That's interesting, I didn't know that. I had assumed that precocious puberty was treated with blockers for mainly psychological reasons.
The Tavistock is facing accusations of child abuse from one side and transphobic gatekeeping from another. It's an unenviable position.
Lots of people think that because it is presented as such, usually with emotive language.
I think the misconceptions raise interesting points about our attitude to healthcare. I’ve seen tweets etc. Saying the ruling is denying children lifesaving treatment. The NHS resources are finite and squandering them on unproven hormone treatment then treating the lifelong fallout may very well deny children life saving treatment. Money and time spent on this is money and time not spent elsewhere.
I also note that Susie Green says no other group are subject to this sort of process before getting treatment and so it must be transphobia. This is shocking misinformation. All treatment is subject to tough rules and so it should be.
Every medical intervention provided by the NHS/registered healthcare professionals is bound to process. The process does not care about the identity of the person at the end (that’s a separate discussion - where should the patient identity feature and how.)
The reason these patients now have to apply to the courts is not because they’re trans. It’s because puberty blockers and cross sex hormones have not passed the threshold of risk vs benefit and consenting to this would be difficult if you were an adult. Children cannot grasp the complexities. How can someone make a decision for a future self who does not exist yet?
I infer from the judgement that Tavistock have not been able to objectively outline the risk/benefit which makes consenting young people almost impossible. The courts have not said no. They have acknowledged the difficulty but left open the possibility to assess on a case by case basis.
Note that a teenager with cancer would be allowed to consent to chemo or surgery. The process would be very careful and parents would likely be involved. But the understanding is that most people would like the chance to live. The purpose of healthcare is to extend life and make it as active and productive as possible. The aim then would be to make sure the young person is as informed as possible of the risks vs benefits.
If the average person could not state the evidence for a given intervention clearly, that would be ok. But these are doctors. To pass the many exams they have had to repeatedly demonstrate they are able to collate data, interpret it, share it with peers, act on it. That the doctors in this case failed to do that isn’t the fault of gender critical transphobes. They cannot have suddenly lost the ability to weigh evidence, surely? All of them?
They were even given the chance to go away and sort their affairs out and return with the data. They declined. If anyone believes the court then should have said “Oh great, we can see you are very capable and clear eyed”, they’re deluded. It would set a dangerous precedent and contradict the foundation of modern medicine. I cannot believe anyone thinks this would be wise. Oversight is never a bad thing.
Here is an analogy. One person prepares thoroughly for an exam and goes in, performs well and gets an A. Her peer may or may not have prepared but turns up and says they’ve forgotten their pen. They are given the option to borrow a pen but they say no thanks. They’ll just sit in the room. They should be graded with an A though. They did prepare well, they just didn’t care to demonstrate it.
If we begin to just take everyone’s word for everything based on the idea that if we don’tit’s very mean, we lose an essential framework which we rely on for actual lifesaving treatment. The impact of that is everyone’s business. It is not about depriving trans people of care. It is about ensuring their care meets the same standards of all other care.
It is actually barbaric to feed this idea that trans people are so removed from the average person, so other and weak and delicate. They’re people. Like you’re a person and I’m a person. They need respect, kindness, understanding, not OTT campaigns filled with generalised ideas of suicide.
No adult should repeatedly state that being trans is the worst thing in the world and life threatening. If they didn’t feel shit before they’ll certainly start to.
www.womenarehuman.com
). I guess I'm going to have to finally sign up for a bloody Reddit account so I can join r/truscum, as though I don't already waste enough time on the internet.
It sucks that you get that kind of ignorant reaction, and the that other intersex people get that kind of reception too. That's completely unacceptable 
