Hey guys! My project is on gender identity disorder, specifically in children. So of course I've been doing a lot of research and decided to get out of the journal articles and look up some actual cases and this is one that I've found. It's about Jazz, a little boy who truly believes that he is a girl. Jazz's parents are very supportive of Jazz's gender identity and though they say that they just support it and do not encourage it, it would appear as though they are actually encouraging it (at least a little bit) whether they mean to or not. Regardless, here's the question I've been pondering...how young is too young for a child to decide their gender? Do you think that a child can inherently know at age 6 that for the rest of their life they would prefer to be a member of the opposite sex and will take step necessary to become a member of the opposite sex? I think it's a really interesting topic and I was just curious to know what y'all think!
Jazz's Story from ABC and 20/20
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I think this is a decision that should not be made until adulthood. I realize that might not be the popular answer and may lead to a lot of heartache and anguish, but there is a permanence involves that requires we err on the side of caution.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter says she doesn't want to have natural children of her own (she's afraid of childbirth). Should I let her elect to be sterilized as a youth because she has made this determination? I don't think anyone would support this for two reasons. 1) It is a permanent decision and 2) she doesn't possess the intellectual maturity to make these kinds of decisions.
Decision making is a very complicated process involving pros and cons that are not clearly black or white. As parents, we have an obligation to relieve our children of the stress involved in this process. We make broad decisions for them all the time without their input or consent, even when they think they would rather do something else. I know this is hardly comparative, but I don't let my child go outside without a coat in the cold no matter how much he thinks it is unnecessary. I don't let him ride without his seatbelt on. I don't let him eat junk food all day long. I make those decisions for him. I also determine when he needs medical treatment, what medicines he can or cannot take, what religion he will believe, and what characteristics will be valued in our family. If my daughter decided at 13 that she wanted to have a sexual relationship (or any relationship for that matter!) with a 20 year old man, I would clearly overrule her decision because I have a mental maturity that she does not yet possess. This is common practice as parents.
How many decisions have you made in your youth that you have looked back upon now and determined weren't such good ideas?
If at 6, my child were undergoing gender identity questions, I would definitely seek guidance, counseling, whatever was necessary to help my child cope with this anxiety, but I would never let a child make a life altering decision, even if it is one he doesn't regret in adulthood, simply because the possibility of regret exists. I have a duty to protect my child, even from himself.
I'm not sure where I found the article, but there are many cultures where transgendered people are normal and not ostracized. I'm thinking specifically in Central and South America, but also in the Pacific. There is a small island just this side of the International Dateline that dubs itself "The Land Where Time Begins" because it's the first inhabited land mass that sees a new day. In a book called You Can't Get There From Here: A Year on the Fringes of a Shrinking World, the author goes to the island to interview the sub-culture of transgendered people there. They don't identify as male or female, just themselves, and it's part of their culture to accept them as whatever they are. The way they were portrayed in the book I didn't think they were anything special, really, but in Hawai'i there are transgendered people (I don't remember what they're called) as well who are accepted as they are.
ReplyDeleteI think the question is not how young is too young to decide so much as who are we to make the child decide one way or the other?
I agree with Rebecca and September. I think he should be older to decide his gender identity because children his age are not mentally ready to make those kind of decisions. However, I do think he should be ostracized because he wants to be a girl.
ReplyDeleteHe is a child and should not be forced to pick whether he is a boy or girl. Although he may have trouble within school we should not force this on him at a fragile stage. We as Americans are stubborn and use to the norms and its very sad because I know there are probably many other cases like Jazz!
I do nto think that I would be able to make that decision when I was 6 years old. I know that at that age gender identity is apparent and children can distinguish one from the other. I know he would understand that he is a boy, but maybe he just really likes girl activities and feels like he should be a girl. He is too young I think, he hasn't even goen through puberty. I think he should it would be better to wait until then becuase you will have a better understanding of who you are then. Plus, your body changes so much at that age, there is no telling how the hormones will affect him. I am sure there are people who fill that way at a young age and never change throughout their life, but I still think 6 is a bit too young to decide on a gender for the rest of your life.
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