WTF: Sex Change at 12 years old

[Rooster]

Unhappy as a boy, Kim became youngest ever transsexual at 12

By Bojan Pancevski in Vienna, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 1:12am GMT 29/01/2007

A boy of 12 is believed to have become the world's youngest sex change patient after convincing doctors that he wanted to live the rest of his life as a female.

The boy - originally called Tim, but now known as Kim - has started to receive hormone treatment, in preparation for the operation that will eventually complete the sex change.

Tim was diagnosed as a transsexual two years ago, when doctors and psychiatrists concluded that his claims to be "in the wrong body" were so deeply felt that he required treatment. The therapy involves artificially arresting male puberty, with a series of potent hormone injections before the administration of female hormones to initiate the development of features such as breasts.

Now aged 14, and officially registered as a female, Kim looks like a typical girl of her age. She dresses in fashionable clothes, has long blonde hair and blue eyes and dreams of moving to Paris to become a fashion designer. Her parents, who initially assumed their son was going through a temporary phase, eventually grew accustomed to seeing him as a girl.

The family's full identity has not been made public. But Kim's father, known as Lutz P. – speaking to the German publications Der Spiegel and Stern – said that as a child, the boy liked to play with Barbie dolls, enjoyed wearing dresses and, from the age of two, insisted that he was a girl. "We saw Kim as a girl, but not as a problem. Our life was surprisingly normal."

Kim reacted badly to the first signs of puberty, he said. "At that stage we realised that she was terrified of growing facial hair and her voice breaking."

Kim's parents consulted psychiatrists across Germany. Some condemned their support of their child's desire to undergo a sex change, or suggested that Kim be kept under observation in a closed psychiatric ward. But others agreed that the child should receive therapy, because growing up to be a man would have damaged her personality.

Dr Bern Meyenburg, the head of a clinic for children and adolescents with identity disturbances at Frankfurt University, concluded that the child was serious. He wrote in his diagnosis: "Kim is a mentally well-developed child who appears happy and balanced. There is no doubt of the determined wish, that was already detectable since early childhood. It would have been very wrong to let Kim grow up to be a man. It is rare to have such a clear-cut case."

Kim is reportedly fully accepted by her fellow school pupils and teachers. The costs of the procedure are being covered by health insurance, as the condition qualifies as an illness.

Dr Achim Wuesthof, an endocrinologist specialising in children and adolescents, who is treating the teenager at a clinic in Hamburg, said the procedure had been a success so far. Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, he said that even though under-16s were not permitted to undergo a sex change in other countries, he and his colleagues felt that in this case it had been best to start earlier. He said: "To the best of my knowledge, Kim is the youngest sex change patient in the world. According to German law, two independent psychiatrists must confirm that the child is indeed transsexual and approve the sex change. Once that has been done, it is best to start as early as possible.

"Transsexuals experience the onset of puberty, and the physical changes it brings, as a serious trauma. But there is a general lack of empathy with cases like Kim's, mostly because people know little about the condition. Imagine a man that suddenly starts growing breasts or a woman that starts growing a beard against their will – that is how Kim and people like her experience puberty.

"They are not freaks, nor do they suffer mental illness. They are simply trapped in the wrong bodies. That is why it is best to help them as early as possible and reduce the trauma for them and their families."

The problem that Dr Meyenburg and other psychiatrists faced was distinguishing a true transsexual personality from a temporary gender identity crisis. Dr Meyenburg quoted an example of a 15-year-old girl who wanted to change her sex, but who revealed during counselling that she had suffered brutal sexual abuse by her father – a case for psychological, rather than hormonal therapy.

Should Kim change her mind before the surgery, the procedure could be reversed. Doctors admit that the treatment involves a risk, however, and that its effects on children as young as Kim are not fully understood.

For legal reasons, the final stage – cosmetic surgery to remove the male genitalia – cannot take place until Kim is 18. Britain's youngest transsexual is Angel Paris-Jordan, who was granted an operation on the NHS at the age of 17.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../28/wkim28.xml

[crazycoffey]

I'm a lesbian in a man's body.

[StcChief]

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

When I was 12 I felt like a wolf trapped in a mans body. Every time people looked at me and called me human I felt uncomfortable. I just wanted to tell them, I'm a wolf, I'm not human. At night I would lay in bed and cry and ask god, why did you do this to me? Sometimes I would wake up and find myself eating out of the dogs dish. TO this very day I still piss on trees outside and have hurt my back several times trying to lick my own balls.

That wasn't a Wolf it was a horn dog.....

It makes just as much sense....

A freakin' 12 yo doesn't know sh1t about this.

This is prime example of why we want to have a European HC system here.... NOT.

[acesn8s]

Originally Posted by StcChief

That wasn't a Wolf it was a horn dog.....

It makes just as much sense....

A freakin' 12 yo doesn't know sh1t about this.

This is prime example of why we want to have a European HC system here.... NOT.

Hillary will save us.

[Stinger]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

This thread is worthless without pics.

http://www.drudgereport.com/sc.jpg


From the Drudge report

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by Stinger

http://www.drudgereport.com/sc.jpg


From the Drudge report

Why does she have socks on her hands? Is she getting into the whole domesticated housewife thing, too?
Good. If you're going to be a woman, then you'd better be prepared to go all the way with it.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by StcChief

A freakin' 12 yo doesn't know sh1t about this.

This is prime example of why we want to have a European HC system here.... NOT.

I am glad my parents didn't let me make a lot of permanent, life-altering decisions all by myself at age 12...

[banyon]

That makes sense, some loony European moron approved this ridiculous operation, so that means that poor people here who have legitimate medical issues should continue to be denied treatment.

[go bo]

the operation is not ridiculous...

it's an established medical procedure...

with good results, sfaik...

[Donger]

Originally Posted by banyon

That makes sense, some loony European moron approved this ridiculous operation, so that means that poor people here who have legitimate medical issues should continue to be denied treatment.

"Denied treatment?" The doctors and nurses should just work for free?

[Braincase]

Gender identity is a very complicated thing. We have the physical, the psychological and sexual issues to deal with.

My gender identity is that I am physically male, I am psychologically male, and sexually I prefer women, making me heterosexual.

The problem is that society wants everybody to follow that norm. We impress it on all as "Right", when in reality there are any number of known and unknown factors that affect gener identity. There are those that are physically male, psychologically male, but choose a male partner. There are those, like this poor kid, that identify themselves as being psychologically female despite being physically male. This creates a tremndous conflict and source of depression and anxiety to the point of being suicidal or worse.

Yeah, it's too bad that nature screwed up and made this kid a victim. Don't pile on, 'cause this kid has enough to deal with. UP does too, as have others on the board. I try to empathize, and I hope that this same sort of conflict doesn't happen to any of my kids or grandkids or any other kid I know, but the reality of it is that it does happen.

Then the real problem lies not so much in the treatment of the condition, but in society's ability to accept it.

[banyon]

Originally Posted by Donger

"Denied treatment?" The doctors and nurses should just work for free?

Yeah that's what I said.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by banyon

Yeah that's what I said.

Well, you say that they are being denied treatment. Why are they being denied treatment?

[banyon]

Originally Posted by Donger

Well, you say that they are being denied treatment. Why are they being denied treatment?

They are denied routine medical care by virtue of their poverty.

I am denied a yacht by virtue of my income.

The first situation is undesirable, the latter...eh, I don't like yachts anyway.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by banyon

They are denied routine medical care by virtue of their poverty.

I am denied a yacht by virtue of my income.

The first situation is undesirable, the latter...eh, I don't like yachts anyway.

So, they should be afforded something they can't afford?

[banyon]

Originally Posted by Donger

So, they should be afforded something they can't afford?

Are you in some sort of semantic games mood today?

It was an expression. And it's almost time for the KU game, so I can't play today.

Obviously I am for universal coverage and you are not due to your experiences with the British system. I respectfully disagree.

The post which started this was just my opinion that I thought people claiming this transgender chicanery represents some sort of evidence that universal coverage can't work were off base. The word "denied' was just an expression, I didn't intend it in a physical, but more of an abstract sense of the word.

We have plenty of threads in the other forum to keep up our ranting at each other.

BTW, In that one thread, I looked everywhere for some data on comparative doctor pay and came up with bupkus. I'm still interested in finding something that shows the disparity though.