Biotechnology Ethics: Children and Gender Reassignment
The following is to inform the reader of the biotechnological ethical issue of children and gender reassignment. It will provide a brief background into gender dysphoria, gender reassignment therapy, and what the process is for children and adolescence. It will also highlight problems and offer suggestions on how to address such problems. It will then close with a summary of the entire topic and some closing remarks.
Gender Reassignment Therapy is the medical aspect of gender transition, that is, modifying one's characteristics to better suit one's gender identity. This therapy is a method of treatment for gender dysphoria. The American Psychiatric Association defines gender dysphoria as a conflict between a person's physical or assigned gender and the gender with which he/she/they identify (Warning Signs of Mental Illness). Those with gender dysphoria are uncomfortable with their bodies usually during the years of puberty; or not comfortable with the roles that come with their assigned gender. For children, cross-gender behaviors may start between ages 2 and 4, during this same time most developing children begin showing gendered behaviors and interests (Warning Signs of Mental Illness). Gender atypical behavior is common among young children and may be part of normal development. A sign of gender dysphoria in children can be a boy strongly claiming that he is a girl, while also acting and dressing as such and vice versa for the opposite gender. Gender dysphoria is typically accompanied by other mental disorders like depression, extreme anxiety and lack of self-esteem.
Treatment for gender dysphoria can consist of counseling, cross-sex hormone therapy, gender reassignment surgery and puberty suppression (Gender Reassignment Surgery). The specific treatment process for a child that is diagnosed with gender dysphoria; typically involves multiple specialties of health care professionals; these specialties include a pediatrician, a psychiatrist, other mental health professionals, a pediatric endocrinologist: this a specialist in hormone conditions in children and of course an advocate for this treatment (Gender Reassignment Surgery). Treatment may focus primarily on affirming psychological support, understanding feelings and coping with distress, and giving children a safe space to articulate their feelings (Warning Signs of Mental Illness). Children with gender dysphoria are at a higher risk for emotional and behavioral problems, including anxiety and depression. Children with gender dysphoria may experience teasing and harassment at school or pressure to dress more like their assigned gender. In adolescents, preoccupation with cross-gender issues can interfere with daily activities and cause problems in relationships or in functioning at school or work. Adolescents with gender dysphoria are at increased risk for suicide.
With a base knowledge of gender dysphoria and gender reassignment for children and adolescence. Is it ethical to subject children and adolescence to such therapy and surgery? The answer should be a simple NO! Even with the textbook definition of gender reassignment therapy; it poses a major ethical issue. Subjecting children to hormone treatment before pubescent development or to suppress puberty is an inhumane act against children and adolescence. Robbing children of the natural process to grow is deplorable. The human pubescent process is the final process in which a boy becomes a man and a girl becomes a woman. This process comes with a rush of hormones that can cause children to experience a wide range of symptoms (unexplained mental and emotional behavior, growth pains, sweating, etc.). During this time the brain is also developing as well; puberty could be the cure for a lot of mental disorders that plague people as children. While puberty can be the answer to gender dysphoria for some children; others who continue to have dysphoria will need psychiatric help until they’re old enough to make their own decision to go through the procedure.
Besides allowing puberty to run its course. Some other suggestions to fix these issues are regulating the age in which someone can consent to the procedure like 18 and older. Restricting parents from allowing pre-pubescent children from hormone treatment and surgery option. Next is the enact an initiative that will educate the masses about gender dysphoria and other mental disorders in order to reduce the amount of stigmatization, discrimination, and victimization, contributing to a negative self-image and increased rates of other mental disorders. Require medical professional to standardize treatment of gender dysphoria as a mental disorder and not a physical disorder. A corporation can incorporate mental health awareness training or seminars. Schools can add it to the science curriculum so it becomes a common study. Other things to consider is that children gender reassignment is legal in all 50 states; so there need to be laws in place that protect children from lapses of judgment. Also, if a parent is willing to put their children through the medical procedures of gender reassignment. Then they should also go through a psychiatric evaluation. The reason why parents should go through a psych evaluation is because they too may have undiagnosed mental disorders. Parents also shouldn’t write off the fact that it may be a phase; children commonly imitate their parents whom they are mostly around and often times do it because that is what is most familiar. Some medical providers are also human and can very well “jump the gun” diagnosing a phase in a child’s life. Parents should get be given the option of waiting it out. Here is where laws or standards would also be helpful in that as well. Gender dysphoria has a distinct trait like so many other mental disorders, yet it is not treated as a mental disorder. Even though the evidence is obvious that there is something in the brain that causes someone to feel as if he or she's the wrong gender. It needs to be standardized across the board that gender dysphoria is a clinically diagnosed mental disorder.
This topic introduced gender dysphoria and gender reassignment. It gave a brief background and highlighted key unethical issues. As well as gave solutions to address the unethical.. Gender reassigning for children can be view as inhumane and should be a process that only an adult can make the decision to go through. On top of that, there is no way to verify or predict that gender reassignment therapy is a fix for gender dysphoria. Many people after the therapy and surgical procedure still feel out of place, depressed, anxious, and suicidal. The body has a way of balancing itself, there some things that are out of reach and do require medical assistance. This topic is very sensitive in our society as mentioned in the content above there should be no way that children should be subjected to a permanent procedure when there is so much unpredictability in a child’s growth. Yet there are other types of dysphoria, body integrity dysphoria, where people experience a mismatch between their body image and their anatomy. This usually results in a strong desire to have a limb amputated (Gender Dysphoria in Children). Ponder this, is it be ethical to amputate a 10-year-old’s leg because he doesn’t want it anymore? Or what about the ethics to remove a person’s penis just because he doesn’t want it anymore? Or when girl no longer wants her breasts because she doesn’t want them anymore? (Gender Dysphoria in Children). What wishes do we honor and what do we consider making the decision for them.