Girl, 10, trapped in a boy's body

10:02am Monday 12th September 2011 in News Photograph of the Author Exclusive By James Connell

BRAVE: The youngster and her mum BRAVE: The youngster and her mum

A GIRL trapped in a boy’s body has made the brave decision to return to school for the new term as a girl.

The 10-year-old, a year six pupil at primary school in Worcester, was born a boy but took the decision with her family over the summer holidays to return as a girl.

The Worcester News has agreed to protect the identity of the girl who has had gender dysphoria diagnosed by experts in London.

This is a rare condition where a person feels that they are trapped within a body of the wrong sex.

Her 36-year-old mum, who lives in Worcester, said: “She is within her mind a girl but she has a boy’s body.

“She is the same as everybody else apart from the fact she doesn’t feel right in her own body.”

Her mum said that she had known that her daughter was was different since the age of two-and-a-half.

She said: “She would rather play with a doll than a car.

“She is a girlie girl. She wants all the latest fashions. There is nothing about her which is male.

“It wasn’t a problem until she got to primary school at the age of seven-and-a-half.

"Then she would have to lie about what she got for Christmas and say a football or an Action Man when in fact she got a pair of sparkly shoes and a Barbie.

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"Everything she was having to do was a lie.”

She also said her daughter, who would dress as a girl in school holidays, received abuse during the summer break when she went to buy orange juice and milk from the shop and returned crying when an adult called her a freak.

Her mum said: “She returned and said, ‘Mum, I can’t even go to the shop’. We went to a performance at the school and my daughter went as herself.

"Some of the parents were unhappy she was allowed to go into the school. They were walking past, coughing, and saying, ‘That’s that freak family. That’s that freak child’.”

Her mum said there had been some bullying from the children, verbal and physical, but that many children had accepted her and it was adults who had given her abuse.

Her parents have not yet decided how they will approach her medical condition in future but say she will not be given hormone blockers until she is 12.

Her mum said: “It’s not a phase. It’s not a choice.

"What child would choose to be completely miserable?

"I don’t expect people to understand. I just don’t want people abusing my child.

"I don’t want her to be called a freak. I want her to be left alone.”

Her mum said the headteacher of the school had been “fantastic” and said her daughter had been “brave” to come back to school as a girl.

Comments(26)

Maggie Would says...
10:22am Mon 12 Sep 11

Children will be children and can't necessarily be expected to behave in a mature way about matters like this, but adults? Give me strength! Grow up!
Hope all is ok for her.

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BanjoLegs says...
1:29pm Mon 12 Sep 11

I wish the lass and her mother all the best - it must have taken a great deal of courage to go through with it all. It sickens me to hear that adults would act in such a vile way and call a child a freak. Shame on them.

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Busymum2011 says...
2:07pm Mon 12 Sep 11

This is a very brave child. I wish her all the luck in the world for the future. As her mother says, who would wish this on themselves? Adults abusing her? There really are some vile people around!

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Harry The Spider says...
3:13pm Mon 12 Sep 11

I fully support the difficult decision this particular child has had to make. I can't imagine how hard it was to come to such a decision but I do know how hard it will be for her to deal with the reactions of other children.

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scrambled80 says...
3:47pm Mon 12 Sep 11

My son has now left the school concerned but knows this little girl and has asked me questions about her, I have answered him as truthful as I could this little girl is part of our soceity and for other parents to react like this is awful.. !!what if it was THEIR child.. !!.. why should one little girl be unhappy to prevent other children I'm open with my children about all things and if they do have questions I seek the answers to help them understand.. if the headteacher addressed the children about it she would have done it with facts to help the children understand.. this school I feel is a fantastic loving school towards ALL of its pupils.. so why should it be different to a pupil that needs to be accepted and not misunderstood..I think the adults need to grow up.. I wish this little girl and her family all the best and love for a happy future..xx

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ushmush says...
4:32pm Mon 12 Sep 11

From what has been written, it doesn't appear the parents have protected the poor child very well. Why would you go to the press for goodness sake?

I'm all for support of gender change where it is needed, but at 10 years old?? Who knows what they are or who they'll become at the age of 10??

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iamthebinman says...
4:36pm Mon 12 Sep 11

As a parent of this school, can I say that the attidude of the head teacher, her staff and the pupils have been fantastic and amazingly supportive. The pupils in main have understood there responsibility with maturity beyond there age. It is such a shame that a few parents dont. The way a few of them have behaved questions belief in humanity.

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parentofchild says...
4:52pm Mon 12 Sep 11

Thank you for all your supportive comments. We are overwhelmed by the love, care and good wishes from all of you. To be clear; unhappy parents involved the press not us and we responded in order to support the school we love. Our child has always been a little girl trapped in a boys body.

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iamthebinman says...
4:54pm Mon 12 Sep 11

ushmush wrote:
From what has been written, it doesn't appear the parents have protected the poor child very well. Why would you go to the press for goodness sake?

I'm all for support of gender change where it is needed, but at 10 years old?? Who knows what they are or who they'll become at the age of 10??
The abusive parents threatened to go to the press so the young girl's parents wanted to protect her by putting there side over. Given the choice, there is no way they would have talked to the press. As for her age, most adults who have had gender issues suffer all through there childhood before speaking out. Should she just suffer till she is older like the others?

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bughunter says...
5:09pm Mon 12 Sep 11

I think if I had been in this position I'd have been tempted to move to a new location to allow my child to start again as a girl... can't believe how courageous this child has been and heart goes out to her and her family. The school have acted well, sadly ignorance will always spoil others good intentions.

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Laudanum says...
1:14pm Wed 14 Sep 11

I find it wholly unsurprising that the kids are fine with it, and the adults in the article are not. It speaks volumes about society. If we educate our children about things like this at an earlier age, then perhaps they wouldn't grow up to be the pig-headed 'adults' who called her a freak child.

I wish she and her family the best of luck, they appear to have stellar resolve.

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Flomay says...
1:16pm Wed 14 Sep 11

For adults to be abusive towards a little girl of 10 is unbelievable behaviour! It's a form of bullying in my eyes. I put it down to a lack of intelligence!

I wish this little girl all the best for her future ... stay strong hun, you are who you are :)

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markfromalabamausa says...
1:41pm Wed 14 Sep 11

Your story made me weep. I am a gay man in the South Eastern United States. Coming out was a terribly hard experience for me, and I was a grown man. My parents were and still are unaccepting and it has made my life a hard one to live. I am still adjusting to living without the support of my family. I commend you for supporting your daughter in her transition. You have no idea how much better you have made her life by supporting her and loving her for who she is. I hope that by coming forward with your story, other parents can see that it is ok for them to support their child no matter how 'different' they may be. You are truly wonderful parents that any child would be blessed to have. And, to your daughter, Girl, you are fabulous! I don't know you, and never will, but you are my role model and inspiration. I will strive for the rest of my life to be as self-confident and courageous as you obviously are. May you have every blessing imagineable.
-Mark

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markfromalabamausa says...
1:42pm Wed 14 Sep 11

Forgot to check the e-mail me when comment is added box. :-)

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gilliang says...
4:07pm Wed 14 Sep 11

There is not much I can add to other comments supporting the actions taken by this child's parents, the school and her friends other than to agree with the person who pointed out that people who feel they are living as the wrong gender often think this from a very young age.
Unfortunately bigoted and ignorant people are found everywhere but it sounds as if they are in a small minority in this case - all the very best of luck to the girl and her parents.

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leemo79 says...
4:16pm Wed 14 Sep 11

Good on you young lady for standing up and being incredibly brave!.
Adults looking down their nose at a transgender at any age, let alone a child, are very ignorant.
I have lots of transgender friends who waited till they were older to come out, and admit to leading a very miserable life having to hide it for so many years.. i hope with you being who you are from this early age leads you to have a fullfilling life. xx

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moonpig says...
4:49pm Wed 14 Sep 11

I think the family, friends, school and press should be commended on their sensitive handling of this issue and shame on the bigots who would verbally abuse a child.

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Phoenix girl says...
6:09pm Wed 14 Sep 11

Please do not give a "False impression of A Transsexual Fairy Tale Ending".

Police do little or nothing in my own experience, I did not have any choice but to move out of my two bedroomed home now living in a bedroom in private lodgings. I think police find it's to much paper work and to many man hours. Having bricks thrown at me, stick & stones do hurt along with the kicks, punches being spat at and verbal abuse which I endured for many years.

"The Hate Crimes continues until the group maim a person usually disabled person a victim that the group see as an easy target such as a transsexual who are on their top of their hit list a gay man or a gay woman. You may find that Asians, or ethnic minorities black people get attacked due to cultural back ground.
Violence based on bias against transgender people 84.6% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 40.1% reported being physically harassed and 18.8% reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation.
Self-identified them selves as transgender a person see them selves as a transsexual, man or woman, a crossdresser or transvestite or otherwise gender-variant each was a victim.

• 63.7% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 27.2% reported being physically harassed and 12.5% reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their gender expression.

• Nearly two-thirds (61.1%) of students reported that they felt unsafe in school because of their sexual orientation, and more than a third (39.9%) felt unsafe because of their gender expression.

• The presence of a gay-straight alliance, supportive teachers and staff members, and a school anti-bullying policy all contributed to an improved climate for LGBT students

This is only the tip of the ice berg of what is being reported "Hate Crime's many do not get reported due to the social stigma. So many crimes go unreported so they do not will not show up on any body's list due to their sexual orientation they do not wish family or friends to find out about their personal lives.


Nothing is done about it and this in itself leads to more attacks as those who commit these "Hate Crimes" think they have impunity from punishment exemption from prosecution a code of honour amongst these evil crowd grows as they get away with so many crimes which go unpunished they simply commit further atrocities until they murder some one; a person who can not defend them selves against the cruelty against the such apathy in our society.

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roguetomato says...
11:09am Thu 15 Sep 11

I think that the parents' who have made negative comments toward the girl and her family should be absolutely ashamed and do not deserve to be parents.

How do you expect a child to have a decent up bringing when the parents' such as these do not set a good enough example. Shocking.

I wish the girl and her family all the best because on the face of it, from other peoples perspective, does it really matter if someones child goes to the same school as a girl trapped in a boys body? If anything I would say it would be a bonus for the other students as it would broaden their scope of society and reality.

Also it's been diagnosed by experts for gods sake, would we question an expert if he said someone suffered from something else? No we wouldn't.

Its actually quite infuriating as to the narrow mindedness of some people.

But as I said, brave girl, wish them all the best.

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Babbertb says...
8:56pm Thu 15 Sep 11

Remarkable family, and a remarkable child. Also, a remarkable school which really cares about the wellbeing and happyness of its pupils, irrespective of some narrow minded parents.

My sister's child goes to this school and she feels ashamed of some of the parent's behaviour. It's great to see that the overwhelming response has been one of support. I hope this is of some comfort to all involved.

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CYNIC_AL says...
9:36am Sat 17 Sep 11

Nice to see the family have revealed their identitiy in a national newspaper today (Daily Mail website) after the WN ran the original story. I wonder how big the cheque from the DM was...

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Joanne M says...
6:38am Sun 18 Sep 11

"They have asked for their names to be changed to protect from bullying, but have agreed to be photographed because mum ... hopes that once people see , she can move forward without fear." What part of that didn't you catch, CYNIC_AL?

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Joanne M says...
6:49am Sun 18 Sep 11

I substituted the name the paper gave to the child with 'her' in square brackets, but it seems they don't work here and the word was missed out completely twice in the quote above.

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_oatc_ says...
7:24am Tue 20 Sep 11

Phoenix girl says...
> Please do not give a "False impression of
> A Transsexual Fairy Tale Ending".

Fortunately your facts do not relate to those who transition young enough or can live purely as the sex with whom they belong after transitioning at any age. In The Netherlands, where a substantial number of children have now completed such a transition, been followed by their doctors, and the results published, they all have been able to live free of such fears. The several who have been of great social help by appearing in the press or on television have all been able to disappear from public scrutiny as their appearances changed with age. Many others of us, in many countries, now of a wide range of ages, have the same experience, which is reality, not a "fairy tale". Therefore this girl's prospects do seem excellent, if she is allowed the medical treatment she obviously needs and deserves, and, as she has already decided, avoids the harmful methods of the London children's clinic. Unfortunately, because of their influence, she will need medical connections abroad, as is admitted in an official Department of Health booklet on the care of such children.

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_oatc_ says...
7:46am Tue 20 Sep 11

ushmush says...
> I'm all for support of gender change where
> it is needed, but at 10 years old?? Who
> knows what they are or who they'll become
> at the age of 10??”

Her gender has been obvious and clear for many years, it is her sex that she has to change to match. All such children know before 10. I asked my mother to seek doctors' assistance when I was less than three, because it was obvious that the male changes at puberty would be the opposite of how I needed to be, and I didn't know when they started. You have to be very sure to risk such a request. I've been wholly a woman for more than 40 years now, with never an instant of regret.

The Dutch have documented that children who repeatedly ask for the body of the other sex never change their minds and all proceed right through their programme which is completed in time for university entrance. This is quite distinct from those who are simply concerned about about gender aspects, such as "being a girl", or have incongruent toy or playmate preferences, and desist at puberty, becoming quite happy with their bodies.

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betty123 says...
11:03pm Wed 21 Sep 11

parentofthechild....
..before you AGAIN say that parents went to the local papers first check the publishing times first........your story published at 10:02am.......parent
s response 11:10am! So you went to the papers first followed by 4 national newspapers. you did that not us! stop trying to make out the parents are so bad as its not all us.

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