Transgendered 6-Year-Old.

Here's a story about Jazz, a 6-year-old transgendered kid:

On the surface, the Jennings and their four children are a typical American family. But their youngest child, Jazz, is only in kindergarten, and already she is one of the youngest known cases of an early transition from male to female.

"We'll say things like, 'You're special. God made you special.' Because there aren't very many little girls out there that have a penis," said Renee. "Renee and I are in 100 percent agreement as to how we should raise Jazz," said Scott. "We don't encourage, we support. And we just keep listening to what she tells us."

From the moment he could speak, Jazz made it clear he wanted to wear a dress. At only 15 months, he would unsnap his onesies to make it look like a dress. When his parents praised Jazz as a "good boy," he would correct them, saying he was a good girl.

Link


After reading this article, I have to question the parenting.

"When Jazz was two, he asked his mother a question that left her numb and frozen. "[He] said, 'Mommy, when's the good fairy going to come with her magic wand and change, you know, my genitalia?" according to Renee."

Two!? At two years old, most kids are worried about juice, cookies, and learning to talk in complete sentences let alone use words like 'genitalia'. Either Jazz was very smart, or her parent's are putting words in her mouth.

Perhaps it was a misquote, but I don't get that sense from the article.

2 Cents.
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Tyler is dead nuts (hah hah!) on, here. The parents are twisted and the kids needs a shrink and some good foster parenting.

How about this quote of the parents:
"We’ll say things like, ‘You’re special. God made you special.’ Because there aren’t very many little girls out there that have a penis,"

THERE AREN'T ANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is going to be one messed up teenager and adult someday. Look for him on a sex offender list near you.

Straight Talk from Sid.
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Hmmm, you don't think them naming their *son* "Jazz" had anything to do with it, do you?

Poor little kid is just trying to please his warped parents. Their behaviour is abusing him as surely as if they were molesting him. He needs to be rescued from them and soon.
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I completely support the parents. Some parents want boys. Some parents want girls. They obviously wanted a sexually confused she/man to raise....good for them in making their dreams come true.
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Ralph, i don't think Jazz is her birthname. And regardless, what you name a child has nothing to do with his/her gender identity. Hell, there are boys named Courtney.
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Jazz? That shemale is gonna get a beat down in school with a name like that.This is so stupid to even bring attention to.Jazz told mommy "no I'am a good little girl" and Mommy says "DUH,UHHHH,OK you are a girl."WTF?
Look,if my 5 yr old boy did this I would say no you are a boy,you have a penis.If you think your a girl,then go do the dishes,wash my clothes,go shopping,and whine about every little detail on gods green earth.LOL
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In agreeance with Taryn, I believe the article stated that names had been changed to protect the family.

I was a little put off by how well spoken they'd quoted Jazz as being at such a young age. I think it was probably more a case of paraphrasing on the parents part, though.

Childen have the ability to show personality characteristics at extremely young ages (well before 2 yo.), so why would this be any different? I think the fact that Jazz was very unhappy when unable to act and dress like a girl, and is now happy acting/dressing like a girl speaks volumes. You can impose your preset ideas on children, but you can't force them to be happy doing it.
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I think a lot of people are missing a very important part of this story. These parents did something a lot of adults fail to do: they listened to their child. And they are not twisted. If you bothered to read the article, Sid, you'd know that they are very loving, and were very worried at first, and that they did take their child to a "shrink." They're not just being wishy-washy parents acting on every single one of their child's whims. In fact, they've struggled with this for years before they decided to make a change. They're allowing their child to express herself. Maybe it'll pass, maybe it won't. If it continues, "Jazz" will most likely be a very happy woman, since she has such a loving and supporting family behind her. But if it is a "phase" and it does pass, the important thing is that the parents went with it, and allowed their child to deal with it, instead telling them to shut up and "go wash the dishes." It's those children who are shut up and stifled who live the rest of their lives saying "what if," who are going to be frustrated adults, and will end up on your sex offender list, Sid. Thankfully, some kids aren't raised in a neatly labelled little box these days.
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Well, for her to be granted a surgery she must have passed through several psychological tests first, identifying her as transgender, and as these test can be comprehended by people of every age, well, even little Jazz could have been tested. It's no cut and ta-da you're a girl, it's a whole process.
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Jazz is not the real name - the article says so in the 3rd paragraph. i support the parents. this child has the the brain imprint of a girl. how is that so hard to understand? and the comments about the child being abused are senseless. the parents are in a very tough spot. wouldn't it be more abusive to force the child to be a boy when his brain is saying "i'm a girl". nature is full of suprises. yes, this is a hard life and it's going to get harder. but the thing is - it's the outside world that's going to make it hard. the child is what the child is. the outside world is what's going to make this a cruel trick of nature. live and let live. it's actually quite easy to do.
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It's obvious here that some people have really closed minds. Wake up! It's 2007 and gender issues cannot be classified how they used to. There is so much going on in the transgendered world that most of you probably have no idea about. The kids grow up knowing they are trans and throughout their whole lives are tortured by classmates, peers, and teachers. I give props to these parents for letting the child be who he/she wants to be! Much respect~~~~~
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I don't understand the desire to come out with this. This kid would have been perfectly fine for the majority of his/her life with no one knowing she was bilogically a male. But now they will know, and she/he will be teased and tormented. I agree, the parents are part of the problem, and I also agree that to an extent the kid is only trying to please the parents. I also HIGHLY doubt a two year old was using words like "genitalia"...
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I just got finished doing the dishes, the laundry and the shopping and now it's time for the whining. But since I still have to cook dinner, scrub the floors, change some diapers, beat the rugs and "lay back and think of England" I'll just skip it for today.

This child is lucky to have nonjudgmental, supportive people in her life.

People who can't muster unconditional love should not procreate. It's the greatest contribution they can make to society.
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With idiots like Sid, et al., in the world, it is not easy for parents to make such an unconventional decision. However, for sufferers of gender identity disorder, there are huge advantages to getting hormone therapy before or at the early onset of puberty—it cuts back on treatment and surgery needed later in life; it allows the individual to transition much more completely and convincingly, so the patient can both better fit in and feel better.
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I really don't know what to think about this. I'd have to do some more research. I didn't think children understood the specific details of gender until they were older. Like a 2 year old doesn't even know there's much of a difference. At lest mine didn't. My 5 yr old son doesn't know what a girl has or doesn't have down there yet. My son likes to dress up and once he asked me why he can't wear a dress and so I told him they were for girls. He'd much rather be Batman anyway. But kids have a natural curiosity and if the parents start telling people(in front of the child) that they've said certain strange things then the children will be very likely to repeat the behavior and make a deal out of it. Like if my son hears me tell someone something he did that day he'll start doing it again right then to put on a show. And I let my boys play with dolls. They usually prefer dinosaurs and robots but sometimes baby dolls and I think that's okay. If I made a big deal and told everyone about it I think they'd play with them more and possibly even express the want to wear dresses if I brought up that topic more. Like I said I don't know for sure but something seems fishy about this story. I think this child had knowledge beyond her/his years and that had to come from somewhere.
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Another example of Liberal parenting gone horribly awry.

What if he kept insisting on going onto the road? I assume they wouldn't say "Get off the road!" but "We support your decision to get on the road."

Kid insists he's a girl. The only problem is, he's not a girl, never will be a girl. If he does go ahead with surgery, he will be a castrated man pretending to be female. Parents reply: "As long as she's happy..."

I have to suspect the idea was planted in this child. Even if you made a case for "brain imprints", the child would not be expressing that recognition of his brain condition "as soon as he started to talk".

He might prefer playing with girl stuff, dressing like a girl, but wouldn't be saying "I've got the wrong sexual parts, mom."

I wouldn't rule out suggestions from the older brothers or sexual abuse as a factor in this boy's case.

Or maybe mom just wanted a girl...
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Ted, it has nothing to do with "Liberal" or "Conservative". It has to do with understanding. Thank god people in my part of the country are generally nothing like you.
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Pardon my candor in my previous posts -- obviously not all appreciate "Straight Talk with Sid". Allow my to rephrase...

1. Yes, there are people messed up enough to have genuine gender identity issues. Fundamentally their sex is whatever their 23rd pair of chromosomes make it to be. Yes, they can cut pieces off and turn things inside out, but that doesn't change the genetics. If they want to pay for it though (not the taxpayers or insurance companies forced to cover it), more power to them.

2. There is no way any kind of surgery of that sort or even alternate-sex hormones should be administered to a minor. This is purely elective stuff. The odds of screwing someone up permanently are far higher than the "confusion" they may suffer as they wait a couple of years and making an informed adult decision.

3. The whole idea that a very young child is so forcefully objecting to having male bits is absurd. As #19 (MoniA) noted, somebody is putting this junk into the kid's head. 2 year olds do not know that much about anatomy!

STFS!
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meg, odds are we don't even live in the same country.

The liberal approach to parenting is exactly the problem here. The parents have completely abandoned their duty for flower-child wishy-washiness.

You don't think I know about understanding? You don't think I have compassion? You don't know me. It's one thing for parents to support the decision of a teenager or adult child who has made the decision to castrate himself and call himself a woman. It's quite another for parents to mess this kid up even further while still in his formative years.

Thanks for sticking to the point of the discussion, and not making it personal, by the way. Oh wait, you didn't add anything to the conversation but a personal attack. Classy, meg.
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I've noticed that this comment thread seems to be another way in which people can utilize the internet to express socially irresponsible viewpoints that they might be uncomfortable saying in polite company. If it's all truthful, rather than Springer-esque fodder, it renews my knowledge of how truly hated the transgender community is and how far we have to go to begin to live lives in which we accept our children, friends, and neighbors with love regardless of what their genitals look like and what we think t hey should look like.

And by the way, just because the Texas Supreme court doesn't think anyone can ever change their "sex," some pretty reputable biologists disagree. My body seems a pretty temporary canvas; why should my sex be any different? I'm astounded that supportive parents who are wildly conservative to my thinking for failing to encourage their child to live her reality are considered too liberal and thus abusive. Yikes! Perhaps we should start removing kids from homes where parents are uneducated, hateful, close-minded, and angry? Just a suggestion. :) Sounds more abusive to me than parents who have no problems with exploding the sex/gender/sexuality binary. And social scientists roundly agree. But they don't carry bibles, so I digress.

And I simply can't NOT comment on the scary posters who think this 7-year-old is doomed to become a sex offender? Yes. You must be correct. Trangender people must have SOMETHING to do with coersive sex. I just can't think of what. Since 90% of child molestation sex abuse cases are straight men molesting girls, 5% are men molesting boys (straight and gay identifying men) it sure looks like Jazz is an unlikely candidate.

What a cool kid. Congrats to her. I could only hope to parent such a prescient, precocious, and analytical kindergartner!
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Why in the hell are the parents supporting this???!!!!
They should grab him, shake him up, and tell him right from wrong. Go to Toys-r-us and buy some damn trucks for him for crying out loud!!!!!
Its the parents fault for letting him have his own way. Yes I do understand that as parents your suppose to support your child and make them happy, by encouraging a 6yr old to be GAY is not cute at all. He's lucky he's not living with me, cause he'll for sure wouldn't be in my house talking about "mommy can you buy some more dress's for me tomorrow".

... AND WHY IN THE WORLD DOES HIS BEDROOM LOOKS LIKE A GIRLS ROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???? This is fucking nasty!

P.s - can you imagine all the torture and pain he's gonna deal with when he starts middle school or highschool (kids are cruel, and he's definetly gonna see how cruel they can be if he doesn't stop this foolishness and shop in the boys section)
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but I do have to admit, thats one cute little boy (i'd never would of think of him and a "HE" if i passed him on the road somewhere)

... but the parents need to wake up and be rough on him instead of softening him up like a little bitch!
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A clear case of the parents wanted a Girl and got Boy. So why not brainwash the child into thinking he is a girl. This makes me SICK!! Kids have it hard enough growing up, this makes it even worse!
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I suppose it's better to brainwash a child into believing that there is a vengeful boogeyman in the sky who will punish them if they don't follow every word written in a 2000 year old fairytale. This world needs more loving, supportive, intelligent parents. It's a shame that bigots are allowed to breed. If they really wanted to be useful, they'd all jump off a bridge. At least then their bodies would fertilize the earth and make the world a slightly better place.
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You think this was brainwashed. Obviously you have not studied Gender Psychology all that much.

Daivd Reimer was born a boy, but when a doctor botched his circumcision, another doctor recommended raising him as a girl. The doctor then published articles and journal stating gender is based on 'nurture', not nurture.

http://reason.com/archives/2004/05/24/the-death-of-david-reimer

The problem here is the doctor completely ignored reporting that David rebelled at being a girl. Everything he was told in his first 14 years was that he was a girl ( i.e. literal brainwashing ). Do you think that his perception of wrong gender was completely in his head? I believe his story identifies that as much as people think that parents could brainwash children, the identity of gender is a core piece of who we are.
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In this day and age I can not BELIEVE people are so cruel and narrow minded..People can not help the way they are born, but they can help the way they live..If a child is young enough to understand they are born in the wrong body then they are old enough to be educated as to what they can do about it..If a child wants to live as a girl and not a boy then the parents have the right to help this child live the way they need to for their own mental well being.If you don't like the fact that people do this then bury your head in the sand and stay there till you are older and maybe wiser as to the way the world is..
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Most people seem to think that making their kids stick to the way that closed minded people think will cause them to come out "normal", news flash, no one is normal, and a good amount of people that don't get the support end up killing themselves, think about that, what if your kid was like that and they killed themselves cause you rejected them.
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Trans-gender disorder or Gender Dysphoria is very real. It is a condition where the male or female feels they were born in the wrong body. People are born like this. For folks to say that the parents are wrong or to blame them is bang out of order here. The parents clearly thought it was a phase and thought their little boy would grow out of it. But clearly he didn't . little Jazz thought he was a girl and was distraught when told he wasn't. It is wrong to think that someone would choose to be a girl for the sake of sexual gratification, which is clearly not the case here seeing that it is a small child who sees himself as a girl and not a boy. I think we all need to wake up and pay attention to what our children are telling us. So many children commit suicide because their family and society comes down on them and calls and thinks them "weird" or "freaks." This child clearly is self aware. Thank goodness Jazz had parents that were open minded enough to get help for Jazz and allow Jazz to be the person who she thought she was.
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Well, why don't you all just thank the Good Lord that the parents haven't gone as far as giving Jazz a sex-change! Can you imagine if later down the road he were to change his mind and think he was just being a silly child and wanted to be a man after all but he had no penis! I say if he is transgendered - he needs to take care of that (the surgeries)when he's / she is an adult. In the meantime I pray the parents give Jazz homeschooling so violent kids and weirdos like you overly ignorant and negative people won't hurt/kill him/her.

Other than that no freagin' shrink is going to help if Jazz is transgendered to make "him" a "normal boy." I knew some kids in childhood that knew they were in the "wrong body" since they were 2 & 3 years old, so you never know. Furthermore, what makes you think the parents aren't getting Jazz therapy now anyway? Maybe the "shrink" has tested Jazz and discovered it's serious. Maybe from that point on word got out and the media picked the story up. I say if Jazz's parents are accepting - then it's a hell of a lot better than having parents try to beat him into being "normal!"

There's your food for thought. Try not to choke on it.
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