Transgender 7 year old.

[Phemar]

Seriously, wtf? What are your thoughts in this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S5usRgY720&feature=player_embedded

[NickyNyce]

There is nothing wrong with how people choose to live their life, but at 7 years old and talking like that...the parents obviously are not doing something right and have something to do with it....I'm sorry I watched it.

[Stupot]

I'm not having this.  Kids this age are far too young to have made their mind up about something like this. Sure, they might behave like a girl and play with dolls and even say they want to be a girl, and by all means stand by them.  But at least fucking wait for them to hit puberty before labelling them 'transgender', because chances are, when they discover boobies they'll change their mind again.

[NickyNyce]

I agree. This is obviously the mother wanting her boy to be a girl. I would almost bet any amount of money that the father is not in their life. This parent should be ashamed of herself for twisting this kids mind at such a young age. Kids only know what you tell them and what they hear, this kid has obviously been coaxed along to say these things. Poor kid is probably going to have a tough life because his parent sucks!!!

What parent puts their child on YouTube saying these things. The Mother has made sure there will be no way in hell this kid is ever going to be a boy ever again, she has made his mind up for him, shame, shame, shame.

[8BitFreak]

Well, as a parent myself my first reaction is like most to say kids at that age are too young to make decisions like that.

But after reading about his/her/schler's story I don't think she's been coaxed or coached into this.

Also, point of order you guys are a little behind the times.  "Jazz" is now 12+ years old.

http://www.advocate.com/Arts_and_Entertainment/Television/TV_New_Transgender_Sensation_is_Eleven_Years_Old/

[Kaelem Gaen]

Also as stated numerous times in the comments on that out of date video,   transgender does not mean they went through the surgery or treatments yet, it just means they're living as a the gender they feel they, it may change sometime down the road it may not,  though talk to enough Trans-individuals later in their life and most state they knew they were in the wrong body at a young age.

[8BitFreak]

Yeah, according to what I read s/he hasn't had any surgeries and is only taking hormone pills off/on.  If you read towards the bottom of page 2 of that article I posted ^^ there is a rather humorous/disturbing(?) story about a certain "fairy" that Jazz was waiting for.

I'll leave quoting that to people who have been on these forums longer than I have.  :

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

8BitFreak's avatar pretty much sums up my thoughts on this.

[RickJ]

@Progz:  Agreed.  It's a suicide waiting to happen, IMHO.

[Noctambulo]

Is there something like a "sure thing" in this kind of situation?

I think that a kid with 7 years is way to young to take such important decision, but, how can someone be sure about the consequences of whatever the parents allow or not?

[Calin Leafshade]

Of course, no one has considered the possibility that she has be vetted by an experienced health care professional and has been diagnosed with gender identity disorder. No she's just 'wrong' because you guys know all about sensitive psychiatric disorders.

[Trapezoid]

Getting a little cynical in here.
I'm pretty sure I knew *my* own gender by age 7. Didn't you? The trouble starts when your parents start telling you you're wrong.
These are just parents who didn't presume that there was no way their kid could be trans. Perhaps they were aware of how often childhood discouragement fucks up transgendered people later on.
Transitioning is difficult enough as is, and it starts much younger than most parents are comfortable with, if they're comfortable with it at all. Why draw it out? Why force her to rack up the same laundry list of issues that so many transgendered people deal with in their adolescences?

[RickJ]

This song seems somehow appropriate 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuSilWHnczA

[Atelier]

The leading questions posed by the interviewer suggest they're trying to show the child off in a sense. "Look how headstrong and special my 7 year old is." Sounds like the mother does have a factor in it. Also in the article the child is insisting that he's always been like that, such as correcting them by saying he actually wore boy's clothes before he was 5. I reckon the special attention from being a transgender 7 year old gives some fuel to the behaviour.

But the belief in a 'good fairy' is a little odd so yeah, even to a layman it's clear they've got some psychological disorder, and I'm not going to label and blame the parents because of it (even though they might 'exploit' it). It's like the reverse of penis envy.

[Noctambulo]

Getting a little cynical in here.
I'm pretty sure I knew *my* own gender by age 7. Didn't you? The trouble starts when your parents start telling you you're wrong.

These are just parents who didn't presume that there was no way their kid could be trans. Perhaps they were aware of how often childhood discouragement fucks up transgendered people later on.
Transitioning is difficult enough as is, and it starts much younger than most parents are comfortable with, if they're comfortable with it at all. Why draw it out? Why force her to rack up the same laundry list of issues that so many transgendered people deal with in their adolescences?

It's very complicated: What if he (she?) is NOT pretty sure about his (her?) own gender, but his (her?) parents are just trying to help the best way they can do, even if they are not really helping?

It's wrong or not? Where's the line?

I'm afraid there are no "good" answers just right now....

[Ali]

That's a video of an articulate and intelligent child. If you watched it out of context, would any of you be horrified or declaring the kid a "suicide waiting to happen"?

I'm not sure giving a child the label of transgender is useful, but neither is forcing the label of 'boy' or 'girl' on someone who is unhappy with it.

[Trapezoid]

It's very complicated: What if he (she?) is NOT pretty sure about his (her?) own gender, but his (her?) parents are just trying to help the best way they can do, even if they are not really helping?

It's wrong or not? Where's the line?

I'm afraid there are no "good" answers just right now....

If that were the case, later in life the kid would have to come to terms with being cisgendered. Oh, the trauma! Imagine what a battle it would be to suddenly have to live with the horrible stigma of "being accepted by society and all major religions".

Okay, kids are weird. Maybe sometimes they play around with gender and identity as a "phase." But in this society, in which gender roles are hammered into everyone's heads from birth from all sides, if a young child can still believe they're a gender other than the one issued to them, there's probably a reason.
And if a family seems to be happy and liberated by their choices and their understanding of one another, my instinct is to trust their experiences over my own notions.

[ddq]

SHE'S PRETTY HOT

[RickJ]

That's a video of an articulate and intelligent child. If you watched it out of context, would any of you be horrified or declaring the kid a "suicide waiting to happen"?

But Ali, there is a context that is un avoidable.  The parents here have allowed their child to make a permanent and ill informed decision that he will have to live with for the rest of his life.  
- doesn't know what transgender means
- doesn't know what sex means
- doesn't know what having sexual relations means (not same as above)
- hasn't thought about career
- hasn't thought about having/not having children
- hasn't thought about meaning and purpose of life
- hasn't thought about lining a meaningful and purposeful life (not the same as above)
- hasn't thought about death, mortality of self, parents, & other loved ones
- hasn't thought deeply about anything yet
- doesn't have many skills or accomplishments
- hasn't had to suffer consequences of bad decisions
- hasn't had to deal with failure
- doesn't know that someday mommy, daddy, and teacher won't be there to make everything better
- etc, etc, etc

It's just my opinion and I certainly could be wrong, but I think that a day will come when this person is extremely unhappy with the way life turned out.

How happy, proud, satisfied would any of us be if we were stuck for life with choices we made when we were 7 years old?  

[edit]
Hehe,    .... and then there's ddq (who posted while I was typing) who makes everything I said irrelevant with just three words.   

[Stupot]

SHE'S PRETTY HOT

Who's gonna tell him?...