To Gender-Bender Infinity--And Beyond!

If a small kid said "I'm a Buzz Lightyear," would his parents go and implant pop-out wings on his back? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't, because they'd realize that the boy is playing/pretending (as kids are wont to do) and to take him at his word and do something invasive to his body would be, well, crazy.

Then why is this okay?

Thomas began saying he was a girl when he was 3 years old, his parents said in an interview with the Daily Mail. He was learning sign language due to a speech impediment, and one of the first things he told his mothers was, “I am a girl.” They say they thought he was confused or mistaken, and signed back, 'No. No. Thomas is a boy."

But Thomas insisted, they said. He shook his head “no” and repeated what he had signed. 

They said Thomas threatened to mutilate his genitals when he was 7, and psychiatrists diagnosed a gender identity disorder.

One year later, he began transitioning to Tammy.

After much deliberation with family and therapists, the child began taking hormone blockers a few months ago. The medication, which must be changed once a year, was implanted in the boy’s upper left arm.

Tommy will continue this treatment until he turns 14 or 15, at which point he will be taken off the blockers and pursue the gender he feels is the right one. He will then either start his puberty cycle as a boy – or begin making the full transition to a girl.

"There's an increase of children who are telling their parents that they are a different gender. We're trying to understand why there's an increase," said Diane Ehrensaft, a developmental and clinical psychologist and author of the book, "Gender-Born. Gender-Made," who says the trend may be due to a more open society.

More open--or more nutty and PC?

I happen to know of one girl who, when quite young, was adamant that she was a boy. She looked like a boy, dressed like a boy and acted like a boy. And yet, when the hormones kicked in at adolescence, she suddenly went all girly--and hasn't looked back. Had this girl, now a young woman, had parents like "Tammy's," she would likely be seriously messed up, and, who knows?, perhaps still delusional about who and what she really is.