What good could possibly come out of trying to make fun of my opinion? This is a comment I made a month ago yet you found found it necessary to make a “check your privilege” comment. I’ll bite though and answer as to what I think about teenagers using hormones to transition.
A clear distinction needs to be made within my ideology here. I don’t believe homosexuality and/or being transgender is intrinsically correlated with mental illness and I would never support a “forced” transition. Many kids ARE confused, and a disproportionate number those who are transgender do suffer with mental health ailments. Is it a chicken or an egg situation? I’ll leave that up to the guidelines medical professionals put in place as opposed to others opinions. Many bodies of literature exist debating this, so I’m not going to fall for the first piece of literature you post indicative those who transition are at a higher rate of suicide/depression comparative to those who don’t. I’m not educated enough on this issue and thus I’ll take it at face value via the medical professionals who I’ve talked to about this.
A sixteen year old male is an adolescent, not a child. Where I live sixteen is considered the legal age of consent. Age restrictions don’t necessarily make sense and levels of maturity associated with age differ on an individualistic basis. Rather age restrictions tend to be based upon a byproduct of what the government considers beneficial (e.g. can’t buy a drink at 18 in the USA but you can join the army). Provided the 16 y/old boy is considered mentally apt after psychiatric evaluation, I see no problem with a consenting 16 y/old boy making a transition using hormones.
What many people unfathomably fail to understand is the notion that blanket age restrictions and associated harsh penalties for “breaking the rules” don’t always serve as an effective deterrents. If a kid has felt “trapped in his body” for say… six years and wishes to transition, but for whatever reason the age restriction is 18 he may illicitly purchase the hormones required to make said transition. This does happen, and there are a few online vendors I can think of that cater towards allowing people to purchase transitional hormones if they’re otherwise unavailable.
From the standpoint of harm reduction alone I’d prefer a 16y/o male with gender dysphoria to take hormones under the supervision of a doctor as opposed to self administration. Sure, oestrogen accelerates epiphysical maturation and androgens (anabolism) stimulate linear bone growth. BUT, if you’re trying to transition, the average height for a female is shorter than that of a male and most men are statistically done/nearly finished growing at 16.
Certain side effects mediated by excessive estrogen use may be irreversible without surgery and/or medical intervention (growth of mammary tissue etc), but the concept of de-transitioning does exist. I don’t know how you’ve managed to interpret me being anti discrimination towards those who identify as LGBTQI as me being pro “force feeding 16 y/olds estrogen”.
Check your privilege “used to suggest that someone should recognize that their attitudes or views reflect the fact that they are in an inherently privileged or advantageous position because of the particular social category or categories to which they belong.”
According to your favourite president in the world, I’m an ethnic minority (I mean… I’m not… but according to Trump I am)
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-combating-anti-semitism/
YoU ChEcK yOuR pRiViLeGe yeet!
Edit … I might have misinterpreted your post, I’m not good at intepretation (and that has gotten me in trouble before). Were you referring to me supporting 16 y/olds being force fed hormones sarcastically (as a friendly joke) or were you making fun of me being pro LGBTQI rights?