According to a major study, most children who are unhappy with their gender will outgrow that feeling over time.
It found that one in ten 11-year-olds were unhappy with their sex at birth, but for most this uncertainty had disappeared by the time they reached their 20s.
Scientists at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands followed the lives of 2,772 young people, evaluating them when they were 11, 13, 16, 19, 22 and 25 years old.
The study found that one in ten 11-year-olds were dissatisfied with their sex at birth, but for most this uncertainty had disappeared by the time they reached their 20s.
Retired consultant pediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, author of The Cass Review report into NHS children’s gender services published last week
They were asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed with the statement: “I wish to be of the opposite sex.”
At age 11, when the study began, 11 percent of participants were dissatisfied with their sex at birth.
This number decreased at each assessment until, by age 25, it was just 4 percent.
The Tavistock Center where children were given hormonal drugs they should not have been given
The findings, published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, raise serious questions about the approach advocated by trans activists of simply “affirming” children who identify as the opposite sex and allowing them to take puberty-blocking medications.
They also support the conclusions of the scathing Cass report into NHS children’s gender services published last week: that for most young people “a medical route will not be the best way to manage gender-related distress”.
Stephanie Davies-Arai, of the anti-gender charity Transgender Trend, last night said the findings were a “victory for common sense”.