young children, and parents of young children, who have to manage this sort of thing.

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[info]linnaeus
2008-05-09 03:02 pm UTC (link)
I had a bit of that going on myself while I was growing up. I'd be a little worried about kids being pigeonholed early on as transgendered if they're still figuring themselves out or just not conforming to the roles adults expect of them for other reasons. That didn't seem to be the case with any of the kids on the NPR pieces, but I'd be reluctant to sign a kid up for hormone blockers or dress them and enroll them in school as something other than their birth gender until they've had a few more years experience in their own skin. Of course, that can lead to problems too, so all in all I'm pretty glad I'm not in a situation to have to make those kinds of choices, and I feel for those who do.

Edited at 2008-05-09 03:04 pm UTC

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[info]stormdog
2008-05-09 05:00 pm UTC (link)
It's a terrible choice to have to make, I'm sure. As much as the therapist who took away all of the things that made the child happy made me sad, I do see the point that that side is making; that it's very difficult for a child to know for sure where they stand when they are that young.

My belief is that there are cases, like those talked about on the radio, where you just make the best choice you can for everyone's happiness. I would make the choice to let my child express themselves as the opposite gender if they were that firmly set on it. I'd do my best to explain future social and medical consequences to them in terms that they can understand and let them make their own choice. Sometimes adults need to make choices for children, and in a lot of cases that's a good thing. But I think that leads for some people to a belief that they always have to make choices for their children and that they alway know what's best. I don't think they always do. Really good parents get it right most of the time, but nobody's perfect, and you have to listen to what children want, and what they need, and differentiate between the two.

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The Deprived Child
[info]ankhorite
2008-05-10 07:30 am UTC (link)
Going back to what [info]linnaeus was talking about above — Savant and I have listened to part of the series and got downright depressed.

Taking away the kid's ability to draw in yellow or lavender because those are too feminine? Making him confess to liking pink — at the age of five — with all the shame you'd hear from an adult admitting to compulsive gambling?

And then the mother dares to say the kid seems "heavy and depressed"? YA THINK?

Poor kid. They'll no more train him->her out of this than other kids can be trained out of being left-handed or gay.

Another thing that bugged me about the series is not once did I hear any of the med folks mention doing a DNA study on the kids to find out if their genetic gender is incongruent with their anatomical gender. Pfft! Quack, quack, quacks! Makes me wish I had a hamster ducky icon.

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Re: The Deprived Child
[info]stormdog
2008-05-10 01:11 pm UTC (link)
That part of it was rather a downer. That was the Wednesday show. The Thursday one was about just one specific young girl in the wrong body whose parents were electing to put her on hormone blockers to prevent puberty until she was older and could better decide whether to develop as male, or be put on femals hormones and develop much more femininely. It's a hard choice for all involved, I'm sure, but it was really gladdening to hear that they were all trying to help her make it in the best way for her.

But yes, the poor children who are forced to give up everything that makes them happy made me really sad....

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