AGE 8 AND WANTING A SEX CHANGE
(2011)
CHANNEL 4's BODYSHOCK SERIES
Part of Channel 4’s Bodyshock series, this documentary featured, as per the title, children as young as 8 years old who were suffering from gender dysphoria. This condition means that the children featured were/are convinced they were born in the “wrong” bodies and their parents have taken the decision to take on board their child’s deep-seated longing to be the opposite sex.
It can’t be easy on them. And of course, it’s not easy on their kids either but for parents, accepting such an enormous shift in their fundamental thinking about their own child must have been exceptionally traumatic. They must also fear for their child’s future and, if the kids go ahead and have gender reassignment surgery, there’s the sorrow to come that they can never have a child naturally.
It can’t be easy on them. And of course, it’s not easy on their kids either but for parents, accepting such an enormous shift in their fundamental thinking about their own child must have been exceptionally traumatic. They must also fear for their child’s future and, if the kids go ahead and have gender reassignment surgery, there’s the sorrow to come that they can never have a child naturally.