For the last run of BBC2
documentaries, Louis Theroux: met Camille, a charming, articulate
five-year-old who until a month ago was known as Sebastian. When asked
about her gender identity now, Camille is firm and clear “not a boy and
a girl anymore, not transgender… a girl”.Interviewing children and
teenagers about such a sensitive and controversial subject must be the
ultimate test of the new tactful Louis, and he passed, playing “battle
dance” with Camille (her Lady Gaga impression was spot on) and sharing
personal stories with his older interviewees. “When I was 14 and
turning 15, that was probably the hardest year of my life, it really
was…” he told 14-year-old Nicki and she seemed genuinely comforted by
this admission.
For
the moment, though, it is
the parents, not the kids, who
face the most difficult dilemma: do they begin the process of medical
intervention at a stage when their child may be still experimenting
with their
identity? Or do they hold off until later and allow their child to go
through
the trauma of puberty in the “wrong” body? It’s an either/or decision
that
doesn’t seem to allow for a gender spectrum, along which children like
Crystal/Cole may move over the course of their lifetime.
Theroux’s
documentary offers no definitive answers on the
“right thing” to do in these situations, perhaps because, as all the
medical
practitioners involved insist, there isn’t one. We’re still working it
out,
along with the children, on an individual-by-individual basis. Surgeon
Dr
Curtis Crane was adamant about one thing: “We’re trying to solve [body]
dysphoria. We’re not trying to put people in a box that the rest of
society
believes in.” What emerged instead of answers, was an illustration of
the depth
of parental love. Given how often we hear about trans teenagers being
rejected
by their families, it was joyful to see so many supportive and
open-minded mums
and dads in action.
Bron: Louis Theroux: Transgender Kids, review: Louis
surprises with stories of his own
Louis Theroux Transgender-childeren
zie ook: Genderdysforie bij kinderen
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