Transcript GID Present - JacquelineBenscoterPortfolio

What is puberty suspension?
• Puberty suspension is the administration of hormone
blockers so that a prepubescent individual will not go
through puberty during the adolescent years. It is a
temporary suspension of puberty symptoms so that
individuals can decide whether they want to be a
member of the opposite sex without tell tale signs of
gender reassignment
• After a time on hormone blockers, the transgendered
individual, with therapy and “real life experience” can
decide whether or not he or she wants to transition into
the opposite sex or if they accept the body they were
born into
Should we suspend puberty?
• Pros:
– “buys time” for children to decide whether
they want to transition or not
– By not going through puberty of their birth
sex, males do not develop low voices, Adam’s
Apples, or the traditional body size of a man
– Females do not grow breasts or menstruate,
both of which are sources of distress for
transgendered individuals
Should we suspend puberty?
• Cons– Long term effects of puberty suspension are
not known
– Social isolation
– Lack of “coming of age” experience of puberty
when his or her peers is experiencing it
– Only a small percentage of those who
experience GID as a child will continue on the
path of sex reassignment into adulthood
Is it really a disorder?
• Today, GID is considered a disorder by the
medical community (did someone put in
the DSM diagnostic criteria in here? We
should do that)
• However, those who experience its pain
generally are growing to prefer to call it
“gender dysphoria” and resent the
psychological disorder label
How to help these children?
• Transgendered children who do not have
support of family or friends can experience
depression, substance abuse, prostitution
and a high rate of suicide
• Parents and teachers need to be
supportive and open minded about a
child’s gender identity and not accept
student’s teasing over this sensitive topic
An epitaph of a transgendered
prostitute murdered in 2003:
“My name was Adrian Torres de Assuncao. I
was a Brazilian woman aged 24. I lived in
Brescia, in Italy. One night a client hit me in
the face with a hammer. Despite the pain I
kept working and I didn’t go to hospital
because I feared they would send me back
home (I was a clandestine immigrant). When I
agreed to go to hospital it was too late. I died
on the 7th of October.”