Editorial

by Katherine Cummings

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

In my last editorial (Polare 81) I devoted some space to young transgenders who have been receiving more sympathetic publicity than has been the case in past years. Some of this interest was created by the case of Kim Petras, a young German pop-singer, who may be, at sixteen years of age, the youngest publicised transgender to receive full reassignment surgery with the approval of her parents and the relevant government bodies.

In the editorial mentioned above I talked of other transgenders here and overseas who have been allowed to transition while still minors, and the desirability of campaigning for this to happen in the hope that, sooner or later, it becomes the norm rather than the exception.

Phinn Borg, Manager of the Gender Centre, asked me to devote this issue to the "young transgender" which is why so much of the issue concerns that segment of our transgender community. In my 81 editorial I cited the long piece on the Internet by Annie Richards and I have now obtained her permission to include an edited version of her essay in this issue.

It is proving more difficult to find information about female-to-males who have transitioned early. There are a number of reasons for this. For a long time we were told that there were many more male-to-female transgenders than female-to-male, but as the phenomenon is studied it is becoming clear that the incidence of mtf and ftm are probably at parity (one-to-one).

Nevertheless M.T.F.s are often harder to detect as they have some natural physiological advantages in the hormonal therapy masculinisation process, such as the growth of facial hair, the natural deepening of the voice and the onset of male-pattern baldness, all of which help those M.T.F.s who choose to blend in with society.

We know, of course, about the well-publicised cases such as that of Alex, who was allowed by the Family Court to start the affirmation process at the age of thirteen. A less desirable side-effect of the case was the ruling that all similar cases must be referred to the Family Court for decision.

In other words, it was no longer legal for the child's legal guardians (usually his/her parents) to authorise legal, social and medical gender affirmation procedures, except, of course, (regrettably) in the first year of the child's life, in cases of indeterminate or "unsatisfactory" genitalia.

As a matter of courtesy I contacted an F.T.M. support group to see if there was a source of information on "young M.T.F. transgenders" i.e. those who had transitioned before they turn eighteen. To my surprise I was informed that there was no such thing as a young transgender and that young transsexuals did not need to transition, but would simply grow up in their affirmed gender. I was also enjoined to contact Rachael Wallbank (the highly talented and committed lawyer who ran the Kevin and Alex cases, among others) who would put me straight on my misunderstanding of the situation with regard to "young M.T.F.s or F.T.M.".

This farrago of misunderstanding and muddy thinking stemmed from an assumption that I was referring to very young children whereas I had made it clear that I was talking about anyone who transitioned before the age of eighteen. I apologise that material on young F.T.M.s will need to appear in a later issue as I do not wish to delay this issue any further.

Of course in an ideal world children would be treated sympathetically and assessed for transgender status at an early age, but in the real world most children are forced to conceal their status until later, when their views may be more respected. If they are fortunate they may then achieve hormonal therapy before puberty. deferring puberty until later assessment, which, one hopes, would be based largely on their ongoing self-assessment. Regrettably many transgenders go through puberty before they reach the age of majority and are forced to suffer the pain, indignity and expense of undoing as much of the damage caused by puberty as they can.

I intended to devote half of this editorial to sorting out some of the confusions over the terms used to define aspects of transgender, but Rachael contributed an excellent article for this issue in which she touches on gender terms. I wrote a short piece as a contributor (i.e. without the glory, power and presumed infallibility of my editorial status) on my view of language in the area of transgender, taking issue with some of Rachael's views, but revisions to Rachael's piece have forced me to defer mine until the next issue.

I am grateful to Kim Petras for allowing the use of her image on the cover of this issue, to Rachael Wallbank for her essay on young people with transsexualism and to Annie Richards for her piece on young F.T.M.s. There is a lot to consider and weigh in this issue of Polare and there has been so much contributed material that I have had to add extra pages.

If you have opinions you would like to share, remember that we are always looking for contributions from the readership and welcome your input.

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.