trans | Entries tagged with youth

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ftmichael

http://bostonglobe.com/arts/2012/09/01/camp-for-transgender-kids-builds-trust/7ziUvJtS6gAjKnSAiycKYJ/story.html

Camp unites transgender kids on outskirts
There are few places transgender youth feel accepted. Camp Aranu’tiq was created to change that.
By Bella English, Globe Staff
September 02, 2012

Kids headed to the pool at Camp Aranu’tiq in Connecticut. (Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

On the volleyball court, a boy spiked a shot and his teammates cheered. Nearby, some campers lay on mats, doing yoga stretches. A girl executed a series of cartwheels. Over in drama, the kids performed a “cranky old lady” talk show; everyone cracked up.

Before the week was over, there were campfires, Capture the Flag, a skit night, and a talent show. Camp Aranu’tiq seemed like a traditional New England camp, complete with requisite lake, rustic cabins, and 65 shrieking campers.

Only when you see tags around campers’ necks, with the words “(HE)” or “(SHE)” under their names, do you realize something’s different here. It is the only camp of its kind in the country, a camp for transgender kids, where idle chatter on sports, music, school, and teenage crushes blends right in with talk about “coming out,” “transitioning,” puberty blockers — and bullying.

For privacy and safety reasons, Camp Aranu’tiq has never allowed media inside, but recently let a Globe reporter and photographer spend a day at its wooded Connecticut grounds during its weeklong session in late August. Campers, parents, and staff are required to sign a confidentiality contract, and the exact location is not revealed until the child is enrolled. “They know it’s a safety issue,” said founder and director Nick Teich.

Related: Camp for transgender kids builds trust (photos)

( Read more... )

Current Mood: pleased
Current Location: Boston, MA, United States

ftmichael

There is a poll on this site, near the bottom of the article, asking 'Should kids who believe they are born in the wrong bodies be offered a medication to block puberty?' Please go and vote!

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/20/10450683-more-transgender-kids-seeking-help-getting-treatment

More transgender kids seeking help, getting treatment
By Diane Mapes

When Aidan Key was a little girl, he didn't realize he had gender identity issues. He simply knew something was off.

"I didn't necessarily become aware that I was trapped in the wrong body," says the 49-year-old Bellingham, Wash., native who had gender reassignment surgery at the age of 33. "I became aware that people didn't perceive me as I felt myself to be. It was just odd to me to have to wear a dress the first day of kindergarten. It didn't make sense."

Photo of Aidan Key today with short grey hair, a beard, and glasses on the left, and a childhood photo of him with long hair, possibly a school photo, on the right

Photo of Aidan Key today with short grey hair, a beard, and glasses on the left, and a childhood photo of him with long hair, possibly a school photo, on the right

Aidan Key, left, was born a girl named Bonnie.

Today, Key might have received counseling -- and perhaps even puberty blocking drugs -- at one of a handful of U.S. clinics designed to help adolescents with what’s now called gender identity disorder or GID. The psychological diagnosis is used to describe a male or female who feels a strong identification with the opposite sex and experiences considerable distress because of their actual sex (the word "disorder" refers to the distress the person feels, not the fact that they identify with another gender).

According to reports published Monday in the medical journal Pediatrics, a small but growing number of teens and even younger children who think they were born the wrong sex are now getting support from parents and from doctors who give them treatments that could eventually help them change their sex.

Some estimates say about 1 in 10,000 children may have GID, Dr. Norman Spack, author of one of three reports published Monday and director of one of the nation's first gender identity medical clinics, at Children's Hospital Boston told the Associated Press. And that number does appear to be on the rise, experts say.

The number of people treated at Spack's Gender Management Service clinic, also known as GeMS, which was the focus of a study, increased fourfold between January 1998 and February 2010. The clinic now averages about 19 patients each year, compared with about four per year treated for gender issues at the hospital in the late 1990s.

( Read more... )

Current Location: Boston, MA, United States

what-is-why.livejournal.com

Hey, everyone! My name is Noel, and I'm the vice-president/co-founder of Towson University's trans*, genderqueer, gender-variant, & agender student support group, GenderBLUR. If you live in the Baltimore, MD (USA) area and are:

a student at Towson University
a prior student/alumn of Towson University
a "prospective student" of TU (even if you're not really looking to attend/transfer to TU, we can pretend you are, especially if you're still in high school!)
faculty/staff or prior faculty/staff of TU

AND

you identify absolutely anywhere on the trans* & gender-variant or agender spectrum (basically anything but cisgender)

we would like to invite you & your family/chosen family to a potluck dinner at our school on Wednesday, November 16th at 6:30 as part of our Trans* Awareness Week programming!

If you don't know or are unsure what "chosen family" means, it refers to people who, though they aren't biologically related or legally bound to you, are just as close as "traditional" biological/legal family and may have in fact replaced them--since many of us are not on good terms with biological family.

Support, whether it's biological/legal family, chosen family, friends, or other trans* folk, is so important in our lives! This is an event for sharing that support & making new friends. Many of us at TU have found that our relatives, especially those still on the fence about their kin being trans*, improved their attitudes and learned a lot from speaking with other relatives of trans* people.

If you're interested, please email me at sheimp1@students.towson.edu so that we can work out the details & get you a formal invitation! If you're unsure about anything and have questions, please don't hesitate to ask. If you know someone who may be interested, please send them my way!

I apologize that the criteria for attending is so limited, but it's what the university has agreed to help pay for :( The "prospective student" thing is our only real loophole!

Current Mood: cheerful

ftmichael

http://www.tulsaworld.com/specialprojects/news/becoming_katie/

Becoming Katie
By Cary Aspinwall, World Staff Writer
Published: 5/8/2011

Katie today, next to a photo of her as a toddler

Katie today, next to a photo of her as a toddler

BIXBY - The lone memento of Luke Hill's unhappy existence hangs like a specter in his former bedroom, piercing blue eyes haunting from a 12-year-old portrait.

It's Luke at age 4, in a blue silk kimono, a glossy studio snapshot from when the family lived in Japan, during Dad's service in the US Marine Corps.

This is Katie's room now, and the picture of Luke hanging on her wall is the only one she'll allow her mother to display in the house.

Katie asked her mom to destroy the rest. She doesn't want to be reminded of Luke, his miserable existence as a puzzle piece that never fit.

Luke is just a memory in the minds of those who loved him, the blue-eyed ghost in the portrait.

Katie Hill puts on makeup inside her room in Bixby. Photos by ADAM WISNESKI/Tulsa World

Katie is flesh and bone, long hair and limbs, breasts and eyelashes. A happy 16-year-old who believes it's not her fault she was born into the wrong body.

And by burying Luke and becoming Katie, she has righted what nature made wrong.

( Read more... )

elliottdivine.livejournal.com

Hello All,

I've been sitting on this manuscript for a while, and I finally decided to just publish it myself. In general, I am all for cutting out the middle-man. I don't think there is enough fiction out there written by trans people. Memoirs, yes, but novels, not so much- particularly about the trans issues of the "facebook generation", if you will. And so I proudly present:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52266

"Funny, cynical, tough, vulnerable, honest, deluded, sagacious, self-loving and self-loathing, Refuse is irresistible." -Mark Simpson, author of Saint Morrissey, It's A Queer World, Metrosexy.

It's cheap, and you can get an ebook or paperback. Free sample too, on the ebook site- and if you like the sample and really don't like forking over your money, shoot me and email and I'll give the book to you for free. elliottdeline@gmail.com. It's been 3 years in the making, and I just want readers!

I tagged this as controversial because 1. it might be against the rules to self promote and 2. some of the stuff said by characters in the book might not be to everyone's taste.

But if you wanna check it out, that would be awesome.

Cheers,
E

halfbloodme.livejournal.com

I work as a teaching assistant at a primary school and today was our last day before the holidays. When out on the extra long playtime after assembly, one of the kids in year 3 came up to me and gave me a hug, nothing unusual there until said kid and their sister who is in year 5 started having a conversation.

Sister: I like that Miss Emery is a girl, she's very huggy.
Me in thought: I'm not a girl but we won't go into that now.
Kid: Why do you say Miss Emery is a girl. She could be a boy like me.
Me in thought: Not a boy either but thank you.
Sister: You're a GIRL. Your name is Caitlin*.
Kid: No I'm a boy.
Sister: Mum says you're a girl, you have the same bits I do, you're a girl. Yeah you're a tomboy, but you're a girl.
Kid: Dad calls me Charlie and I like Charlie better. I'm NOT a girl.
Sister: Mum says Dad is an idiot for agreeing to call you Charlie*.
Kid: When I turn 11 I'm moving in with Dad.
Me: Come on now kids, lets try and enjoy the last day of the school year and not argue.
Sister: Miss, will you tell Caitlin she's a girl?
Me (whilst trying to remain neutral and not cause a full scale riot when the kids are picked up and their mother finds out I'm not going to force their child to conform to a gender or sex): It's not up to me. Caitlin or Charlie, whichever you prefer is what I'll call you.
Kid: Yay thank you Miss.
Sister: I think adults are weird.

(*names changed to protect identities in line with the data protection act)

Working in school (whilst my ideal job), is very cisexual and cisgender biased, I've yet to find a gender neutral title that the kids can use and that won't out me to parents and cause a riot, although I'm working on it. I've so far learned how to deal with questions of boyfriends (I am attracted to women), how to deal with questions on why I won't wear dresses and got my hair cut short and why I don't dress like a girl or like a boy but a mixture. Now it's a case of learning how to deal with situations like the above and stay neutral whilst carefully avoiding fitting into the hetronormative and the sexual and gender normative positions most of our parents and the other staff take. This year has been a real learning curve.

alinonymous.livejournal.com

hey,
I'm Ali; i'm an eighteen year old preeverything mtf computer science/computer engineering student at university.
while I do have issues with the residence hall that cause me to think that i won't transition socially until i no longer live in it, this post isn't about that. I have a contact in the admissions department (she used to be residence hall director) that would help me with issues pertaining to that.

what this post about is the internet filtering at my uni. residence hall net is reasonably unfettered (as it should be) whereas wireless in the academic buildings is rather filtered. it seems like the filter is doing dumb keyword filtering on "transgender" and "transsexual" which filters many actual support / lgbt community sites while letting some bad ones through.

anyway I could email uni IT about it but I dont want to possibly out myself by emailing from my uni email and I don't know if helpdesk@$UNI honors requests from non-uni accounts which is how I would avoid associating my trans identity with my identity as a student.

What should i do?

ali

ETA: It would be trivial enough for me to bypass the filtering - I just VPN out of uni network - but I am opposed to censorware blocking the free exchange of information and i realise not everyone at uni is as technically proficient as I am. When they research transgender topics then the sites are blocked is not a good thing.

espreite.livejournal.com

Okay, I'm in an icky, painful dysphoric state at the moment, so I'm going to try and channel it into something useful.

I'm 17 years old, FTN, pre-name change, pre-medical transition and in the middle of social transition, in therapy for gender and other stuff. I live with my parents, who I'm out to; they're supportive but still feel like it's just a stage. Everyone calls me by my preferred name but parents won't let me legally change it until I'm 18 (provided they make good on that and don't make me wait until I leave the house.) So they're also in charge of all my medical things.

I've just switched to a new doctor recently, and the first time I went I tried to see if the people at the desks could put my preferred name in the records somehow. They irritatedly made sure I was called in by it, but the next time I went it was my legal name. I'm pretty sure the doctor knows my preferred name, but he doesn't know that I'm trans, as he referenced "ladies" a couple of times. I find that really painful to hear, so I'm wondering if I should explain that I'm trans and ask him to not use those terms....basically, if anyone has any suggestions for whether or not I should do this and what the best way to go about it is, I would be really grateful.

scissorplay.livejournal.com

I posted here previously with concerns about coming out at school, graduation, and a "friend" that was a little hesitant to switch names with me as I started my transition. Some people asked me to keep them updated, and I will once my summer break begins in a few weeks, but until then I have another question regarding coming out, this time to my parents. I want to do it before the end of this year, but I'm extremely worried about something...

( I just don't feel safe at all. )

So basically I'm wondering if anyone has any opinions on what I could or should do, or if I shouldn't worry at all and just do it. Would it be better to take my chances and tell them face-to-face, or send a letter?

evidence-lost.livejournal.com

Has anyone here - especially those under 18 and/or living with their parents - started to transition before coming out to family, rather than the other way around? The reason I'm asking is that I'm wondering if I should properly explain to my parents that I'm genderqueer/leaning towards more obviously masculine, or just hope that they put two and two together and just ask me about it. I'm planning on changing my feminine birth name quite soon, and all the options I've talked about with my mother have been masculine/unisex. I'm also getting my hair cut in a floppy mohawk soon, which is even less feminine than my current hair. I generally wear boy's clothing. My father thinks I'm lesbian/'really gay' i.e. butch which I just make into a joke because I can't tell him that he's not thaaat wrong. Do you think I should just continue with this semi-transition and tell my parents afterwards, or explain now that the reason I'm changing everything is that I'm uncomfortable with my gender?

Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com

scissorplay.livejournal.com

Hey all, I'm Neil, male identified (ftm), 15 and pre-everything. I've yet to come out to my parents about any of this--the questioning, the experimenting, the self-discovery--so far I've gone through this process on my own, keeping them happily oblivious. Through an article I wrote in the school newspaper on LGBTs and a visit to the school counselor on an unrelated issue, I've suddenly found myself surrounded by people standing by me as support and accepting me for who I am. The closest person to me, a teacher, and I were talking just this evening after school and she said some things that were worrying and alarming.

( Well, just suck it up. )

homo-impetus.livejournal.com

Can anyone provide me with resources and general recommendations for pre-teen trans youth or trans youth in general?

I am looking for anything that is geared specifically for trans youth as I am trying to put together a resource sheet for a group that I facilitate and some of the members of the group are pre-teens and teenagers.

bbjkrss.livejournal.com

Hey. I'm Ritchie, 15 year-old ftm. I'm looking for some advice, I guess. I'm lucky enough to have friends who don't mind about it (at least the ones I've told so far), but I'm a little nervous about both talking with them in more detail about it and discussing it with my parents. I'm not expecting them to kick me out, they're not like that, but it could still go badly if I screw up telling them. All my parents really get right now is that I don't like acting/dressing female, and they're okay with that. But there's a big jump from that to saying "hey mom, dad, I wanna be a boy." And even with my friends who've been okay with it, I'm scared about how they'll react if/when I start transition.

What I want to know is... how should I go about discussing it, maybe how to react to concerns they might have... and if they're receptive, what am I supposed to do first? If I want to be able to transition, what do I have to do? (I understand surgery is probably not an option until I'm 18, but am I allowed to do anything now?) It might be easier for them if I say I don't want to jump completely into this all at once, but maybe do one thing at a time, and I'd like to know what that should be. (I'm planning on asking them for a binder, but I've met resistance with this before. Is that a good first step and should I keep fighting for it, or should I look for something else?) I'm a bit worried about money in our family at the moment- is there a way to make costs easier? Sorry about asking so many questions, but I'm feeling really confused about everything right now, so any help would be appreciated.
(I hope this is the right tag. If I need to change/add something, tell me?)

Current Mood: nervous

auntysarah.livejournal.com

( Cut for moderate length )

thingpart.livejournal.com

Hi. My girlfriend is working on developing an LGBT curriculum for the middle school where she works. She's trying to find short stories that deal with trans issues or have trans characters. The idea being something kids can read in a class period and discuss. We know plenty of YA novels with trans themes, but nothing shorter. Anyone have any suggestions?

publictrans.livejournal.com

My friend from high school is an elementary school teacher. A few weeks ago, she told me about one kid who's "totally going to do that [transition] someday," and described a few classic childhood trans girl moments. (E.g. "When I grow up, I'm going to be a girl.") I tried to get her to look out for the kid, feel out the school counselor, and not assume that the parents know or are accepting. However, she brushed me off, saying that everyone (students and teachers) can tell, and just knows, and looks out for "him".

My friend has since come to her senses a little bit, and now she's asking me for advice:

"Do you have any suggestions on what to talk to him about, how to talk to him about, whether to talk to him about once he's back? He and his classmates are totally open about everything, so I'm sure he'd be fine talking about it. I'm just not sure if it'd be reasonable for me to start with it yet since he is only seven. As someone's who's gone through it, can you give any pearls of wisdom about how I can help him through this the most? I know I'm not the only teacher who's wondering, too, so anything you could tell us all through me would be extremely helpful!"

Her only frame of reference is me, who's transitioning, so you can see her questions are kind of skewed in that direction. I know nothing about helping trans kids (beyond what I wish people had done for me, which is obviously my own personal experience). What can I tell her so she can help this kid safely explore hir feelings, and transition if its right for hir?

In addition, any Washington D.C.-area resources would be great.

[Posted to

transgender &

tranny_please]

queerdragon6.livejournal.com

There was a special on NBC about whether or not you can tell a child wil be gay when they grow up. But the focus of a show was a little boy who painted his nails pink and played with barbies. He SAID IN THE SHOW that he thought he should have been born a girl and wants to be a girl. I do not understand why NBC thinks this has anything to do with his sexual orientation. First of all, he does not say anything about attraction to anyone. Second, he is too young to be sexual ( or at least I would think so). There are clips from it on the NBC web site at http://60minutes.yahoo.com/segment/68/gay_or_straight?

the_borderer

There's an interesting question raised at slashdot, what advice would you give to your 12 year old self if you could? I'm interested in what advice people here would give to their 12 year old self, had they the chance to.

My advice to myself would be 'Despite what the doctors, counsellors and psychiatrists say, you are right and they are wrong. You know what you need help with so insist on getting it sorted out.' It would have made sense when I reached 17.

Current Mood: interested

Transgender Community

Welcome!

US: Camp unites Transgender kids on outskirts

US: More Transgender Kids Seeking Help, Getting Treatment

Trans* Awareness Week Potluck Dinner at Towson University

US, OK: Becoming Katie

A New Book! (if off-topic, delete and please accept my apology.)

A conversation at work

network filtering at uni

Informing my doctor

Telling the parents...

(no subject)

"Suck it up." Is that all I can do?

(no subject)

Hello/advice?

[Controversial, UK, Public Post] Psychologists Describe Trans People as Mutilated Fantasists

Trans/Queer Literature for Young Adults?

Resources for an elementary school teacher with a possible trans student

Confusion of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

Advice to 12 year old self?

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