World’s Youngest Transsexual: 16-Year-Old Undergoes Sex Change Operation
A German 16-year-old named Kim (born Tim) has become the youngest person to undergo a sex change operation.
Paid for by the German health service, psychologists stated he/she was “without doubt a girl in a boy’s body“. Since the age of 12, Kim has been undergoing hormone therapy.
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Dr Bernd Meyenburg, head of the Psychiatric Special Outpatient Clinic for Children and Adolescents with Identity Disorders at the University of Frankfurt Hospital explained
Very few youth psychiatrists have any experience with transsexual developments…I was always against such operations on children so young but after seeing how happy one of my patients was and how well adjusted after returning from having the operation abroad while still a teenager – I realised that in some cases it is the right decision…Kim is such a case – she always knew what she wanted.
I am not sure how I feel about this news. On one hand, I want to respect Kim and her decision. I am an open-minded person, at least I like to think I am. On the other hand, 16-years-old is awful young to be making life changing decisions. I can’t even remember what I wanted at 16, other than to drive a car and hang out with my friends while listening to music. I am not for elective, cosmetic surgery, but some may argue this is not cosmetic for Kim. I believe we should accept our natural bodies.
As a parent, I don’t know how I would react if my child wanted such a surgery. Kim’s father explains his feelings:
I suppose it took me longer than my wife to accept it, but Kim is a very persuasive girl, she knows what she wants and how to get it. I am very proud of what she has achieved, how she has managed to get there and how she sticks to her dreams no matter how hard and painful they are to follow.
One thing I do know, I can’t help but feel like I should move to Germany. My son is considered “uninsurable” because he has a congenital heart defect, and our government offers no support because we are not a low income family, yet Germany pays for a teenager’s sex change! I wish Kim and her family well, and I try to have compassion for her gender issues.
Photo: EUROPICS
I agree that a teenager is a bit young to make major decisions, but in this case, I agree that she could decide this on her own. From what I have seen and read - people that have sex changes do it because they have felt that they were in the wrong body for THEIR WHOLE LIVES. I know we consider 16 to be young, but imagine spending 16 years (ok, maybe a bit less) feeling like you were in the wrong body. Many kids can feel this way before they can put it into words.
So, I think that if a teen has it together enough and is confident enough to have major change, she should do it - in the long run it will probably make life MUCH easier for her then doing it when she was in her 20’s or 30’s or later.
I am a TS. Just about every TS that I know has known at around three years old. Getting hormone treatment as young as possible is key to the treatment of this condition. Once puberty is allowed to damage your body it is much harder to deal with. If you have this condition you would know that surgery is not for cosmetic reasons. It is the last step in a treatment that is the only one that is known to work. It would be like saying treatment to fix a heart defect is optional.
I have to disagree with you on one point - the most disturbing thing I find in this whole article is that the surgery was paid for by the government. I am not a fan of socialist economic policy, and the thought that ordinary citizen’s tax money was going to pay for a 16 year old’s sex change operation makes me physically ill. It seems to me more like theft than anything else and it disgusts me.
Why is it that we are so quick to criticize that about which we have little or no knowledge? And why is is so important for us to get people to do what WE think is right for them rather than listen to them and help them do what they KNOW is right for them?
If you think 16 tear old transsexuals don’t know they were born in the wrong body then you’ve never spent any time listening to them. Transsexuals know when they are as young as two. When you were 16 did you know you were happy with your gender? If someone suggested to you to change your gender would you have thought about it for more than a split second?
We preach “March to the tune of a different drummer”, “Be yourself”, Be an individual” but then say “As long as you walk, talk, dress and act like all the other boys/girls”. No wonder so many kids are confused.
Kim knew what she wanted. Open minded people listened to her. They didn’t try to stuff her real self into a box because she was different. We are all unique. We should be encouraging that, not trying to make everyone conform to our rules.
I’d like to point out that there is no such thing as the German health service. Other than many European countries, Germany does not have a national health service, but a system of public and private insurance companies. A typical employee and his or her family would be insured via some public insurance company. I wasn’t able to find more information on the German part of the internet on who paid for Kim’s surgery, but I highly doubt it was the government. It seems likely to me that either her insurance company was forced by some regulation to pay or that the hospital who performed the operation volunteered to pay. If I can find out more, I’ll post again.
Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) is funded in the UK as well. Not sure what the youngest is, but many 18-25 year old are successful each year. I am told there are over 800 NHS funded SRS ops and over 600 private paid for operations each year in the UK.
Then there are the girls who opt for some of the best surgeons in this specility and go to Thailand.
Canada also funds SRS.
It is a serious condition. You have one of two choices. Pay a several thousand in surgical fees after 2 years of therapy, or pay for 50 years of depression therapy, thousands a year in anti depressant drugs. Tens of thousand a year in suicide prevention.
It’s a cheap cost to the public purse to take a physiological issue, re-balance it and put a very healthy and productive person back into the community. One who desperately wants a career, to be successful, to marry a long term loving partner.
M2F have the better surgical options. But remember too there are an EQUAL number of F2M transsexuals who you couldn’t even identify as once having a female body, unless you get into their pants!
I’d rather see funding put into counseling and SRS than into funding politician Christmas parties and long lunches.
Amber, People like you who care only for themselves disgust me. Ordinary Citizens Money is used very often in Germany to pay when something happens to someone who cannot economically handle the problem himself, for example when you loose your job, you get money from the state, until you find a new one (Terms and conditions apply). When you get sick, the Krankenkasse pays your medical bills. That is called solidarity. In Germany we have Soziale Marktwirtschaft. You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_market_economy
I heard that she will be on “America’s Next Top Model”.
Elective procedures should be paid for by the patient NOT the insurer, whether they’re in vitro fertilization, LASIK, or a sex change operation. Why should my premiums (or tax money) go to pay for someone to have a procedure that’s not medically necessary? If Kim/Tim wants to get a sex change let her/his family foot the bill for it…
Why do you find it so hard to give a little so that others can be free to pursue happiness…this cost is comparatively small compared to many other things government does.