Channel 4 To Feature 8-Year-Old’s Transitioning

October 19, 2009

 

Channel 4 is to air a Bodyshock episode, focussing on the lives of transgender children and adolescents.

The UK prescriptions surrounding gender reassignment is under debate, and with this as background, the show looks at the lives of a few transgender children and adolescents from America with a more progressive approach, with Josie, an 8 year old girl, the focus of attention.

In the US, children under 16 can be prescribed hormone 'blockers' to prevent the onset of puberty, while such treatments only become available to UK individuals after the age of 16.

Josie started the transitioning process about 2 years ago, at the age of 6, when she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Next, she will be given drugs to prevent the onset of male adolescence, with female hormone therapy started at the age of 12.

The show looks at the remarkable life of Josie considering her age and also her strong will and determination. Josie told her mother at a very young age, that she associated with being a girl despite physically being a boy. Venessia, Josie’s mother, said: "As a toddler she wrapped up her army figures and rocked them like a baby.

"As she started to talk, she'd say, 'I'm a girl'. We used to correct her and say, 'No you're a boy'.

"By the time she was four she was insisting, 'No, I really am a girl'."

Joseph, her father, said: "I had mourned the loss of my son. When I came to terms with it, I knew I had gained a daughter."

Don’t miss out on this insightful and revealing stories and more on the show of Bodyshock that gives a blink into what it is like to face life-changing questions, giving a frank insight into a subject most people never have to consider.

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