A TEENAGE boy undergoing a sex change is hoping to freeze his sperm so that he can father a baby, before assuming the role of its mother once he has become a woman. Jamie Cooper, 16, would make medical history by becoming both the father and mother of his child. He said: "I’d like to have children one day, so I am having my sperm frozen before the operation. That way it can be used to fertilise the egg of a surrogate mum. So I could be a mum one day, even though, biologically, I will be the baby’s father as well."
How ... farsighted of him.
I have to admit, I'm astonished that anyone would allow a 16-year-old to choose that operation; I can't imagine what sort of psychological exams he's had to endure, or how hard his mother must have tried to talk him out of this.
For some, these "clues" will be enough - already there is potential for a nice "blame it on Mum" scenario and images of a young lad who doesn’t know his own mind. But let’s be honest: how many parents would actually choose this for their children, and how many people would go through such enormous changes on little more than a whim?
It may be a politically incorrect view to take, but we have to assume that the vast majority of parents want nothing but an easy life for their kids. They want to protect them from abuse, ridicule, violence, and intolerance. Irrespective of your position on sexuality and the associated rights which should be accorded to everyone regardless of which gender category they fall into, it’s a simple fact that anyone who does not adhere to society’s narrow, often dangerous notions of what makes men and women, is heading for a lot of trouble. [...] Let’s be honest, it is adults who work with enormous ferocity on the matter of sexualising children. They are also the ones who restrict the information available, tell them that sex education will mortally damage them, and deny any evidence that there could be anything as awkward as uncertainty.
A very interesting editorial response, as well.
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
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12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!