Apparently so :|
hashtagsarestupidBrains are hard to correct.
Biophilic bookworm by day, gentleman adventurer by night."the real cause of the mental distress is a malfunctioning brain"
Well obviously the distress is experienced in the brain, but I don't know that the cause has been pinned down as a solely neurological dysfunction.
"Had Mother Nature been a real parent, she would have been in jail for child abuse and murder." -Nick Bostrom"plenty of handicapped people are happy, but I suspect many of them would want to have a greater range of activities"
My best friend, who was born with CP and uses a wheelchair, has told me that not only is she happy with her life, but she would refuse a cure for CP if it was offered to her. It's part of her identity. She wants better accomodations (eg, wheelchair accessibility) but doesn't want to be non-disabled.
I don't really understand transexuals or transabled, but I don't see the problem with either. If they deeply need a different body than the one they currently have, why shouldn't we help them get it? Especially considering that if we don't provide such treatments, many of these people will engage in serious self-mutilation that could get them killed from blood loss or infection. Or, at the very least, suffer serious psychological distress.
With regards to the 12 year old Ft M described by the OP, I'd like to add that from a medical standpoint, it makes more sense to intervene before puberty has brought irreversible physical changes. The sex reassignment will have better results if they start it now.
You do need to balance that with developmental factors of identity formation and such, for example there's good evidence to suggest that a five year old who identifies as the opposite gender is likely to outgrow it (most such 5 year olds grow up to be gay rather than transgendered). Which is why they preferentially use reversible treatments early on. For example, you can give the 12 year old hormones to stop puberty, so they stay physically prepubertal while gaining more mental maturity. At 18 or so, they can either withdraw treatment and let puberty start normally if they've become comfortable with their gender, or start the less reversible treatments if they haven't.
I would also recommend, with such a teenager, trying non-harmful psychological treatments to change gender (some amount to emotional abuse and should never be done, but others won't hurt and have a chance of working). I wonder if you could use something similar to what they use with phantom limb syndrome?
If I'm asking for advice on a story idea, don't tell me it can't be done.
^^ Not being comfortable in your own body is probably worse for some people than a physical handicap.
Biophilic bookworm by day, gentleman adventurer by night.