I think the important thing here is it’s not just generational but institutional. China HAS improved its protections over time and it is absolutely following medical science on trans people and building children-specific clinics rather than what the west is doing which is going backwards. The direction in China is forwards while the direction in the west is backwards. Expecting these to cross over seems natural.
There are two main reasons you want to use specialist clinics for children. The first is primarily because children are more likely to have uncertainty about their identities. The second is because children are developing organisms and have very different bloodtest results depending on what age they are and what part of their development they’re in. You need psychological clinicians specially trained in the uncertainty these children have and how to address it without leading them (and deal with parents too) and you need specialists in child development to handle all the weirdness you can get with children at different ages if you’re administering something like puberty blockers to hold off their development until they’re at an age to decide on transition.
Another less talked about reason in my opinion is that it puts all these people that have the same problem in close proximity which means they inevitably meet other parents and other children dealing with it. This has positive outcomes in terms of constructing support networks.
I think the important thing here is it’s not just generational but institutional. China HAS improved its protections over time and it is absolutely following medical science on trans people and building children-specific clinics rather than what the west is doing which is going backwards. The direction in China is forwards while the direction in the west is backwards. Expecting these to cross over seems natural.
Certainly true, I believe that’s the difference in the situations. We’ll have to wait to see
Children specific clinics sounds interesting, any resources or could you explain the difference in approach?
There are two main reasons you want to use specialist clinics for children. The first is primarily because children are more likely to have uncertainty about their identities. The second is because children are developing organisms and have very different bloodtest results depending on what age they are and what part of their development they’re in. You need psychological clinicians specially trained in the uncertainty these children have and how to address it without leading them (and deal with parents too) and you need specialists in child development to handle all the weirdness you can get with children at different ages if you’re administering something like puberty blockers to hold off their development until they’re at an age to decide on transition.
This is fairly good recent research if you’re interested in recommended clinical guidelines: https://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2024/04/09/archdischild-2023-326500
Another less talked about reason in my opinion is that it puts all these people that have the same problem in close proximity which means they inevitably meet other parents and other children dealing with it. This has positive outcomes in terms of constructing support networks.