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> wishes of both its practitioners and the people receiving the treatment, who say it helps them. Not "people", "children", and we frequently disregard the wishes of children when it comes to their health and wellbeing regardless of how they feel about it. We (adults) do this because society has already collectively decided that children are not mature enough to make the best decisions regarding their health and wellbeing. When we decide that the children's (in this case pre-pubescent children), consent is irrelevant to them going to school, or having sex, or taking nude selfies, or getting a boob-job because they are not mature enough to provide meaningful consent, then you can be pretty fucking sure that we, collectively, as a society, aren't going to suddenly decide that pre-pubescent children are making an informed decision about things like chemical and/or literal castration. Seriously, you really think that a group that is considered too undeveloped to consent to a boob-job is still developed enough to consent to sterilisation? |
And we allow minors to participate in all kinds of potentially harmful or regrettable things, with parental consent. Working as actors, playing sports that risk brain injury, using firearms, and yes, getting cosmetic surgery.
This isn't a new category of thing we're allowing minors to do. Why suddenly the strict consideration by outsiders who never cared about any of those other things?
The people cultivating this moral panic have admitted that it is a step on the way to a complete ban on trans healthcare and a crackdown on the existence of trans people. First make it impossible for minors, then under 25, then everyone.
Again you cannot just ignore that context and pretend that, ah, well, nevertheless, I just really think this one thing is important for this specific reason.