Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Ilene Lelchuk, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, August 27, 2006

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/08/27/MNGL2KQ8H41.DTL

QuotePark Day School is throwing out gender boundaries.

Teachers at the private Oakland elementary school have stopped asking the children to line up according to sex when walking to and from class. They now let boys play girls and girls play boys in skits. And there's a unisex bathroom

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Kids have always explored gender roles, but precisely how many exhibit gender variance has not been estimated, said Dr. Edgardo Menvielle, associate professor of psychiatry with the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"What is new is how parents and educators are addressing it and being open to it at earlier ages," said Taneika Taylor of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, an organization in Washington, D.C., that is trying to end discrimination and violence caused by gender stereotypes.

This increased awareness, Taylor said, is fueled partly by the availability of information on the Internet and television. As the school year begins, new Web sites, e-mail support groups, educational materials and conferences offer support and education for parents and teachers of kids who defy gender stereotypes.

Their common message is not to try to change who these kids are, though mainstream mental health professionals are not unified. Some believe such feelings can and should be extinguished through therapy; others believe that can destroy children's self-esteem.

"If you are forced to be something you don't want to be as a kid, you are miserable," said Carla Odiaga of Boston, the consultant hired at Park Day.

Hi thanks KateAlice!
You kown you see this stuff and read it and think wow! Great! but....
As an example so i do not have to type it here was a recent post from a hetero-male friend of mine who is very much a supporter of me and all alternative lifestyles and issues!

QuoteThe unfortunate thing for you, and others in this country with this issue, is that you have been born into a western, judeo-christian world that for all the lip service they pay to it, is still a VERY, VERY judgmental society full of hypocrites.  I don't know that it would be any better in the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, the Philippines or anywhere else but I am pretty sure it isn't easy

He was responding to me in an email about some gender specific things so his post is not really out of context here  it just i guess expresses my normal pathetic depressive malnutritioned view that all is still not right in the world we live in!
smooches
Ricki

The  New York Times

Supporting Boys or Girls When the Line Isn’t Clear


By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
Published: December 2, 2006


Link (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/02/us/02child.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ei=5094&en=38fd514163312170&hp&ex=1165035600&partner=homepage)

OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 1 — Until recently, many children who did not conform to gender norms in their clothing or behavior and identified intensely with the opposite sex were steered to psychoanalysis or behavior modification. ................

a major change is taking place among schools and families. Children as young as 5 who display predispositions to dress like the opposite sex are being supported by a growing number of young parents, educators and mental health professionals.

Doctors, some of them from the top pediatric hospitals, have begun to advise families to let these children be “who they are” to foster a sense of security and self-esteem. They are motivated, in part, by the high incidence of depression, suicidal feelings and self-mutilation that has been common in past generations of transgender children. Legal trends suggest that schools are now required to respect parents decisions.

“First we became sensitive to two mommies and two daddies,” said Reynaldo Almeida, the director of the Aurora School, a progressive private school in Oakland. “Now it’s kids who come to school who aren’t gender typical.”
.......................................

As their children head into adolescence, some parents are choosing to block puberty medically to buy time for them to figure out who they are — raising a host of ethical questions.

While these children are still relatively rare, doctors say the number of referrals is rising across the nation. Massachusetts, Minnesota, California, New Jersey and the District of Columbia have laws protecting the rights of transgender students, and some schools are engaged in a steep learning curve to dismantle gender stereotypes.

...........................

The literature on adults who are transgender was hardly consoling to one parent, a 42-year-old software consultant in Massachusetts and the father of a gender-variant third grader. “You’re trudging through this tragic, horrible stuff and realizing not a single person was accepted and understood as a child,” he said. “You read it and think, O.K., best to avoid that. But as a parent you’re in this complete terra incognita.”
..............................

Dr. Herbert Schreier, a psychiatrist with Children’s Hospital and Research Center in Oakland.

Dr. Schreier is one of a growing number of professionals who have begun to think of gender variance as a naturally occurring phenomenon rather than a disorder. “These kids are becoming more aware of how it is to be themselves,” he said



[/quote]

Oh god if only I had had those opportunities. I could've had a peri instead of double incision. I wouldn't have the scars I have. I could've been me so much younger.

And even if a kid isn't trans, delaying puberty is not a bad thing. Kids seem to go through it so young these days. I was 17 when I went through puberty and that was late, but not that late. These days you see girls as young as 9 and 10 starting. That's a heavy burden for a kid to deal with no matter what their gender identity or sexual orientation.

Dennis

Found this in my NYTimes inbox from a couple of weeks ago - sorry if repost - just thought it was sweet!!

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.deltaxchange.com%2Fsusans%2F600_child.jpg&hash=3f19d81d3dfa8e7278922b2d22e6d3c05af754f5)
A boy, 5, left, who identifies as a girl, plays with a friend in Northern California. He began emulating girls shortly after turning 3.

OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 1 — Until recently, many children who did not conform to gender norms in their clothing or behavior and identified intensely with the opposite sex were steered to psychoanalysis or behavior modification.

Jim Wilson/The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/02/us/02child.html?ex=1181451600&en=0de9c781cd024c23&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at5)
Dr. Kenneth Zucker, a psychologist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, encourages children to be content with their gender.

But as advocates gain ground for what they call gender-identity rights, evidenced most recently by New York City's decision to let people alter the sex listed on their birth certificates, a major change is taking place among schools and families. Children as young as 5 who display predispositions to dress like the opposite sex are being supported by a growing number of young parents, educators and mental health professionals.

Wow!
Thanks for that Kiera!
Ricki

I read an article a few years back about a college professor that had a class on transgender and all the students exchanged roles for the semester, I wounder what ever happened with that?

ssindy that was a cool thing i wonder too?  Has any of that been done recently?
hmmm Lost in time can challenge his class to gender swap for a semester?
Wonder if there would be takers???
Really....... that would make a good sociology or humans relations course huh?
Imagine the drama it would develope or cause on campus?????
How many hidden ts's would sign up for the class i wonder????)
Hmmmm
Ricki

Not sure I wish I could remember what school it was, I need a few more credit hours for my masters.....