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Printable White Paper on GID of Children

high functioning children may be presumed pathological on the basis of cultural nonconformity alone

boys are inexplicably held to a much stricter standard of gender conformity than girls

Issues of Psychiatric Diagnosis for Gender Nonconforming Youth -- Kelley Winters, Ph.D.

Only a very small number of children with Gender Identity Disorder with continue to have symptoms that meet criteria for Gender Identity Disorder in adolescence or adulthood (p. 579).

The "Prehomosexual" Agenda. Author Phyllis Burke (1996) describes cases of children as young as age three institutionalized or treated with a diagnosis of gender identity disorder for widely varying gender nonconformity. She presents evidence of increasing use of GID for children suspected of being "prehomosexual," and not necessarily transsexual. Diagnosis and treatment is often at the insistence of non-accepting parents with the intent of changing a perceived homosexual orientation. Burke quotes Kenneth Zucker, of the GID subcommittee, that parents bring children to gender clinics for the most part "because they don't want their kid to be gay" (p. 100).

Mom, I Need to be a Girl, Second Edition, Just Evelyn (2007) Order here

Zucker and Bradley (1995, p. 53) noted that "homosexuality is the most common postpubertal psychosexual outcome for children [with GID]." They defended the treatment of gender nonconforming children on three points: reduction of social ostracism, treatment of underlying psychopathology, and prevention of GID in adulthood (pp. 266-7). The first appears to shift the blame for the distress of discrimination from its inflictors to its victims. The second presumes theories of psychodynamic etiology which lack evidence in nonclinical populations (Wilson, 1997). With respect to the third, the authors conceded that,

there are simply no formal empirical studies demonstrating that therapeutic intervention in childhood alters the developmental path toward either transsexualism or homosexuality (p. 270).

the San Francisco Human Rights Commission calls on the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association to take immediate steps to stop coercive and inappropriate treatments of gender atypical children based on GID.

Disparate Standards for Boys and Girls. Boys are inexplicably held to a much stricter standard of conformity than girls in their choice of clothing and activities. A simple preference for cross-dressing or simulating female attire meets the diagnostic criterion for boys but not for girls, who must insist on wearing only male clothing to merit diagnosis. References to "stereotypical " or "normative" clothing, toys and activities of the other sex are imprecise in an American culture where much children's clothing is unisex and appropriate sex role is the subject of political debate. This disparity serves to enforce a stricter standard of conformity for boys than girls. Its dual standard not only reflects the social privilege of males in American culture, but promotes it. One implication is that biological boys who emulate girls or women, with their lower social status, are presumed irrational and mentally disordered, while biological girls who emulate boys or men are less so.

Pathologization of Ordinary Behaviors. In the diagnostic criteria and supporting text of Gender Identity Disorder for Children, behaviors that would be ordinary or even exemplary for gender conforming girls and boys are presented as symptomatic of mental disorder for gender nonconforming children. For boys, these include playing with Barbie dolls, homemaking and nurturing role play, and aversion to cars, trucks, competive sports and "rough and tumble" play. For girls, pathology is implied by playing Batman or Superman, competitive contact sports, "rough and tumble" play, and aversion to dolls or wearing dresses (p. 576). It is unclear whether the intent of the DSM is to reflect such dated, narrow and sexist gender stereotypes or to enforce them. More puzzling is criterion A, which lists a "strong preference for playmates of the other sex" as symptomatic and seems to equate mental health with sexual discrimination.