Post by Ayla on Jan 28, 2016 6:18:43 GMT 8
.. “Public awareness of the topic is growing thanks to celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner or prime-time shows like 'Orange is the New Black' or 'Transparent,'" said Dr. Asaf Oren, a pediatric endocrinologist and the director of the clinic for transgender youth at Tel Aviv Medical Center — a facility that is unusual in Israel and rather unique worldwide.
The clinic, established three years ago, seeks to provide treatment for those 18 or younger who are on what’s called the transgender spectrum — that is, who experience some degree of incompatibility between their gender self-definition and their genitalia.
“There was a clinic here for adults,” Oren told Al-Monitor, “and youth started to come, to ask questions and request treatment. We know from the literature that the moment such a clinic exists, more and more people seek it out. The numbers attest to its necessity. It started in dribs and drabs of one or two patients every six months. In the last year, about 10 patients arrive every six months. It’s not that there are more youth like this, it’s that they’re less afraid of coming out of the closet.”
On paper, the treatment of transgendered people in Israel is progressive: The state pays for sex-change operations and hormone treatments. Dr. Ilana Berger, a psychologist and the director of the Israeli Center for Human Sexuality and Sexual Identity, told Al-Monitor, “Schools know how to handle the issue and accept transgender youth. The Israel Defense Forces also accepts transgendered people for service, and there’s even a transgendered officer.”
Elisha Alexander, the director of Ma’avarim, which advocates for the transgender community, is less enthusiastic. According to him, the organization hears from 60 people a month, “and it’s true that there are some positive trends, and the state does a lot, and there’s no violence on the scale that exists in other places. But there is a lot more work to be done.”
For instance, Alexander calls the committee that approves sex-change operations at the Ministry of Health "the seventh circle of hell." Because of this, he argued, most patients choose to fund the operation themselves. He also sees the task of changing one’s gender on the Israeli identification card a “nightmare.” The government procedure requires a person to have undergone a sex-change operation in order to change the gender designation on the ID card. “Incompatibility between the gender designation on official documents and the person’s appearance makes the trans person vulnerable to violence,” Alexander emphasized. “It’s hard this way to rent an apartment, find work, travel abroad. Banks think you’re falsifying documents.”
The Clalit HMO, with the participation of the Center for Mental Health in Ness Ziona, conducted a survey on the topic. The results found that half of transgender people in Israel have suffered physical violence, and 70% have suffered verbal violence. The survey revealed that 30% of transgender people are unemployed, significantly higher than the general unemployment rate. Of those who are employed, 57% earn minimum wage.
According to Berger, the clinic is a "ray of light" for transgender youth. She described their experience as “a double life that includes anxiety, depression, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts — especially during puberty, when the body ultimately betrays their internal gender.”
The clinic and Ma’avarim sometimes see parents with 3- or 4-year-old children who already express some kind of gender incompatibility with the sex they were born with. “Gender is something that forms at this age,” said Alexander, “but at this age, nothing should be decided.”
While the clinic can't offer treatment at such young ages, it can provide support. The clinic’s involvement doesn’t start before age 11-12, the start of puberty. “Most youth come to the clinic at age 13-14 or older; younger ages are the minority,” said Oren. “In order to start treatment, we need the authorization of a mental health professional and the agreement of the youth and both parents.”
At first, the clinic gives a treatment that delays puberty. It’s reversible and has virtually no side effects. This treatment gives the young patient more time to decide. At an older age, they start with hormonal therapy, which is irreversible.
Berger and Oren stressed that Israel is committed to international standards of treatment for transgendered people. But conservative elements consider the clinic and the liberal spirit it reflects as cultivators of the transgender phenomenon that reinforce gender confusion, which they see as a correctable part of one's sexual development.
''We have not increased the frequency, but enabled self-expression to people who were embarrassed or scared to admit it and stayed in the closet. This only increases distress and psychiatric illness. You cannot 'fix' a child; such attempts are useless. If a child's gender behavior is not accepted, this could lead to greater distress," said Oren.
“We enable self-expression for those who in the past had been ashamed or afraid and stayed in the closet, which causes heightened despair and mental illness,” he concluded.
Alexander’s assessment is sharper: "Instead of transgender youth staying in the closet for 30 years, 41% of whom will try to commit suicide, they act as they see themselves and not as society expects them to. I doubt that this would cause someone who isn’t transgender to become so — being transgender is no picnic.”
www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/01/transgender-suicide-clinic-tel-aviv-sexual-identity.html#ixzz3yUBQGG7Z
The clinic, established three years ago, seeks to provide treatment for those 18 or younger who are on what’s called the transgender spectrum — that is, who experience some degree of incompatibility between their gender self-definition and their genitalia.
“There was a clinic here for adults,” Oren told Al-Monitor, “and youth started to come, to ask questions and request treatment. We know from the literature that the moment such a clinic exists, more and more people seek it out. The numbers attest to its necessity. It started in dribs and drabs of one or two patients every six months. In the last year, about 10 patients arrive every six months. It’s not that there are more youth like this, it’s that they’re less afraid of coming out of the closet.”
On paper, the treatment of transgendered people in Israel is progressive: The state pays for sex-change operations and hormone treatments. Dr. Ilana Berger, a psychologist and the director of the Israeli Center for Human Sexuality and Sexual Identity, told Al-Monitor, “Schools know how to handle the issue and accept transgender youth. The Israel Defense Forces also accepts transgendered people for service, and there’s even a transgendered officer.”
Elisha Alexander, the director of Ma’avarim, which advocates for the transgender community, is less enthusiastic. According to him, the organization hears from 60 people a month, “and it’s true that there are some positive trends, and the state does a lot, and there’s no violence on the scale that exists in other places. But there is a lot more work to be done.”
For instance, Alexander calls the committee that approves sex-change operations at the Ministry of Health "the seventh circle of hell." Because of this, he argued, most patients choose to fund the operation themselves. He also sees the task of changing one’s gender on the Israeli identification card a “nightmare.” The government procedure requires a person to have undergone a sex-change operation in order to change the gender designation on the ID card. “Incompatibility between the gender designation on official documents and the person’s appearance makes the trans person vulnerable to violence,” Alexander emphasized. “It’s hard this way to rent an apartment, find work, travel abroad. Banks think you’re falsifying documents.”
The Clalit HMO, with the participation of the Center for Mental Health in Ness Ziona, conducted a survey on the topic. The results found that half of transgender people in Israel have suffered physical violence, and 70% have suffered verbal violence. The survey revealed that 30% of transgender people are unemployed, significantly higher than the general unemployment rate. Of those who are employed, 57% earn minimum wage.
According to Berger, the clinic is a "ray of light" for transgender youth. She described their experience as “a double life that includes anxiety, depression, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts — especially during puberty, when the body ultimately betrays their internal gender.”
The clinic and Ma’avarim sometimes see parents with 3- or 4-year-old children who already express some kind of gender incompatibility with the sex they were born with. “Gender is something that forms at this age,” said Alexander, “but at this age, nothing should be decided.”
While the clinic can't offer treatment at such young ages, it can provide support. The clinic’s involvement doesn’t start before age 11-12, the start of puberty. “Most youth come to the clinic at age 13-14 or older; younger ages are the minority,” said Oren. “In order to start treatment, we need the authorization of a mental health professional and the agreement of the youth and both parents.”
At first, the clinic gives a treatment that delays puberty. It’s reversible and has virtually no side effects. This treatment gives the young patient more time to decide. At an older age, they start with hormonal therapy, which is irreversible.
Berger and Oren stressed that Israel is committed to international standards of treatment for transgendered people. But conservative elements consider the clinic and the liberal spirit it reflects as cultivators of the transgender phenomenon that reinforce gender confusion, which they see as a correctable part of one's sexual development.
''We have not increased the frequency, but enabled self-expression to people who were embarrassed or scared to admit it and stayed in the closet. This only increases distress and psychiatric illness. You cannot 'fix' a child; such attempts are useless. If a child's gender behavior is not accepted, this could lead to greater distress," said Oren.
“We enable self-expression for those who in the past had been ashamed or afraid and stayed in the closet, which causes heightened despair and mental illness,” he concluded.
Alexander’s assessment is sharper: "Instead of transgender youth staying in the closet for 30 years, 41% of whom will try to commit suicide, they act as they see themselves and not as society expects them to. I doubt that this would cause someone who isn’t transgender to become so — being transgender is no picnic.”
www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/01/transgender-suicide-clinic-tel-aviv-sexual-identity.html#ixzz3yUBQGG7Z