There is little more dreadful for a parent than unintentionally hurting one's own child. There is little more traumatic for a child than having something they dearly want taken away from them. A Toronto psychologist is under fire for recommending controversial treatments which some believe cause just that.
A heartbreaking NPR documentary released this week tells the story of two families struggling with the gender identities of their children. "Bradley" is a young Toronto boy under the care of CAMH head psychologist Dr. Ken Zucker, while Jonah lives on the U.S. West Coast, and has been studied by Dr. Diane Ehrensaft. Both children were born biological males but are likely transgendered, yet the message being sent by the children's therapists couldn't be more different—Jonah is being allowed to live as a little girl in accordance with his wishes, whereas Bradley is being forced to reject everything even remotely feminine in an attempt to suppress his impulses.
Transgendered people have a gender conflict between brain and body—the characteristic "trapped in the body of another"—and some may even feel that their gender isn't a binary male or female, but falls on a continuum between the sexes. It's an oversimplification, but transmen and transwomen tend to feel much more comfortable when living a closer approximation to how they feel inside, even if it potentially subjects them to ignorance, ridicule, and violence from society at large. With transkids, who require adults to make decisions for them, questions arise of how to treat gender conflict at such an early age, or even if it requires treatment at all.
This is a great article by Marc. Read more at Torontoist...
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