Hormone Therapy

Correcting the Humorless Social Media “Fact-Checkers”

Published by Papa Giorgio

So the lack of cartoonish humor on social media is upsetting. So much so I am going to do a “fact-check” on a “fact-check.”

Yes, it is true with the original cartoon I posted on Facebook that 5-year-old’s do not get hormone therapy to prepare for sex-transitions, yet, very young children do in fact get hormone blockers and surgery.

Did I mention VERY YOUNG?

So, I decided to make a cartoon of my own with the current FACTS I know of.

I am curious if I will get “fact-checked” when I upload this to my SSM Facebook page.

Here is what I will post with the cartoon… and a larger version will be available when you click the below cartoon for better reading:

NEW FB POST

The “fact-checks” are missing the humor of the original cartoon I posted. Both Reuters and PolitiFact would probably say the same if I changed this to an 11-year-old. However, we know that,

  • A brief report from four doctors at Vanderbilt University, “Gender-Affirming Chest Reconstruction Among Transgender and Gender-Diverse Adolescents in the US From 2016 to 2019” appeared in JAMA Pediatrics earlier this week. It is “the largest investigation to date of gender-affirming chest reconstruction in a pediatric population” to date. [….] An estimated 1,130 “top jobs” were performed during those four years on girls as young as 12. [….] According to the data, based on the Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample, the Vanderbilt doctors calculated that 5.5 percent of the children were under 14, 21.5 percent under 15, and 56 percent under 16. I assume if a double mastectomy is done at 12 or 13, a penectomy would be done as well to that age-group? [I assume a penectomy has more health consequences for this age-group, so this may be a later stage surgery.] (See more at RPT)

Typically, hormone therapies/puberty blockers are required a year before surgery, so it is reasonable to assume girls [and boys] as young a 11-years-old have had these “therapies” [child abuse] done to them. I say, “to them” because 11-year-olds cannot consent to such medical procedures and “therapies.”

Transgender Psychologist Warns of Ease of Puberty Blockers

Published by Papa Giorgio

Armstrong and Getty discuss some transgender issues brought up via a LOS ANGELES TIMES article, which quotes trans psychologist Erica Anderson:

RESIST THE MAINSTREAM has more (hat-tip, USSANEWS):

A transgender psychologist fears many teens are making life-changing decisions about gender because it’s trendy and pushed on social media.

Erica Anderson, 71, told the Los Angeles Times she is horrified by 13-year-old kids getting hormone treatments without meeting with psychologists first.

Dr. Anderson identifies herself as a transgender woman after decades of life as a man. The psychologist began with hormone treatments and eventually had gender reassignment surgery at the age of 61.

“To flatly say there couldn’t be any social influence in formation of gender identity flies in the face of reality,” Anderson said. “Teenagers influence each other.”

Social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic included children becoming more isolated and many leaned on social media networks, according to the Times report.

“What happens when the perfect storm — of social isolation, exponentially increased consumption of social media, the popularity of alternative identities — affects the actual development of individual kids?” asked Anderson……

“What I wish I’d known when I was 19….” (Transgender)

Published by Papa Giorgio

Armstrong and Getty read from a WASHINGTON POST article by a trans “woman” who confesses they wish they had known then (age 19) what they do now.

WASHINGTON POST:

When I was 19, I had surgery for sex reassignment, or what is now called gender affirmation surgery. The callow young man who was obsessed with transitioning to womanhood could not have imagined reaching middle age. But now I’m closer to 50, keeping a watchful eye on my 401(k), and dieting and exercising in the hope that I’ll have a healthy retirement.

In terms of my priorities and interests today, that younger incarnation of myself might as well have been a different person — yet that was the person who committed me to a lifetime set apart from my peers.

There is much debate today about transgender treatment, especially for young people. Others might feel differently about their choices, but I know now that I wasn’t old enough to make that decision. Given the strong cultural forces today casting a benign light on these matters, I thought it might be helpful for young people, and their parents, to hear what I wish I had known.

I once believed that I would be more successful finding love as a woman than as a man, but in truth, few straight men are interested in having a physical relationship with a person who was born the same sex as them. In high school, when I experienced crushes on my male classmates, I believed that the only way those feelings could be requited was if I altered my body.

It turned out that several of those crushes were also gay. If I had confessed my interest, what might have developed? Alas, the rampant homophobia in my school during the AIDS crisis smothered any such notions. Today, I have resigned myself to never finding a partner. That’s tough to admit, but it’s the healthiest thing I can do.

As a teenager, I was repelled by the thought of having biological children, but in my vision of the adult future, I imagined marrying a man and adopting a child. It was easy to sacrifice my ability to reproduce in pursuit of fulfilling my dream. Years later, I was surprised by the pangs I felt as my friends and younger sister started families of their own.

The sacrifices I made seemed irrelevant to the teenager I was: someone with gender dysphoria, yes, but also anxiety and depression. The most severe cause of dread came from my own body. I was not prepared for puberty, nor for the strong sexual drive typical for my age and sex.

Surgery unshackled me from my body’s urges, but the destruction of my gonads introduced a different type of bondage. From the day of my surgery, I became a medical patient and will remain one for the rest of my life. I must choose between the risks of taking exogenous estrogen, which include venous thromboembolism and stroke, or the risks of taking nothing, which includes degeneration of bone health. In either case, my risk of dementia is higher, a side effect of eschewing testosterone.

What was I seeking for my sacrifice? A feeling of wholeness and perfection. I was still a virgin when I went in for surgery. I mistakenly believed that this made my choice more serious and authentic. I chose an irreversible change before I’d even begun to understand my sexuality. The surgeon deemed my operation a good outcome, but intercourse never became pleasurable. When I tell friends, they’re saddened by the loss, but it’s abstract to me — I cannot grieve the absence of a thing I’ve never had.

Where were my parents in all this? They were aware of what I was doing, but by that point, I had pushed them out of my life. I didn’t need parents questioning me or establishing realistic expectations — especially when I found all I needed online. In the early 1990s, something called Internet Relay Chat, a rudimentary online forum, allowed me to meet like-minded strangers who offered an inexhaustible source of validation and acceptance.

I shudder to think of how distorting today’s social media is for confused teenagers. I’m also alarmed by how readily authority figures facilitate transition. I had to persuade two therapists, an endocrinologist and a surgeon to give me what I wanted. None of them were under crushing professional pressure, as they now would be, to “affirm” my choice.

I may well have transitioned even after waiting a few years. If I hadn’t transitioned, I likely would have suffered from the world in other ways. In other words, I’m still working out how much regret to feel, but I’m comfortable with the ambiguity.

What advice would I pass on to young people seeking transition? Learning to fit in your body is a common struggle. Fad diets, body-shaping clothing and cosmetic surgery are all signs that countless millions of people at some point have a hard time accepting their own reflection. The prospect of sex can be intimidating. But sex is essential in healthy relationships. Give it a chance before permanently altering your body.

Most of all, slow down. You may yet decide to make the change. But if you explore the world by inhabiting your body as it is, perhaps you’ll find that you love it more than you thought possible.