The complexity of gender transition in children

UK psychotherapist Bob Withers has been in practice for more than 30 years.Late last year an opinion piece he wrote for a British newspaper attracted considerable attention. The headline was - In 20 years we'll look back on the rush to change our children's sex as one of the darkest chapters in medicine. The reaction was swift, support from many quarters, hostility from others. Bob Withers tells Kathryn why he wrote the article.UK psychotherapist Bob Withers has been in practice for more than 30 years. Late last year an opinion piece he wrote for a British newspaper attracted considerable attention.The headline was - In 20 years we'll look back on the rush to change our children's sex as one of the darkest chapters in medicine.The reaction was swift, support from many quarters, hostility from others. Bob Withers tells Kathryn Ryan why he wrote the article.Withers says he began treating patients in the 1980s. It was in the 90s when he first had a trans patient. "I saw a person who'd been living as a woman for nine years. He'd been born a male - so biologically male - and he discovered that he wasn't really happy in his female identity. He'd had surgery and hormones. He came to see me because he wanted to de-transition, to go back to being his original gender. By which time of course he'd lost his genitals and was dependent on oestrogen so he couldn't fully go back - biologically - to being a man."He realised that the reason he'd wanted to transition were really psychological reasons and he wished he'd had psycho-therapy before he'd had surgical and medical treatment. As a result of seeing him, I began to wonder how many other people might be in his position."The patient, Withers says, went on to write a blog about what had happened to him but was vilified by the trans community for it."made is life so unpleasant and unbearable that he had to close down his blog and pretend he'd made the whole thing up in order to stop himself from being harassed." Withers says that was when he became aware that people were being closed down and silenced by others in the trans community, who he says felt insecure hearing stories that didn't confirm their experiences. He readily admits that the proportion of non-binary or gender non-conforming patients he sees is quite small and that he's not a specialist in the area, but says that living in Brighton - a city with a large LGBT scene - has meant he's seen and supervised a several people who've been in various stages of transition. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details