TRANSITION REGRET

 

Catherine Nicolette

Words of wisdom are that gender reassignment surgery procedures for youth are permanent changes to a very young body. 

When I was a teenager, I found the teen years to be a time of rapid change, confusion and - sometimes - emotional turmoil. Looking back now, I realize that many of the emotional issues were natural effects accompanying teen hormonal changes.

When I talked to my mom at the time about the issues which I felt I faced, she said that the experience was the same for her, her mom and her mom's mom. 

Teenage years - Mom said - are a time when the teenager is "neither fish nor flesh". I was ready to be indignant; what did this idiom mean? What it meant, explained Mom, is that you are no longer a child and not yet a full adult. 

Teenager years are themselves a time of transition, where hormones such as growth hormone, progesterone and oestrogen in a female and testosterone in a male are flooding the system. These cause a child's body to turn into that of an adult.

True, at times a child may need hormone therapy, such as a child who is deficient in growth hormone requires hormonal assistance in order to achieve relevant adult growth and attendant functional fertility. However, this instance is not the norm.

Usually, a teenager needs to have patience: give Mother Nature a chance to complete her work of turning you into a man or a woman.

If an individual is hermaphrodite (has both male and female gender organs), supportive psychology service will assist to determine whether emotional identity is male or female. Gender surgery at a relevant age will be of assistance if chosen after a period of expert medical assessment and assistance.

Emotional gender identity develops in stages. Some may experience distress or unease between their physical identity and their emotional identity. Counselling and psychological support may prove invaluable when a mismatch is experienced between birth gender and emotional gender identity. 

The crux of the matter is that the emotional suffering of those experiencing gender dysphoria is both real and a difficulty for those experiencing the dysphoria.

Yet it must be remembered that not every teenager who experiences confusion or moodiness is experiencing gender dysphoria. Sensible prudence would appear to guide that - except in cases of hermaphroditism and clear gender dysmorphia - give Mother Nature a chance.

A teenager is still undergoing tremendous physical, psychological, neurological and spiritual changes. Neuroscience is giving increasing evidence that brain development has not completed by age 21; according to studies, brain maturation only completes at age 25. [1] 

It would be deeply unfortunate for youth to make life-changing gender reassignment decisions at too early an age, only to regret these decisions later.

Which leads me to my next point. Gender transition regret has become a real issue for many in recent years. It is heartbreaking to hear the emotional pain of those who reassigned gender, only to realize that in fact this is a path they no longer wish to follow. 

Yet those who regret transition struggle with changes to their physiques which in many cases may prove difficult to reverse.

The moral of the story would appear to be: don't swiftly reach for the scalpel or body-altering medication to medicate the teen years. It may prove an experience with deep regret in its wake.

Prayer Chapel for Detransitioners who regret gender transition; Words of Comfort

https://eventslumiere.blogspot.com/2022/06/prayer-chapel-for-detransitioners-who.html

[1] Brain Maturity extends well beyond 21 - the moral implications of placing undue responsibility at too young an age

https://churchinterfaith.blogspot.com/2015/05/brain-maturity-extends-well-beyond-21.html

Gender ideology harms children - American College of Pediatricians

https://churchinterfaith.blogspot.com/2016/04/gender-ideology-harms-children-american.html