3-Year-Olds Dream of Gender Change

The number of children under the age of 10 years, who feel the need for gender change, has grown by 4 times in Britain over the past 5 years. Even some three year-olds already receive specific treatment.

Statistics provided by the Mandatory Health Insurance Fund of England shows that the number of children under the age of 10 years, who feel like in someone else’s body, has increased by 4 times from 2009 to 2014. Kids aged five or even three years think about gender change seriously. The only medical center specializing in the treatment of gender disorders in people under 18 years old is Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust. All such children are sent there.

This Trust has clinics in London and Leeds, and its experts say that gender dysphoria is a rather complicated and rare disorder that is often associated with stress that increases with the occurrence of puberty. According to experts, the first signs of gender dysphoria may occur at a very early age.

Children refuse to wear clothes typical of boys or girls, they do not want to take part in games that have a clear sexual division, such as dolls or toy soldiers. In most cases, this type of behavior is a normal part of growing up, and it disappears with age. But in case of gender dysphoria, behavior changes are saved and carried into adulthood.

Adult victims of this disorder feel trapped in someone else’s body, which does not coincide with their own vision of the body they should have. All this causes severe depression, often leading to suicide. However, in recent years, these people were able to legally change their gender, after going through hormonal therapy and surgery.

At this center, specialists assist children with gender dysphoria, starting from a very early age. Doctors pay considerable attention to medical and educational work with parents, many of whom cannot accept such behavior of their child. Regarding the increase in the number of children, who have expressed a desire to change their gender, the experts say it is due to better methods of diagnostics rather than because of an increase in the cases of gender dysphoria.