Programme: BBC Radio 4’s “Women’s Hour” Topic: Gender Identity
Thursday, February 28, 2008
This live show covered the topical and provocative issue of the use of hormone blockers for gender identity issues in children and young people. Polly Carmichael, one of our resident experts on gender variance in children, appeared on the show on behalf of the Trust to debate. Click here to find out more…..
The issue was whether hormone blocking drugs should be prescribed in order to put puberty on hold for older children, so that they can buy time to be sure of their course in life before irreversible changes of either kind are allowed to take place in their bodies. Treatment of this kind has already been practiced for several years in the Netherlands and United States. UK clinicians are currently under waiting a planned review to weigh up all evidence involved before making any changes to national policies. Polly appeared with Lee Gale, a trans man in his twenties, who first talks about his own childhood experiences and Manchester University bioethics lecturer Dr Simona Giordano, who is critical of current UK practice. Click here to listen….