Youngest Sex Change in History of History. How a Tim...Became a Kim
 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,248196,00.html

Shocking, what do you think?

I'd like to know why s/he gets to just skip two years.

Wow, that's...wow. I guess if the parents are okay with it and if it was a 'clear-cut case' as determined by psychiatric professionals, that's fine. Just seems pretty weird to me.

Am I the only one who thinks this is an oasis of intelligence in a desert of self-indulgence induced stupidity?

I think that's how long the process took.

I don't believe that any 12 or 14 year old could be that sure about their sexuality. I would question a decision like that even if the child were 18 or 19.

I'm tempted to make a Sir VG joke here, but instead I'll just go with Alice. Shit, I doubt anyone really knows who they are at age 20, let alone 12.

That in itself is exceptional about this case. From what I understand, most of these cases are treated as mental illness, and the treatment is done by the same token.

It makes me wonder by what criteria they're judging her to be different.

I think that if he/she feels he is a girl, then so be it. Especially when the confidence of the child is strong for such a long time. This would probably give Kim more confidence in the future and not break her spirit.

Western Society has always tried to clear cut gender. If it isn't one, it has to be the other... and I guess one of the ways they can do that is through stuff like this.

No no no. At 12 was when he first convinced his parents to make him a her. Now she's 14 - so it's been 2 years since the start of her/his change (hormone injections and whatnot).

I'm trying to figure out how the fuck he/she went from 12 to 14 so fast.

I'd agree entirely with what you wrote, except that this isn't about sexuality. It's about gender. If it were about sexuality, then it would be much easier for this individual to make the change.

Let me put it to you like this. You are very much a mother. It's such an intrinsic part of you that it's hard to imagine what you'd be like without the maternal side. That's a feminine quality, of course. So wouldn't you accept that there's such a thing as masculine and feminine personalities.

Now what if you're the wrong one to match your body? I think it might be much more clear (to you at least) if you feel as though you're a girl in a boy's body at age 14. I'd agree that few people are certain of their sexuality at such an early age, but Kim still has free choice of sexuality. She seems to be hetero right now. She could easily switch.

Well maybe it's better for her to change at a younger age. At least she'll be able to adapt fully before she becomes an adult.

I just finished studying transgender in my Gender class... we read a book called She's not There by Jennifer (formally James) Boylan. Great book. (S)he realized that (s)he was a woman at an even younger age (around... 6?), but didnt get the sex change until her 40s.

Anyways, this is not really different from hermaphrodites... most parents dont choose the gender of the child at birth, the doctors recommend they wait until age 13 or so, and then the child chooses for themselves. Gender isnt all horomones... it's a forced thing in society today. Girls are looked at to play with dolls and are considered tomboys if they play lots of sports or don't mind getting down and dirty. Not a bad thing by society's standard. Boys, on the other hand, are told to be tough, play sports and get into trouble, but looked at as 'sissies' if they play with dolls. Automatically, we're seeing being masculine as a better thing than being feminine. So if the boy honestly felt he was a girl (which is totally possible at that age), why face the cruelities of being looked at as a wimp/sissy or going through school being considered a 'freak' or being called a 'fag', when he can become what he naturally feels?

After the insight this one book has provided me, I totally think this is reasonable.

I thought that sexual identity could sometimes develop differently than one's physical sex. As in, while in the uterus. I also thought that the ability of pyschologists to "treat" misaligned gender identities was so pathetic that the moral question was raised that if you couldn't make the mind match the body, shouldn't you at least match the body to the mind? I suppose the underlying argument is that the duty of health-care is to quality of life.

Ya, I was taught something along those lines in my Neuroendocrinology class at McGill. Well, it's theorized at least.

I'd like to know what causes homosexuals/bisexuals. It's probably something genetic or in-utero hormone related.

I don't think it's really a matter of sexuality as it is gender. I met a guy who was born as a girl, but was undergoing gender reassignment to become a male. Yet sexually, he's still attracted to males. Basically he argued that he was a gay man trapped in a girl's body. It sounds totally ridiculous, but maybe he thought that he could hook up with cuter guys as a gay guy instead of a girl.

NO BOYFRIENDS WONDER WHY >_> Guh. This whole procedure grosses me out. So I'm confused. Kim likes boys? Is that what it's saying? After undergoing a sex change operation, I refer to the person as their previous gender. Or "it" depending upon how poorly it went =p Bigoted? Yes. But this whole thing disgusts me.

There's an interesting side to this argument that I hadn't considered until now. Most modern feminists would open a dialogue by trying to dissuade you of the notion that there is an internal, intrinsic quality of motherhood in any woman.

It makes me question whether this child is considering her options in the same way you do. (Ergo, I feel sentimental or maternal in some way, therefore I must be a girl.)

And that just brings me back to the psychiatrists she saw and their "grading criteria," so to speak.

Then wish s/he had never chopped off h/her/is dick?

A little disturbing. I agree with Alice that a person that young is mentally capable of making such a drastic decision. The parent's must be a bit weirded out, for sure. I think that 21+ is the age to even begin considering about sex-change.

Now that I have more time to think about this...

Children learn behavior by imitation. Especially 2-year-olds.
To say that someone is born to think like a woman or a man, especially in the early stages of life, is patently absurd. Females aren't born to like Barbie or dress-up. Nor are men born to like sports and math(or whatever are the popular stereotypes). Especially at such an early age. Many of the very things which identify men and women as they are, in our world, are due to social development which characterizes either gender this way. However, kids have no conception of this, and so they may very likely just dabble in the activities that they are exposed to the most.

The fact that this boy's parents were so negligent as to let him get away with thinking that he was meant to be a girl, rather than directly addressing him with the reality of who he is, when they had a chance, is practically abuse.
Now, unfortunately, irreparable damage has probably been done to him, and perhaps the only option that will grant him any emotional satisfaction is self-mutilation.

Just wait for the artificial-hormone induced cancer to kick in. >_>

Possibly. I might respond to them by saying that I don't believe it affects the way that said woman should be treated, or the other things that she's capable of.

I'd have to at least suggest that it's been my observation that paternal feelings are normally a different (if similar) expression of parental love. I don't discount the notion that men can be sentimental, but I do believe they do so in a different way than women.