Gender Dysphoria: A Mother’s Tale
Apr 10th, 2008 by christineburns
What do you do when your child exhibits markedly gender-atypical play behaviour almost as soon as they can walk and tells you, by the time they are four years old, that there’s been a mistake?
Susie is a Yorkshire mum with three young children. Two are very much boys, but the other, though born the same, has insisted since pre-school that a mistake had been made.
In this in-depth interview she tells how she handled the challenge, sought help and has cared for her child at every stage in a remarkable journey through growing up. She also tells why she felt her child was not getting the right kind of treatment at Britain’s only child and adolescent clinic specialising in this area, and why she turned, instead, to specialists in the USA and The Netherlands. As a mother, she also has advice for schools on how they could help parents and children avoid the bullying her child has experienced.
For more information and support for parents and families in this position see Mermaids (UK) and Trans Youth Family Allies (US).
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Kudos to Susie for her support of her child and for educating others!
Kim Pearson Executive Director TransYouth Family Allies kimp@imatyfa.org www.imatyfa.org
Very nicely done. Thank you for sharing your story!
Susie your a great person, if only there were others who were as supportive as you. All the best for you and your daughter.xx
What a wonderful mom Susie! You have done an amazing job of sticking by your child and supporting her through a very unusual childhood.
thanks to both of you for this very useful interview.
Wonderful interview. Shows a loving and supportive mother bravely doing what is best for her equally brave daughter.
I cried buckets all the way through this, as I am the epitamy of what she said happens to a transsexual girl if this treatment isn’t allowed to go ahead.
I am now 44, despite now being in my16th month of HRT, the feminising effects are minimal. This has caused me to be the constant victim of hate crime and discrimination, and as I don’t have access to private funds to afford plastic surgery either, life looks bleak.
I hope the tavistock clinic changes its policy, so more kids with gender identity issues are treated with humanity and care
I hope also that Lauren has a bright future as the girl she has always identified herself as and she gets her GCSE’s.
Steph