Real Life: Transgender Kids

An increasing number of children are being brought up as the opposite sex. One case I have discovered is 8 year old Josie Remero from Arizona who was born biologically male. At the age of six, he began living as a girl with the permission of his parents.

For years, Josie was adamant he was a girl even when his parents tried to convince him otherwise. He saw his penis as a birth defect. Throughout the process of trying to convince his parents of his true gender, his behaviour became erratic and these problems would begin when family used to refer to Josie in a male pronoun. "She would rip the paper off the walls of her bedroon." - Josie's mother

When taken to the doctor after much confusion, he was diagnosed with Gender Dysforia - a condition where adults/children feel they are trapped in the body of the wrong sex
The parents were severely affected with this change and felt as if the mourned the loss of a son after he became Josie.

My opinion: I believe that when looking at different cases of transgender children, there are various common factors like behavioural issues that arise when a child is unable to convince their parents, low self-esteem and bullying at school, and there is commonly a hard stage for parents which most describe as the "mourning of a lost son/daughter".

Link to podcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPffj8k7iLk