Research: Gender dysphoria and reassignment therapy in young people

[Thorn Wilde]

I'm doing research for one of my stories, and my Google-fu just isn't strong enough.

 

Backstory goes: A 'boy' named Anthony is diagnosed with gender dysphoria at a young age. Therapy has no effect, he remains convinced that he's supposed to be female, and when he's nine years old, his mother and his shrink decide that he should be allowed to express his chosen gender identity, and they move away from the town where they live and Anthony transitions into Tania. Several years later, Tania, who is now taking hormones and living as entirely female, returns to her old town, with nobody knowing who she used to be.

 

So far, so good. I've been reading up on hormone therapy, reassignment surgery, consulted transgendered friends of mine and so on. I know how the process goes. But what I need to know is when, historically, did gender reassignment therapy, hormones and puberty blockers become legal for under-18s in the UK? This story, the part where Tania returns home, is supposed to be taking place sometime between the year 2000 and 2004, but I can't find any info regarding whether she could have received the kind of treatment she's meant to have had in the UK in that time frame.

 

So that's my question. Does anybody know? And if she couldn't, are there other countries she could have moved to temporarily in order to get that treatment?

[Andy78]

It's not an easy topic to find stuff on the net on - I know, I've tried.  That's part of the reason why I've only dipped my toes into the subject in some of my stories, and never tried to write anything of length or detail on the matter.

 

I'd suggest contacting either one of the gender clinics around the UK or GIRES and see if they are prepared to send you some material on the legal issues people with GID face, or they may be able to point you to someone who can help.

 

You could also try Press For Change who are experts in transgender law (at least according to their website).  There are also a few other links from their website as well.

 

Please note that I do not endorse any of these websites, and I'm not suggesting that they are accurate in any way.

Edited May 5, 2013 by andy021278

[Thorn Wilde]

Cheers, I'll check those links out.

[Zombie]

what I need to know is when, historically, did gender reassignment therapy, hormones and puberty blockers become legal for under-18s in the UK? This story, the part where Tania returns home, is supposed to be taking place sometime between the year 2000 and 2004, but I can't find any info regarding whether she could have received the kind of treatment she's meant to have had in the UK in that time frame.

 

I posted a thread a few weeks ago with the transcript of a BBC radio doc discussing the issues around transgenderism and the Gender Recognition Act 2004

 

https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/topic/36732-male-female-who-decides/

 

So you need to read up on the Gender Recognition Act 2004 which, according to one contributor "is the state of the art Act in relation to this anywhere in the world".

 

Based on what was said in the programme the minimum age in the UK for medical intervention was 12 in 2011:

 

    "Just under two years ago, approval was given in the UK to hormone blockers so that gender dysphoric 12 year olds can stop their bodies developing. At the age of 16, they can choose to start taking cross-sex hormones, and at 18, can have surgery. Last year, just over 200 children were referred for medical help ..."

 

So for a nine year old in 2000, 2004 or 2013 the answer seems to be no.

 

Bear in mind that, as one contributor points out: "Many children who present as transgender end up identifying as either lesbian or gay in later life and no longer identify as transgender. Definitely had I been taken to a psychiatrist when I was you know in my early teens and was being bullied because of living outside of gender rules, I may well have been given a diagnosis of being transgender and I could be sitting here talking to you as a male. So I think hormone blockers for children are a dreadful idea."

 

Maybe the transcript will give you some other story plot line ideas from the points raised

 

[Thorn Wilde]

I didn't mean that she was to start taking blockers at 9, they don't do that anyway, I know. I meant at the onset of puberty. As physically male, that would be around age 12 or 13, possibly 14 if 'he' was a little bit slow.

 

But thanks for the link and the info.