Why More Kids Are Coming Out As “Trans”

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Executive Producer: Doctor Mike
Production Director and Editor: Dan Owens
Managing Editor and Producer: Sam Bowers
Editor and Designer: Caroline Weigum
Editor: Juan Carlos Zuniga

* Select photos/videos provided by Getty Images *

** The information in this video is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional **

[TheKyPerson]

In the 1950's and 60's I was a tomboy and no one cared at all. Puberty was hard on me, but I got through it. And even now at age 73, I still am a bit of a tomboy. My grandchildren like that.

[joannamitchell]

Weird. It’s almost as if the less we emphasize gender roles, the less people feel obligated to clarify their gender.

[afwalker]

I'm an old dude, and I'm physically intersexed. My father wanted to murder me because I was soft and girly, and thus obviously homosexual. I'm not and have never been gay. All this social confusion is liberating to me. At 61, I can finally breathe...

[erjoh]

Wait. Are you saying there is a bunch of teenagers that are unsure where they fit in and what society is asking of them? Shocking!

[siege]

I'm a straight guy in my 30s and starkly remember multiple times as a child and teen where i felt extremely weird not by my hobbies of sewing, cooking, gardening, etc... along with normal "dude activities" like high contact sports, cars, and video games... but rather that society shoved how many things I enjoyed were "gay" or "girly."

Maybe if we stopped being dicks and trying to assign different sex or gender to activities kids wouldn't feel so confused or weird.
In my late teens I had a conversation with a uncle who made a comment of a similar vein amd I responded "how many chefs are men??? How many fashion designers are men??? Don't men do most of the landscaping and farming??? Wtf are you on about?" And it finally clicked to him there's nothing weird at all about it.

[joshuaizly]

This is an extract of one of the best interview about the subject, they talk about transition as well as detransition with no judgement on both end, the confusion that kids have around gender identity and how this child psychologist deal with each case and the many exceptions that there are.

It's refreshing to see the medical and healthcare side of the story without the political talking points. 10/10 would recommend it to anyone

[mariahello]

We have produced so much media about how gender norms are silly and benefit no one and yet here we still are as a society, somehow, still making kids miserable for not comforming

[GoferGirl]

If kids don't relate to gender stereotypes, it's the responsibility of the adults to clarify that this doesn't mean they're trans. It just means they're an individual and nobody is truly cookie cutter anyway.

[cassandraj]

The commenters who say this doctor is influencing kids need to watch the whole interview, he goes into lots of detail about how he explicitly explains to kids that just because they enjoy activities associated with another gender doesn’t mean they are trans. There are lots of policies in place to really try and ensure kids aren’t “confused”

[daysAmonth]

Expressing yourself, rebelling, finding an identity, raging against the machine-
*It’s what kids do*
It’s what they’ve ALWAYS done

[YuRat-hbfr]

I like how he's not beind disrespectful about either type of transgender children. It's kind of rare, actually.

[croaklikeatoad]

I’m in the category of having pretty evident dysphoria but being too depressed, broke, and self conscious to attempt physical transition

[TheyCallMeThatPerson]

In the early 1900’s hardly anybody was left handed. After we stopped beating left handed people the rate of left-handedness increased sharply. Crazy how that works huh?

[lev-]

as someone who had gender therapy as a child. I was asked multiple times why I felt I was trans and if there was any other explanation for what I felt. even as an adult I got asked if I could be happy being in the body I was in for my whole life, I was asked if I could ever see myself being happy as a woman. I had to answer all these questions to just be put on a list for an appointment to talk about starting testosterone. there is way more pressure to be cis than there is to be trans and believe me when I say no one wants a cis kid to medically transition, that includes all the doctors they will be talking to

[thefandom]

I am gender apathetic, I wear whatever I find comfortable and do whatever I want. Most of the time that leads me to present male, but I do have plenty of clothing that would be called girly or feminine. Also I genuinely have no preferred pronouns, refer to me however the hell you want.

[aaronjames]

We really need to be more open about this stuff and just let kids express themselves however they want. Let's not treat it as something wrong or shameful

[AnnaDaSnper]

I think the biggest problem with why kids are so confused nowadays is because of how strict society is on certain things, like colors and toys and clothing. None of those things have genders, a little girl liking trucks doesn’t mean she’s actually a boy it just means that she likes trucks. Same thing with if a little boy likes pink. I think we need to take the socially decided gender out of objects and such, it would be so much better.

[lynnebucher]

I never felt like I fit in with society's expectations. I was a very outdoorsy girl who did not have domestic interests. They used to call that a tomboy. As I went through puberty I knew I was heterosexual but several times in my life had women question my sexuality due to my physical appearance (muscular and strong) and interests in things traditionally associated with men.

[lynnxxvsr]

Another side note is that trauma can cause gender dysphoria, and it's a valid reason to transition. For example, I've had horrible trauma with me getting taken advantage of, groomed, and my parents shielding me from older men simply because i was a young girl. All my childhood all i heard was "don't wear that, you'll attract attention to yourself" (and then it was like a t shirt or something..), "hide your hair, it's shameful to proudly show it", "no, you can't have make-up/you can't dye your hair.. you'll attract unwanted attention from men." And then when i did get hurt by those same men since i was too young to fully understand, they blamed me for it, so i grew up hating the fact that i was a girl. I hated my body with a passion, and got so depressed and so stressed that i started S/h and had an ED for the longest time, i hated my thighs for how big they were, my chest for how visible it was, my height for how short i was and more.. so i was very, VERY uncomfortable as a female. And then i found out about transgenderism, and heard from people who transitioned, and those who haven't already.. and even those who did and regretted it. And i wondered if I'd be happier as a boy. The answer was simple, yes. I would. I know boys have it tough as well, but i didn't care, i just wanted to finally feel comfortable in my skin cause therapy wasn't doing much. I told my therapist this and we started talking more about transgenderism, transitioning and such. And now, I couldn't be happier as a man. I still have that younger self with me, slowly working on healing my inner child for me and for her. And i hope that she's proud of where I've come now. Thank you for reading this.


Edit: what I'm tryna say is that as long as you're happy and you're not hurting anybody or yourself.. knock yourself out.

[blindbrad]

Unfortunately, some people can't understand this nuance and just want to be outraged whilst shoehorning their children into one's own ideology of what makes a boy or a girl.