University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine professor Diane Ehrensaft believes children may feel comfortable identifying with a variety of “gender hybrids,” such as a “gender Prius” or a “gender minotaur.”
Her biography states that her research focuses on the development and psychological experiences of transgender, nonbinary, gender-expansive, or gender-exploring children and adolescents. She is researching the mental health outcomes for young people who select puberty blockers or gender-affirming medications as part of pediatric gender treatment and the prepubertal developmental pathways of gender-expansive youngsters.
Ehrensaft is the head of the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Gender Development Center and the lead psychologist there. The event occurred in the San Francisco Public Library, where she gave the remarks.
The professor professes that children may adopt a different gender depending on where they are, such as “at home, boy; at Grandma’s, female.” The concept of a “gender Tesla” or “gender ambidextrous” child is not limited to adults.
Ehrensaft said in her talk that she had first seen a “gender Prius” when she came across a small youngster dressed in basketball gear with long blonde hair and a pink ribbon.
I’m a guy up front and a lady in the rear, the kid said to Ehrensaft.
When toddlers informed her they were one gender on top and another on bottom, Ehrensaft said the word “gender minotaur” sprang to mind. Ehrensaft suggested that her listeners have “a lot of mermaid novels” on hand in case of encounters with “gender minotaurs.”
The gender development center at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital treats children between the ages of three and seventeen but notes that it does not provide any medical services before the beginning of puberty. Teens going through puberty may get hormone replacement therapy at the clinic. Although there is mounting evidence that kids who are given puberty blockers have lasting problems with bone maturation, the clinic insists that these medications are “completely reversible.”
