Since every newborn human being presents as female until the third trimester,
That one part I have to disagree with. Every fetus's genitals up until the 3rd appear to be both male and female, as the scrotum/labia and clitoris/penis stay in their neutral positions.... the scrotum/labia appears to be too tucked into the body to look like a scrotum, yet bulges out too much to be claimed a labia, and the penis/clitoris is too stout to be considdered as much as a penis, but extends too far out to be identified exactly as a clitoris.
If anything, our genitals up to a certain stage of development are more a combination of the two, rather then appearing as just one or the other. Testicles can become ovaries, and ovaries can become testicles.... what happens to the mind in between these processes remains a question.
it seems entirely possible that people not experiencing the expression of the necessary hormone and amino acid precursors that determine gender would have a terribly difficult time coming to terms with their "gender role" when at a subconscious level, their phisiological gender-condition is questionable. I have no idea what it would feel like to experience the bombardment of estrogen that a female human being feels and I'm open to the possibility that an ostensibly "female" child would be similarly confused and frightened by the influences and feelings that would develop in this child when testosterone produced effects throw the body into imbalance and anger..... That a child threatens to hurt her/himself is serious in and of itself, but if the evidence available suggests that the vulnerable emotional and cognitive condition of the child is attributable to hormone and neuropeptide imbalances as expression of confused gender development, it comes as no surprise.
Although I agree with most of that, one thing I picked up on and I would like to point out is that although the child in question maybe threatening to do harm to themselves unless they get this treatment, do they realize just how much more work is going to be needed throughout their lives after they go through with this? There is no guarantee that this operation/proceedure will actually help the child mentally, and I am pretty sure there's very little chance of reversing the treatments after they have been made.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is in relation to the chances that this procedure might not make them better and might actually make them worse. I know most who get the procedure done are usually adults who are of some sound mind and know what it takes to commit to something. As the child, is this individual prepared for the regaular hormone therapies, the scarring, and other drastic changes they will need to go through throughout (probably) the rest of their lives? Does the child understand that this operation isn't an absolute and technically you're still not exactly the gender you wish to be?
In both ways the decisions may go, the consequences are equally serious. Many people who feel they're the wrong gender claim that they are willing to make those sacrafices in order to come that much close to the person they feel they are..... but what about a child? Do they understand the consequences they are about to have thrown at them for this decision? Sure they may make the exact same decision when they are older and an adult.... but the complications, the medications, the pain and scarring that occurs during this type of procedure... are they actually prepared for this, and would that alone cause them to have the same thoughts of harming themselves as it would not getting the procedure?
What I'm getting at is that I am hoping this operation isn't being done mainly because the child is threatening to harm him/herself, as many other aspects in life could still make them feel like they want to harm themselfs regardless..... such as dealing with the above mentioned, dealing with classmates who know of what occured to you, etc....
