Explain Why Children Should Not Transition Under 18

David is was a child whom was born a boy however he lost his penis due to a bad circumcision. His parents decided to raise him as a girl instead with the guidance of Dr. Money. Dr. Money had an agenda. He wanted to prove gender was a social construct so he pressured David into being a girl. David however, had no interest in being a girl yet, he was constantly pressured into transitioning and being forever to be something he was not. In the end he killed himself. In this story I learned, Children should not transition under 18, children are too young to make their own decisions, gender roles can pressure a child to transition, and transitioning done wrong can have serious effects. (Fix Intro needs work get help on it)

Children are not able to make their own decisions, because they are not fully developed, this causes parents to make the decisions for the child, whom do not know how the child truly feels. Everyday laws that put age limits to ensure a child’s safety laws that include: Drinking Laws, Age of Consent, Age to Drive and Age to Vote. Theses laws are here for the children’s safety because they are not developed enough for children's safety.( Find name of actual law and cite)
The brain is not developed until age 25. (Holloway). Children’s brains are still changing during the teenage years so is their decision making. “In teen's brains, the connections between the emotional part of the brain and the decision-making center are still developing.” (Holloway). When children can not make the decisions on their own because of growing and maturing parents make the decisions for them. That is dangerous. Intersex or transexual children have the choice of gender taken away by their parents. “Boys without male genitals (absent either because of a developmental anomaly, or consequent to an accident) could simply be raised as girls. But in adolescence it was increasingly noted that many of these individuals began to express discomfort with the gender to them.” (Franis 60). Instead of letting the child decide parents push to change their children causing serious consequences. Gender roles and stereotypes can pressure children to transitions. Children who are born with different genitals are being pressured to act a certain was where reality the children feel different. “Gender stereotypes are oversimplified understandings of males and females and the differences between them.” (Blackstone 335).
So intersex kids are being forced into a gender that does not fit for them because of their genitals not confiding to the norm. Instead people do not listen to the child and force them to be something they are not. This causes children to live a lifestyle that does not fit them and when a child has to do that consequences occur. David was forced to live a lifestyle that did not fit him in the end he killed himself “insert quote from print source (Cite here). Instead parents should wait to see what their children want to be instead of pushing gender stereotypes. In the end a persons hormones bring out a person’s gender so waiting will cause more success instead of rushing children into transition because of gender roles and
stereotypes.

Having a bad experience transitioning can have negative physical and phycological effects causing children to have higher health defects, and higher risk of suicide. Hormones on young bodies have serious health effect and the risks are unknown. “Patients warned that they may be at higher risk for heart disease or diabetes later in life. The risk of blood clots increases for those who start estrogen. And the risk for cancer is an unknown, but it is included in the warnings doctors give their patients.” (Boghanit). There are also serious effects with surgery. Surgery is a long, serious, painful process. If it goes wrong the child can be in serious danger. “The physical transition proceeded in slow, painful stages- convalescence from each procedure took months. The body's own power of healing can rebel against its new form.” (Francis 61). The other side of this argument says children transitioning young before puberty cause them to look the gender they want to be. However hormones in puberty determine a child’s gender so waiting will cause less risks. For the children who want to go into surgery they can dress as their preferred gender and do the activities consider masculine of feminine to manage. (Cite Source).
It is unethical for children to transition at a young age negative effects can last a life time, gender roles and stereotypes can pressure children into transition when they are unprepared, and children are not at the age where they can make a decision. Parents should wait to the child is 18 so the child can make the decision. In the end it will be better for the child.