Trans Kids: Is that really a thing?

Currently we see posts online about transgender kids and adolescents - some of them are positive while others are brutally negative. The bottom line of the negative posts is typically something about kids not being able to know their gender and the dangers of allowing kids to take steps to express their gender in a way that feels right. Is it appropriate to let kids live as they experience their gender?

At this time I am working with a lot of transgender adolescents as well as some transgender kids. Not only is it appropriate to let them express their gender as it feels right to them, it is imperative that we allow them to express themselves, and not try to dictate how we think they should live.

There are two broad aspects of transitioning: social and medical. Social transitioning entails things like how we dress and cur our hair, what pronouns we want people to use to refer to us, what name we want to be called by, how we interact with the world. Medical transitioning includes hormone blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries.

When we are talking about transgender kids and adolescents, we are talking primarily about social transitioning. There is nothing damaging about letting a child with a penis wear dresses and be referred to as she. Most of the transgender adults I work with have known from a very young age that they are trans, just as cisgender adults have basically always known they are cis. Our experience of gender is something we are aware of from a very young age, and no one except ourselves can know how we really feel. It is true that occasionally a kid expresses themselves as trans for a while, and then decides that isn't right for them. They go back to expressing themselves as their birth sex/gender, and no harm is done. For the vast majority of trans kids and adolescents however, they do not make such a decision and continue to live as a trans individual.

As far as medical transitioning for kids and adolescents, we are talking primarily about hormone blockers and occasionally about hormones (for the older ones) but never about surgery. Hormone blockers basically shut down puberty, but are completely reversible. If a child thinks they are transgender, it is appropriate to use blockers to stop the changes that happen with puberty. For biological males this prevents their voice from dropping or facial and body hair from growing, both of which are hugely problematic for transgender female adults, who then have to deal with erasing these things in order for them to pass. For biological females, blockers prevent breast development, which then eliminates a surgery later in life. If it is determined that the child no longer wants to continue with any sort of transitioning, the blockers are stopped and puberty picks right back up. No Harm Done.

For older transgender adolescents, hormones are sometimes started. This is never done without a huge amount of exploration, work with a therapist and oversight by a pediatric endocrinologist. This too is the right decision for adolescents who have lived as their experienced gender enough to know that it is the right step for them to take. Great care is taken before starting them because they do cause permanent changes, particularly for trans male (voice dropping and hair growth).

Yes, trans kids is really a thing, just a trans adults are a thing. We have the ability to take steps, both medically and socially to help kids who are transgender navigate their world in a comfortable and healthy way. These kids are some of the bravest people I know.