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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   22515 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 11, 2024

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So, again, for starters: none of that is mutilation, just regular surgery.

Unnecessary surgery that removes healthy body parts is mutilation, as are unnecessary hormonal treatments.

Second, right there in the guidelines: this is the section for adolescents. Children is section 7. When your actual source makes the distinction between kids and teenagers, I feel like it's a bit disingenuous to keep calling them "kids"

When people say "kids" they mean "minors", performing these treatments on even younger children is even worse, but a mastectomy performed on a 16 year old girl is still atrocious.

Third, that's the section on "treatments requested by the patient".

No one cares, the patient is a minor that doesn't know anything about what they're talking about.

I don't see how this is different from anyone else trying to get medical treatment for their illness.

There is no evidence that any illness is involved. The only criteria necessary to get a dysphoria diagnosis is:

  • Say you're trans

  • Don't change your mind for a few months

Even those loose criteria aren't always followed.

Would you be horrified to learn that we also let children be treated for cancer and depression?

Cancer has proper diagnostic criteria, so no on that, but if a doctor insisted I have to give drugs to 14 year old for "depression" (or "anxiety" or ADHD) I'd find it absurd.

Should there be a minimum age for those, too?

Probably. Psychology is very unrigorous, and we should not let these kind of doctors make decisions about children, that go against the wishes of parents.

we should not let these kind of doctors make decisions about children, that go against the wishes of parents.

What if the parents are wrong?

Not much.

Even in cases involving rigorous medicine, where we can be near-certain that a doctor is correct and the parents are wrong, informed consent and parental authority are recognized as necessary. Psychology is nowhere near that level of rigor and certainty, so I don't know on what grounds you wish to overrule parental authority or ignore the lack of informed consent from the child.

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