Transgender people have become more visible in the last decade. However, that visibility hasn’t always come with greater compassion and understanding.
In particular, transgender youth — so, youth who identify differently than the gender they were assigned at birth — are among the most widely misunderstood. This is due in part to media attention that has sensationalized these experiences rather than offering a grounded perspective.
This blog post will unpack some of the biggest myths about trans youth, and how we can reframe them with more sensitivity and care.
1. Kids don’t think about gender. Their parents must be pushing this “trans thing.”
This is a very common misconception!
As we outlined in this blog post, it’s a very normal part of a child’s development to consider things like bodies, clothing, and gendered expression, and to observe patterns in their environment (i.e., boys usually have short hair, most girls have longer hair).
These observations may or may not align with how they feel inside. Children may not speak about gender in the complex ways that some adults do, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t considering it and having their own experience of it!
Many parents of transgender youth know little to nothing about trans identity until their child is insisting that they’re actually a girl, for example, or that a mistake was made with their body.
So, it’s not true to suggest that children only get the idea of being transgender from their parents. Many parents’ entry point into the transgender experience is because of their young children coming out, not the other way around.
It’s more accurate to say that children get the idea of which gender they should be based on what doctors decide at birth and how their parents reinforce it.
While that works for most children, there’s still a relatively small percentage of kids who end up feeling differently!
2. Hormones and gender-related surgery are common and encouraged for young people.
Here’s what the data actually suggests:
- Fewer than 0.1% of teens in the United States receive gender-affirming medications like hormones and puberty blockers (this includes trans and non-trans youth).
- Gender-affirming surgeries and hormones for children under the age of 12 are exceedingly hard to find any documentation of. It is, as far as we can tell, nonexistent.
- Teens above the age of 12 who receive gender-affirming care (hormones, surgery) do so after extensive psychological evaluations and parental consent.
- Surgeries for teens are very, very rare. When they do occur, they are typically focused on the chest — genital reconstruction is, in nearly every case, reserved for adults.
In short: In what is already a very tiny percentage of the population, only a smaller subset of that group is actually receiving medical care as part of their transition.
Overwhelmingly, when teens come out as transgender, the focus is on social transition — so, changing their name, pronouns, and appearance — rather than medical.
That’s not to say that medical intervention can’t be lifesaving. Some teens experience severe distress related to an incongruence with how they feel inside and their biological sex.
But the data suggests that, by and large, appropriate caution is being heeded when exploring how best to support trans youth.
3. Most young people identify as transgender because it’s a fad.
According to the CDC, only around 3% of youth aged 13-17 identify as transgender, and an additional 2% or so have questioned their gender identity at some point.
Trans people statistically still make up a very small percentage of people, including amongst youth. If being transgender is a fad, it’s still a pretty unpopular one!
While awareness has grown in the US, especially in recent years, this doesn’t change the historical record: Transgender people have existed throughout history and across cultures.
That said, it’s also true that while the numbers are small, there are more youth coming out as trans than ever before. A similar effect has been observed with more and more people coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer.
However, there’s a difference between being curious about the experiences of young people, versus the growing moral panic that suggests being transgender or gender nonconforming is inherently wrong or bad.
As we’ll outline in the next two sections, much of the distress experienced by trans young people has more to do with how they’re treated in the world.
So the right question here isn’t about whether or not trans people are a “fad.”
The right question is, as awareness and self-identification grow, how do we create support systems that allow young people to stay curious about who they are, while enabling them to make authentic and supported decisions that don’t add pressure or urgency in either direction?
4. Detransition is increasingly common and a bad outcome.
Let’s start by defining terms!
“Detransition” refers to anyone who took steps to pursue gender transition (so, socially or medically taking steps to present as a gender other than the one you were assumed to be at birth) and is now changing course (either by discontinuing care or simply changing their mind about how they identify).
Detransition is also not the same as regret! Many people who detransition do so because:
- Their access to gender-affirming care has changed
- The financial barriers are too significant
- They are feeling pressured, unsupported, or unsafe being “out”
- The side effects are untenable (for example, someone with a heart condition discontinues testosterone)
Of those who detransition, many will resume their transition later on.
All that being said, there are certainly cases where people initially identify as transgender, and later realize that their mental health history or trauma influenced their decision to transition, and some of those individuals do experience regret.
While the overall regret rate for transition-related care is incredibly low, especially when compared to other medical interventions, it’s important to not discount that a small minority of those who transition may later change their minds or be dissatisfied with the outcome.
It’s worthwhile to ask how we can connect people with compassionate and accessible support should they change their minds, rather than use a small minority to deny care to those who need it and more often report positive (and lasting!) benefits.
5. Being transgender is actually a delusion and should be regarded as a mental illness.
Gender identity is rooted in how someone relates to the (very fluid, subjective) categories of femininity, masculinity, and androgyny, and in some cases, how that impacts a person’s relationship to their body.
Someone’s sense of self is not inherently a delusion, even if others view that person differently.
Delusions describe something that is outside of a shared reality that others can understand, and it also impairs a person’s functioning and well-being when they go unchecked.
We can observe the existence of trans people as a subset of the population that has a shared, collective experience. This is a bit different than how a clinician would view a delusion.
The distress we observe in trans people is also easily resolved when that person is supported and has access to affirming care. Trans people go on to live functional, thriving, joyful lives as long as they are given the empathy and self-determination to do so.
If being transgender were a delusion or mental illness, reinforcing it — socially and medically — should cause greater impairment and distress. But affirming trans identity, statistically speaking, does the exact opposite.
Conclusion
Being transgender is just one difference that exists among many! Some young people come into awareness about this difference very early on, while others discover it later.
Whatever your comfort level is with transgender people, curiosity and compassion hurt no one. You don’t need to perfectly understand or relate to transgender people to trust the medical professionals, families, and advocates that are supporting them.
All the evidence we have at this time shows us that trans futures can be bright, so long as we allow people to shine as their most authentic and supported selves. And that’s not only true about transgender people, but that’s also true about every one of us.
