Chapter 1. Sexual Identity Goes Awry

Short Description

An 11-year-old girl claims she neither thinks nor feels like a girl. Failing at school, she becomes depressed and dreams of being a boy.

Long Description

An 11-year-old girl claims she neither thinks nor feels like a girl. Failing at school, she becomes depressed and dreams of being a boy. When the 11-year-old reports that she feels she is gay, therapists downplay her concerns. The 11-year-old remains deeply troubled. Finally, a physically explosive episode leads the mother to bring her daughter to a gender disorder specialist who concludes that the 11-year-old should grow up as a male. After this, the mother supports her daughter's transgender journey. Her feminine bedroom is redecorated. She receives a boys' haircut. Finally, she changes her name. The transformed 11-year-old has a troubled reception at school, but the mother continues her support. As adolescence begins, the child decides that the eventual answer is surgery. Although still too young to undergo a physical sex change, hormone therapy is an option. An intensive psychological evaluation leads the psychiatrist to recommend the therapy.

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