Those obvious parts are probably really a great deal at that age though. Of course the social norms are there too (and while girls can sort of stay tomboys and not face much mocking and bullying, guys don't have quite the liberty, those at least for the western world). But yeah, the basic biology must be a huge problem because of puberty.

I mean if you think of yourself as a girl, having your voice break is hardly some minor issue. Or the other way around, if a biological girl feels that's the wrong body, boobs and periods are not something you'd deal with easily. So in regards to doing this at such an early age being bad for the emotional and psychological well being... well, I don't think the above will make those people feel well in either aspect.

With this being a Sun publication I'm not sure at all what part of the story is presented, and what of the presented is true though.

Wanting to be an astronomer and being a female is a different thing.

I'm assuming this kid was like the vast majority of people who have these operations. Psychologically of a different gender than their physical one, a girl in a boys body.

As long as there was a thorough psychological examination to make sure that this was indeed the case I fully support this. Its basically correcting a screw up of nature - same as fixing a cleft pallete or any other defect of birth.

Oh and yeah. This is from the Sun so you can't be that sure about it.

That's probably the best age to do it at, they might even have the advantage of tricking puberty into helping out instead of going the wrong direction.

There are several experts (including Paul R. McHugh, MD a Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine) who believe that "to provide a surgical alteration to the body of these unfortunate people was to collaborate with a mental disorder rather than to treat it" ... Unlike homosexuality, there is significant evidence to support claims that upbringing has an impact on whether someone becomes "Transgendered" or not; and there is evidence that the "need" for transgendered people to be seen as a member of the opposite sex is radically reduced by getting them to adopt far healthier attitudes towards the roles of the sexes in society.

Basically, if 12 year old child came up and asked for a race-change operation because he more identified with strict stereotypes of another race would you encourage him to undergo radical surgery? Why would you encourage a 12 year old child to undergo a sex change operation because he more identifies with the stereotypes of the opposite sex? Encouraging "Gender reassignment" is essentially reinforcing stereotypical views about the sexes.

I agree, I like how south park handled the issue. I think people forget that sex and gender are two different things. One being societal and the other being biological.

Most kids undergo major changes before their old enough to know what they REALLY want. A males brain isnt fully developed until 25. 12 years old may REEEEEAAAAALLLLY want object 'X', then a week later want somthing completely different just as much. I think the parents have set up this child to a terrible life.

HappySquirrel's objection may be valid, but not this.  I seriously doubt this was just a passing fancy that the parents indulged.  

When I was in university one of my Sociology courses said that you had to consider sex, gender and sexuality as three separate concepts that are much more diverse than a simple parity classification. Everyone who has completed biology in highschool is probably aware that not everyone falls into the simple xx/xy genetic classifications of male and female, and people who take higher level anatomy courses often learn about other biological disorders which complicate classification; we have seen the fracturing of traditional gender roles over the past couple of generations, and now there is a growing acceptance of differing levels of masculinity and femininity in both women and men; and we have seen growing understanding of how sexuality is far beyond the procreative act of sex between a man and a woman.

I took one sociology course when I was in school for radio. The majority of my gender education came from an ex girlfriend who was a womens studies major. So believe me when I say I got tongue lashing whenever I made a mistake of the two.