Gender Identity And Suicide Research

Gender identity does not originate through your reproductive or sexual anatomy, but rather through the brain. “It is your state of being, the way you think of yourself, who you really are”, and is impossible to change that self- declared gender identity of a child but, if doing so will cause harm. According to a 2013 study, due to the lack of social support and discrimination, it has been estimated that 77 percent of transgender people in Ontario at the age 16 and over had seriously considered suicide at some point, and 43 percent had attempted to do suicide. But researchers have shown that a number of factors can lessen suicide risk, including strong parental gender identification support, and access to transition tools such as hormone therapies
and surgery. Montreal Gazette was convincing for me because she explained the risk of what happens if transgender children do not take the steps to transition. In addition, despite being pro-transition, she also allowed developmental-behavioural pediatric Dr. Shuvo Ghosh to address both sides of the story; declaring that “ Just because a little boy play with dolls or a girl refuses to wear dresses--or if kids say once or twice that they wish they were a different gender--doesn't necessarily mean they are transgender. But when, over time, a child "insistently, consistently and persistently " identifies as a gender other than the one assigned at birth, the child can be considered transgender.(10)” This means that time and consistently will play a main factor in telling whether your child is transgender or not.