# Is it okay to encourage a child who chooses to be transexual? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 19, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021 "2009-05-19T22:55:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/141 "2009-05-20T17:21:19Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Quell](#): > > These are all results of mankind disobeying God and allowing the knowledge of sin into their lives. Genesis 1:27 happened before mankind sinned… so God created male and female in His image, and God saw that “they were good”. You didn’t answer my question: why is it okay to medically treat those birth defects, and not treat transgenderism? Why is that particular birth defect a “suck it up and deal” situation, while all the others can be corrected to help the kid live a normal, happy life? > [@](#): > > There are plenty of things the Bible doesn’t mention that are truths. The Bible isn’t a book filled with every truth under the sun… however, all things in the Bible are truth… and the Bible says in the Proverbs “there is no new thing under the sun”… meaning the things we deal with today (the issues of life we deal with… not things like technologies) were things people dealt with back then. The people in the days of old weren’t stupid primitives. Mankind hasn’t been progressing since Adam and Eve… mankind has been digressing. We’ve been digressing like Hell in this thread, but I suspect you meant, “regressing.” Well, let’s think about that for a minute, shall we? In the Bible, slavery was practiced by virtually every society, and was considered the proper order of things. Today, most nations recognize slavery as an anathema, and have outlawed it. I’d call that progress. The Bible frequently endorses genocide as an acceptable resolution to national conflicts. Now we consider it to be the worst crime imaginable. Score another one for modern man, I say. The Bible calls for women to be subordinate to men in all things. Today, at least in Western nations, women are the legal equals of men. Although, I suppose to you this is a sign of our degeneracy? That is, of course, entirely apart from advances in knowledge. Medicine, nutrition, astronomy, physics, chemistry. All areas where we’ve made advances that were literally inconceivable to the people who wrote the Bible. But, according to you, technology doesn’t count, so none of those kids who were saved from mortal illnesses by modern medical technology, communities saved from famine by modern farming techniques, people who would have been killed or cast out for being possessed who now have their mental illnesses treated and cared for… none of that counts as “progress.” > [@](#): > > Being perfect doesn’t make something superior. The Secret of Monkey Island was the perfect point and click adventure game… however, Escape from Monkey Island was far superior in graphics, music and game play interface… but it wasn’t the perfect point and click adventure game. Are you just inventing your own definitions for words now? Perfect is always superior to imperfect. It’s what the word\* means\*, for fuck’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/142 "2009-05-20T17:45:25Z")
At this point, I’d gladly encourage the child just to irritate the OP. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/143 "2009-05-20T17:57:21Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > You didn’t answer my question: why is it okay to medically treat those birth defects, and not treat transgenderism? Why is that particular birth defect a “suck it up and deal” situation, while all the others can be corrected to help the kid live a normal, happy life? I’m not **Lacunae Quell** , but I’ll take a stab at it. It’s OK, perhaps even the Will Of G-d ™, to medically treat most defects of the body, but not OK, even Sinful ™, to medically treat transgenderism, because transgenderism makes people like **Lacunae Quell** think about their genitals and, by extension, about their sexuality (post #1 is my cite). If transgenderism is something that can be treated medically, then it’s something that falls in the spectrum of “stuff that happens to otherwise ordinary people that we can fix or accommodate” rather than “stuff that bad people do to themselves that we can use to make ourselves feel superior.” ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/144 "2009-05-20T17:58:34Z")
This is the most entertaining thread I’ve read all week. What advantage does it gain someone to claim they’re the opposite gender? Someone who’s already an adult when they come to terms with their dysphoria has many accounts in their male name, has friends and relationships, has a job, etc. They must now tell those people they no longer wish to be called Dan, but Diane. It’s an embarrassing and humiliating process, particularly because of people like the OP. I know; I helped my best friend through it. And she still gets mail in her old name, which hurts every time she sees it. And what about children, who don’t have those ties? It’s triply embarrassing, because kids can be evil little shits when unsupervised. A boy acting and dressing like a girl _will_ be teased and physically harmed when the adults aren’t looking. If it’s just a choice, something they decided it would be fun to pretend to be, they could stop at any time, couldn’t they? Now, it’s entirely possible a child could be mistaken. Avoiding permanent treatments is the best course right now; I’m pretty sure surgery before puberty would have very bad effects when the child grows up anyway. The state of a youth’s genitalia is irrelevant to the world, anyway. When the child matures and understands their situation better, then they can come to terms with either the real permanency of the situation or the fact it was just a phase. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/145 "2009-05-20T18:11:33Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Exactly. Christians are allowed to believe whatever they want as long as they don’t try to force the rest of society to accept those beliefs as true. > > Same with transgenders. They can believe whatever they want about how they are a woman trapped in a man’s body, as long as they don’t try to force the rest of society to … hmmm… > > 🙂 > > Regards, > Shodan Well, let’s put it this way - even if you DON’T believe that a “woman can be trapped in a man’s body”, or vice versa – however, you DO have an obligation to show that person respect. And in polite society, that would include treating that person as a woman, EVEN if you believe she is still a he. No, not ALL beliefs deserve respect – however, as long as a person is NOT HURTING anyone. Like I said, the old “Golden Rule.” Someone can believe a priest to be deluded by his beliefs, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t refer to him as “Rev.” or “Fr.”, as that’s his proper title. Etiquette and respect, at the very least. (To insist on doing otherwise would be a jackass thing to do, no?) And no, I’m not talking about “anything goes”, so don’t start bringing up, “Does that mean this includes beastiality, pedophilia, cats and dogs marrying each other!” as someone ALWAYS does! ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/146 "2009-05-20T18:28:20Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Exactly. Christians are allowed to believe whatever they want as long as they don’t try to force the rest of society to accept those beliefs as true. > > Same with transgenders. They can believe whatever they want about how they are a woman trapped in a man’s body, as long as they don’t try to force the rest of society to … hmmm… > > 🙂 > > Regards, > Shodan This is so disingenuous. How on Earth are transgender people trying to “force” their beliefs on you? By living their lives in a way that makes them comfortable? By trying to be happy? How? Oh, by asking to be called by a name they prefer, and be called “she” instead of “he” or vice versa. Oh, the oppression! And it isn’t as if people refuse to do that anyway; not only are transgender individuals routinely called by the gender they feel is incorrect, but they are also regularly the victims of assault and murder. One side is being oppressed here, and it isn’t the Christians. Edited to add: It is just astonishing to me how you can come into an OP that is questioning the right of parents to raise their kid in a way that seems fit, and suggests a better course of action might be to take their child from them, and raise it in a way the OP “feels” would be better, and say that the side who wants to TAKE KIDS AND FORCE THEM TO EXPRESS THEIR GENDER in way that suits them is “oppressed”. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/147 "2009-05-20T18:50:24Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > This is the most entertaining thread I’ve read all week. > > What advantage does it gain someone to claim they’re the opposite gender? Someone who’s already an adult when they come to terms with their dysphoria has many accounts in their male name, has friends and relationships, has a job, etc. They must now tell those people they no longer wish to be called Dan, but Diane. It’s an embarrassing and humiliating process, particularly because of people like the OP. I know; I helped my best friend through it. And she still gets mail in her old name, which hurts every time she sees it. > > And what about children, who don’t have those ties? It’s triply embarrassing, because kids can be evil little shits when unsupervised. A boy acting and dressing like a girl _will_ be teased and physically harmed when the adults aren’t looking. If it’s just a choice, something they decided it would be fun to pretend to be, they could stop at any time, couldn’t they? > > Now, it’s entirely possible a child could be mistaken. Avoiding permanent treatments is the best course right now; I’m pretty sure surgery before puberty would have very bad effects when the child grows up anyway. The state of a youth’s genitalia is irrelevant to the world, anyway. When the child matures and understands their situation better, then they can come to terms with either the real permanency of the situation or the fact it was just a phase. I’ve seen information indicating that transition is infinitely smoother if a child begins the process before, or shortly after puberty kicks in. If the subject kid is the same kid I saw a thing on a while back, everyone was convinced and comfortable with the diagnosis that the kid is transgendered. Why make the transition more difficult than it already is? Why not make it easier for the kid to “pass” and why not live the life that feels most comfortable? I hear so many stories about people who “knew” their sexuality from a young age. I don’t see why this wouldn’t be true for transgendered kids, as well. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/148 "2009-05-20T19:12:27Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Let me get this clear. Because _some_ atheists make fun of your religion, you’re rejecting the entire concept of transgenderism. If someone out there is keeping track of all-time great quotes from the SDMB, this should probably go on it. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/149 "2009-05-20T19:15:44Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I’ve seen information indicating that transition is infinitely smoother if a child begins the process before, or shortly after puberty kicks in. This is absolutely the case with M to F transsexuals. Not so much with F to M. As a friend of mine recently said, testosterone does \*amazing \*things 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/150 "2009-05-20T19:30:27Z")
> [@stuthehistoryguy](#): > > This is absolutely the case with M to F transsexuals. Not so much with F to M. As a friend of mine recently said, testosterone does \*amazing \*things 🙂 Right. That detail was in my brain but it didn’t quite make it to my fingers. D’oh!:smack: ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/151 "2009-05-20T19:55:41Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > The FBI [disagrees](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-04-13-columbine-myths_N.htm). Thank you so much for that link. It’s a salutary example of how we think we’re well informed about something, through media reporting, documentaries, etc, and in fact we’re completely and totally wrong. That’s my ignorance fought on at least one issue. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/152 "2009-05-20T21:52:18Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Quell](#): > > I honestly believe that child doesn’t know how he actually feels… You saw a brief local news report on the kid, and presume to know her inner emotional life? Why not leave that to her parents and therapists and, I don’t know, the kid herself? > [@Lacunae\_Quell](#): > > I don’t believe anyone is necessarily born a homosexual, but because of a misunderstood choice the individual makes early in their childhood because of sexual curiosity. And if I were to make broad assumptions about the nature of sexuality based on my own personal experiences, I would come to a very different, but equally wrong, conclusion. > [@Lacunae\_Quell](#): > > What I’m trying to say is that I believe in God, and I believe God is pleased with me when I resist carnal desires to show Him what little love I can show Him through obedience, and I want to do whatever it takes to show Him just a particle of the great and infinite love He has for me… > > personally and honestly, homosexuality is something I have a tendency for and can be aroused by, but I choose not to involve myself with it… \ I also believe my sexual lust for women is a sin \ I think it’s terribly sad that you put so much effort into resisting something that’s completely natural, because you believe that God hates that particular aspect of your humanity. I hate religions that teach that sexuality is inherently sinful. > [@Lacunae\_Quell](#): > > Using a logic similar to YOUR logic about what makes people male and female… I’m going to make this claim… and nothing you say can refute it and what I claim is absolutely true… > > I’m a male on the outside, yes. I was naturally born a male human from a female human (well… semi-naturally born… I’m a c-section baby)… I function like a human male, think like a human male, look like a human male… but I’m not a human male. What if you were born a human male, look like a human male, but think and feel like a human female? If transgendered people thought and felt like the gender of their bodies, there wouldn’t be an issue. What if we change your analogy to read like this: “I’m a male on the outside, yes. I was naturally born a male human from a female human… I function like a human male, look like a human male… but I think like a god, and I’m not a human male.” That’s a closer analogy to transgenderism. And now that I look at it, it’s pretty much Jesus in a nutshell, init? ---
**Author:** ![Lisa\_Harney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@Lisa\_Harney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa_Harney)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/153 "2009-05-20T23:30:03Z")
> [@stuthehistoryguy](#): > > This is absolutely the case with M to F transsexuals. Not so much with F to M. As a friend of mine recently said, testosterone does \*amazing \*things 🙂 Actually, there’s a lot of assumptions there about trans women and trans men both that don’t play out the way you think. And I’m pretty sure quite a few trans men would rather not go through the wrong puberty. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/154 "2009-05-20T23:33:26Z")
> [@Lisa\_Harney](#): > > Actually, there’s a lot of assumptions there about trans women and trans men both that don’t play out the way you think. > > **And I’m pretty sure quite a few trans men would rather not go through the wrong puberty**. Well, you’ve certainly got a point there. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/155 "2009-05-20T23:34:51Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Quell](#): > > Sure, I admit that I could have a romance or attraction or relationship or friendship with a transgendered man… He’s slowly comin’ out, folks… ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/156 "2009-05-20T23:56:28Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Quell](#): > > ATTENTION! This is why I stated in a previous post that I do not believe the transsexual child was a homosexual. Someone else brought it up… SHEESH! I never said YOU did, I merely posed the possibility that the kid MIGHT be homosexual and just isn’t sure yet. I also posed that it could be a phase and that he really might be transsexual. SHEESH! ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/157 "2009-05-21T00:11:49Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > [QUOTE=Miller] > Okay, you’re a god. > > So what? We cross the streams, of course ! [/QUOTE] > [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > I just had to say, this made me laugh so hard! Perfect. Thanks ! I’m glad someone got it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/158 "2009-05-21T00:25:49Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Quell](#): > > What really chaps my ass is this… > > This child is a male. He was born a male… yet because he BELIEVES (because he believes he is a girl on the inside) he is accepted as a female. > > This just doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know what’s more insane… the fact that this child believes he is a she, or the fact that there are people who accept him as a her and for the sake of the transgender believe it! This natural born male can legally become a female because of what he believes! > > Yet a Christian (or anyone who claims to have a higher, supernatural authority), regardless of what he or she believes, is mocked and ridiculed by non-believers and the Christian is told by the non-believer that their beliefs are foolish and that there is no God and that they are wasting their time trying to convert people and take them to Heaven. > > My point and question is… If someone is going to accept, as truth (or at least play along), that a male can legally become a female (vice-versa) simply because of what the transgender believes to be absolutely true on the inside… why won’t a non-believer accept as truth (or at least play along) that Jesus and the Word of God and Heaven and Hell and etc. is accepted as absolute truth, on the inside, by the Christian? > > It just doesn’t make sense to me. I know my mind is feeble compared to most (if not all) of the others who read and post on this website… but I have an exceptionally hard time wrapping my mind around this conundrum. > > Just because someone doesn’t want to offend what the transgender believes to be true, they give into the transgender’s foolish desire and accept, as a truth, that he is a she or she is a he… yet no one cares if they offend a Christian… and no matter what a Christian says or believes is the truth, a non-believer just will not accept it as truth. There are some people who are “wired” differently. It’s not a decision, it’s not a choice. It’s something programmed into the brain. I don’t understand it, I’m not one. But, these people do exist. Therapy should be done. Experts should evaluate and try to find out what does less damage - staying “as is” or “making the change”. Look at it this way - are you right handed or left handed? Did you choose to be? Or are you simply that way? Maybe it’s similar, just more “taboo”. Not so long ago, people were forced to be right handed because the left was evil or demonic or some other nonsense. Example: I was born extremely smart and incredibly good looking. I didn’t decide to be so great, I just am. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/159 "2009-05-21T02:46:51Z")
If I have to choose between letting people be who they are, and getting, say, San Francisco, and forcing them to be who God intended and getting this, [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090521/ap\_on\_re\_eu/eu\_ireland\_catholic\_abuse](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090521/ap_on_re_eu/eu_ireland_catholic_abuse) well, open up those golden gates. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021/160 "2009-05-21T03:03:52Z")
> [@Lisa\_Harney](#): > > Honestly? > > Let children tell you whether they’re girls or boys. Let them live as they say they are - home or school. > > Don’t force androgyny on children who don’t identify that way. > > Don’t force kids to swap back and forth. > > Don’t force the kids to be someone they are not, it’s harmful and traumatizing. > > Take action to protect children from bullying so we don’t have more [Lawrence Kings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.O._Green_School_shooting) > > Society doesn’t need to be protected from trans people - especially not from trans children, but trans children need to be protected from transphobic and homophobic violence. I wouldn’t force a child to do any of those things. I’m wondering what it means to ‘encourage’. If the child publicly presents themselves sometimes as male and sometimes as female, that will get noticed, and will lead to bullying, or worse. I think, as a parent, I would be concerned about their safety, so I would discourage that. But it seems almost meaningless to say, “yes, you’re a girl, you just can’t act like one in public” (but maybe it would give some feeling of validation? I don’t know). I wondered if Dopers (who mostly seem very tolerant, and open-minded about this) would be happy to let the child enrol as girl at school (would you tell the principal? Or the nurse?), use the girl’s toilets, get changed with the girls for swimming, go to girls-only sleepovers, join Girl Scouts, and generally do anything else that girls might do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-okay-to-encourage-a-child-who-chooses-to-be-transexual/497021.md?page=9)