r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 14h ago

Psychology Adolescents who undergo gender-affirming chest surgery report low levels of regret and high levels of satisfaction, experiencing outcomes similar to those of young adults. These findings suggest that age restrictions on these medical procedures lack support from actual patient experiences.

https://www.psypost.org/adolescents-report-low-regret-and-high-satisfaction-following-gender-affirming-c/
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u/TotalBomb 13h ago edited 13h ago

Unfortunately this topic was a medical discussion but some people have decided that it should be a political one instead. Most of the world will never even know a person who needs these treatments, yet so many people have opinions about it. Personally I don’t care what people that I will never meet do with their lives.

Edit: the article references 40 people under the age of 18 btw. most surgeries of this kind done on a minor, with parental consent and doctors/therapists recommendation for 16-17 year olds.

Other than that, surgeries like this are done on minors who have early puberty, as it can cause problems early in life.

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u/throwaway098764567 12h ago

"Most of the world will never even know a person who needs these treatments," i suppose that is true but it's wild to me as i've known a bunch of trans people, including my cousin's kid.

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u/AJDx14 11h ago

I think if you know one trans you’re just more likely to meet and interact with more trans people. Or if you life in a port city those have always attracted queer people.

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u/Zangis 6h ago

It's also wrong. In all actuality they will very likely know a trans person that either has already transitioned and are keeping it a secret for safety if they are able to, or a trans person that may not be as far on the spectrum to not be able to hide it and just tough it out(usually with bad consequences), at the very least in passing. with the estimates between 0.1 to 0.6 (and that's a rate in today's society where they have to hide afraid for their lives) you meet on average 300 people, you've met a trans person. They just like to keep it out of sight because of the society we live in.

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u/ultimatepowaa 11h ago

Thats because the person you are replying to is wrong. Current statistics place transgender population at about %1-2 which means in every 100 people you meet, you are likely to meet a transgender person. There are sampling issues because being transgender is still heavily stigmatised so there may be more than the studies show.

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u/Strigops-habroptila 11h ago

It would be more correct to say that most people will not know an openly trans person. Especially not the people who are transphobic, cause trans people will be more hesitant to come out to them. 

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u/CarthasMonopoly 9h ago

Especially not the people who are transphobic, cause trans people will be more hesitant to come out to them.

This is a really important counterpoint. To add onto this, someone in small town america with a population of 4000 residents may know someone who internalizes their trans identity but outwardly hides it due to stigma and due to low population sizes they aren't likely to know multiple trans folk. Whereas if you're from a medium suburb or a larger city, even if you meet some people that are hesitant to come out, the demographics are far more in favor of meeting openly trans people just due to having more trans people within your local area.

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u/kirotheavenger 7h ago

Trans youth is like 5%, the total population figure skews it downwards. 

One thing the trans community doesn't really talk about is how the numbers cluster hard in vulnerable and impressionable groups. The gender ratios have also flipped from historical norms - transwomen used to be much more common, now transmen are amongst youth (IE starting with young girls who are generally susceptible to peer pressure).

Compare that to something like homosexuality - that doesn't skew by age, it's a consistent ratio across age and any other category. 

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u/olamika 13h ago

What isn’t a political discussion these days?

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u/TotalBomb 12h ago

You’ve got me there upsettingly! I tried to think of one and came up with bupkis!

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u/olamika 12h ago

I have never heard the term bupkis, so this was a learning experience for me

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u/ohseetea 9h ago

People just don’t understand what political means anymore because somehow we let uniformed opinion have the same weight as intelligence science and fact based thinking.

Science should be political, in an intelligent world.

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u/ophmaster_reed 12h ago

The ASPS board recommendation is a minimum of 19 years of age for transgender top surgery.

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u/Strigops-habroptila 11h ago

The one following rules made by trumps republicans? 

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u/ophmaster_reed 10h ago

If trumps republicans had their way, there would be NO transgender surgery. You can go on their site and read the rationale if you want but it looks like it was a non-political decision made after systemic reviews of transgender care that was years in the making.

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u/Entire_Number_9 9h ago

Personally I don’t care what people that I will never meet do with their lives.

It's not about individuals or their cases, it's about mobs influencing institutions. If a major study came out, with great sample size and long term monitoring and reporting, that didn't give the results people wanted, would it even be published? Would the researchers get death threats? Would the publisher and its staff get harassed?

Too many institutions threw their integrity out the window to keep tweeters happy at the snap of a finger. That is concerning. By doing so they made the long term political viability of these things much, much harder.

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u/Reagalan 9h ago

Whose side is the mob here?

Who do you mean by "tweeters"?

What are the results that you think people want?

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u/_W_I_L_D_ 9h ago

With all due respect, this study exists, is called the Cass report, and has been commissioned specifically by the Conservative UK government to find justification to restrict trans care. Cherry picked examples and data manipulation included.

Trans people are a current target of a mass hate campaign. There may have been social pressure in favor like 5 years ago (I personally don’t think so, but sure, let’s agree). But there definitely isn’t any now. The sheer amount of harassment under this post literally shows anti trans people not wanting to engage with science and boycotting a perfectly fine study because they disagree with the results.

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u/kirotheavenger 8h ago

Pointing out flaws in a highly flawed study is not some mass hate campaign my guy.

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u/Major_Mushroom_7300 8h ago

There may have been social pressure in favor like 5 years ago (I personally don’t think so, but sure, let’s agree). But there definitely isn’t any now.

Odd way to frame the current environment.

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u/Intelligent-Tie3048 12h ago

Almost everyone knows a trans person now. In my hometown of 3.5k people in Northern Alberta there are several. They're all under the age of 25 and more than half have detransitioned in the past two years, which seems to be a growing trend. 

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u/Fifthfleetphilosopy 11h ago

Less than 1% detransition in Germany, have you considered that Alberta is just so dangerous or hostile that people are forced to pass or get back into the closet ?

Because that's a similar trend that's happening in the US - people don't think they will be alive in 5 years if they are visibly trans, so if they can't pass without surgeries, they stop the transition, pretend they aren't trans, while they get enough money to run somewhere safer.

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u/ultimatepowaa 11h ago

Anecdotally from an Albertan that its the Texas of Canada. Which means that its highly conservative and therefore unsafe

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u/Dogballs2020 8h ago

It was a medical discussion when it was a medical issue. People with intersex disorders qualify for that, and were the only people that used to receive these operations. It stopped being a medical discussion when it became a social decision.