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Aqua Foundation TransCon Medical Symposium
April 30-May 2, 2010
Miami, Florida
"It is important not to mislabel transgender children as lesbian or gay. The reverse is also true: lesbian and gay children should not be mislabeled as transgender. A helpful distinction between transgender and lesbian or gay children has been offered by Mallon and DeCrescenzo (2006) who wrote that some gender [non-conforming] children may say they wish they were the other sex, but transgender children will say they are the other sex."
Kimberly A. Stieglitz, PhD, RN, PNP-BC
Development, Risk & Resilience of Transgender Youth (2010)
Care providers are often the first people parents of gender non-conforming and transgender children and youth turn to for advice, reassurance and supportive medical care for their child. As first responders, it's vitally important that up-to-date, accurate and gender identity-affirming services be offered.
A physician, counselor or nurse practitioner armed only with rudimentary or trans adult-centric knowledge of gender dysphoria or transgender identity might, with the best of intentions, send a parent off in the wrong direction with regard to their child's immediate and short-term needs. Additionally, sharing information based only on trans adult stereotypes, social challenges, medical and psychological care might lead a parent to shut down completely and decide to just "wait it out" when it comes to dealing with their child's gender non-conforming identity and self-expression.
Telling a parent or caregiver that a child's gender identity or gender expression can be 'molded' or 'changed' by negative reinforcement, aversion therapy or parental insistence on gender stereotypical behavior is both ineffective and, potentially, psychologically damaging advice for both the child and their family.
| Right Approach: Norman Spack | Wrong Approach: Dr. Kenneth Zucker |
| The Life & Death of David Reimer A Refutation of Kenneth Zucker's Claims The video at left tells the story of David Reimer, who was the subject of the "John/Joan" gender identity manipulation experiments conducted by John Money in the 1970's and, apparently, endorsed in present day by Kenneth Zucker at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health in Toronto, Canada. This is yet more evidence that a child's core gender identity remains constant despite external conditioning. |
When providing care, treatment or services to a trans child or youth, it's important to understand they are not simply "shorter/younger" versions of adult trans people; many aspects of the adult transgender patient/client model does not apply.
Transgender and significantly gender non-conforming children are the people many trans-identified adults were before much of the long-term and often irreparable physiological, psychological or sociological damage was done.
Taking a passive, "wait and see" approach is not an option. Using a transgender or gender non-conforming child's growing anxiety, depression, negative self-esteem and social isolation as a diagnostic tool is not only ineffective and misguided clinical methodology, it's inhumane.
