Today on Fox News an article has come out bashing the state of Oregon for its attempt to help gender dysphoric children with severe issues.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/09/oregon-allowing-1...
The reality is that they, Fox News, makes it sound like these children are just one day going to their doctor and saying "I want to be a girl so can I have the sexual reassignment surgery please?" and the doctors are allowing it. In truth, these children and their parents have know about this issue for years. More than likely the children have been under doctors care with blockers and hormone replacement for more than a few years. The parents have most likely known their child was diagnosed with this disorder and have probably supported their child through this transition process the whole time. What has got the radical right upset is that they have now found out that the sexual reassignment surgery is included in all the medical choices that any 15 year old can make about any and all medical care provided to them by Oregon's medical franchise.
To my mind, this sounds like the religious right acting all surprised by something they never objected to when this law was passed and now that it has come to their attention, it is all a travesty. In truth, I would be curious to know how many 15 year olds have even taken advantage of this service. I think it may be one or two who have been suffering with this cursed disorder from a very young age and can now lead a normal life without the ugliness of having a body part that doesn't match their mental gender.
I would appreciate any and all discussion. Am I wrong in my thinking or just paranoid?
Comments
its great they are covering it
But, my concern is the reason they DONT do it is because the body is still growing a fair amount at that age. remember bodies can still be growing until like 25-27, but at a much slower pace of course. so long as it is not going to have complications for their future development (IE requiring additional surgeries to fix issues because of the additional growth) great. Hormones, etc i am good with, even removing those little poison factories in the low rent district to allow better development etc.
or am i off base on this?
Teresa L.
Teresa L.
Agreed
I totally agree with you on everything you say. The thing is that if a pubescent child has been on hormones, albeit I didn't think that any states allowed full hormone therapy until at least 16 years of age, for several years then the majority of the physical changes will have taken place by age 15 or 16. Yes there will be some maturing and continued bone development still but how much? I don't know since I am not a MD or a Physiologist by learning.
well i have heard
of kids on them from puberty, at least blockers. the issue is surgeries leave scars, if the growth is enough to outgrow the elasticity of the scar tissue, which is minimal, then tearing can occur, just from a standard medical viewpoint, which was the reason for the 18 (but might have also been the fact that was the age of "adulthood" and not under the parental control, or at least legally) minimum for surgery, generally the majority is done by then, but some does still occur. even in Europe, the youngest i have heard of was Kim Petras at 17.
also this article, it was fox news after all, never mentions the facts of getting APPROVAL AS PER the WPATH standards. i doubt any therapist would let most kids decide this and support it at those ages, unless they have seen them for several years straight, and had NO wavering, etc. and the fact you have to have TWO therapists agree to it, then find a doctor to accept the case (not sure how that works with medicaid, if they will MAKE doctors do it, not sure if i would want someone who is NOT experienced at it "giving it a try". bad experience with a Medical doctor who couldnt diagnose tonsillitis from a sore throat for over six months makes me VERY hesitant :D )
Teresa L.
Teresa L.
Age of growth
While supposedly we don't stop growing until we're in our twenties, I reached my full adult height by my 15th birthday, and my wife stopped growing at 13.
This is Fox News
I would really suggest looking for another angle on this story, specifically from a real news agency. The National Enquirer may have greater accuracy, for example, or perhaps North Korea News.
Very good
I know the source is suspect but I just wanted to post it so that people could see the sort of non-sense going on in our illustrious country of hill billy morons.
Thanks for the comment.
Dahlia
Just Watch The Daily Show
Jon Stewart highlights their juiciest atrocities.
Now Now Dahlia...
when you compare government officials to hillbillies, you're insulting a lot of hillbillies.
Telling People What They Want to Hear
They are all about making money (attracting viewers) by telling people on the right what they want to hear. It's much more propaganda than news. My recommendation is to pay no attention to them.
The recent PBS Frontline program "Growing Up Trans" is available for viewing on the PBS.ORG website. It is excellent: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365520005/
Fox ???
that is not a news channel . A bunch of bigots , just plain nuts
Every news channel...
is slanted and biased. Pick three news sources that cover the same story, and the truth will be somewhere in the middle of all of them.
Fox news
Their boss famously complained that he wasn't allowed to set up in the UK because we have these inconvenient rules about such things as accuracy and balance. Fox is the television equivalent of the Daily Mail, lying and slanting their 'facts' to support a repressive semifascist ideology. Your comment refers to 'news sources'; Fox is NOT a news source.
Fifteen is the state age of medical consent.
Plus the cases are rare so it's not the big deal Fox and it’s right wingers say it is.
My question is where does the right to ones own body autonomy start at?
Bailey Summers
They're not only bigots
they're accountants, so own ones body is fine as long as doesn't cost anyone anything. Personally, I think the state is being positive, it's Fox news who are crap and playing to their audience of shitheads.
Angharad
Absolutely
You are totally correct. It is not even so much about the cost, it is more about their moral dignity of failure to control someone else's life. In many ways the Christian religious right are worse than the radical, violent Muslim factions. This because they do all their damage surreptitiously and are cowards to face open debate or accept change.
I posted this to point out the radicalism of Fox News. I don't agree totally with Oregon's policies but they are trying to make positive changes.
Dahlia
Okay
Many of my friends and business associates are faithful Fox watchers. It's comforting for them to have their world view affirmed. Many of them are actually quite nice, just a little misdirected.
The 84-year old "expert" they put on camera is a piece of work. He failed to disclose that he also opposes SRS for adults. Part of his "proof" that SRS fails in providing a positive outcome is that the female is not at all interested in babies. HUH?
His views on homosexuality are equally bogus.
Just part of Fox' "fair and balanced" reporting. I resent any suggestion that the rest of the media is liberal. Our TV networks are owned by BIG corporate. How liberal do you think they can be without the guys in the ivory towers coming down on them?
No . . . I don't think your assumptions are out of line. What care-giver would ever participate in SRS without the parent's knowledge. They don't have to consent, but wouldn't you want their support if it was at all available?
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Oh Fuck Fox
I live here in Portland, Oregon and know who the people are who are helping these children. I fully concur with their actions. There are 3 other TV stations here and none of them have said anything like this. Fox Ch 12 is mostly just lying. Their use of misinformation is unpardonable. I've spent 11 years in stealth here but lately I've gotten involved in activities that seem worth it to me, and for me that is not running around doing demonstrations and all that, but to simply live my life out, quietly and peacefully, right in their face.
Their program sounds substantially like the program run by Boston Children's Hospital. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tqil7Audws by Dr Norman Spack.