The interminable search for "Happiness," and the Grand Illusion that changing our appearance will magically bring it about.
With respect to transgender surgeries and gender-altering hormone therapies, no CHILD knows what's best for them~ which is WHY sane, rational parents must prevail. If ya can't drink or vote before you're 21, other important life decisions should be legally limited as well.
Everybody's looking for The Magic Formula that's gonna make em "happy." It's crucial to look very deeply into why you've NOT been happy, before you start tampering with your body, to try and change that emotional condition!
Transgendered people I've personally known, have NEVER been happy. They grew up feeling neglected and unloved. Their parents weren't balanced or emotionally healthy and sound. They never felt good enough, due to neglect and/or abuse.
Some of these people have experimented with elicit drugs, a plethora of body piercings and tattoos, various aberrant sexual preferences and practices, and even having a baby~ thinking, "if all else has failed to give me a sense of inner peace, contentment and joy, maybe THIS will get the job done!" It never does.
Maybe the issue of discontent or unhappiness isn't about feeling you were born into the "wrong body" for 85% of people who are convinced they need sexual reassignment surgery. Perhaps it's driven far more by feelings of being out of step with or ‘Not Belonging’ with others in their family of origin.
If your parents are severely impaired emotionally with personality disorder traits and can't give you what you need in terms of time, warmth, affection and care, aren't you gonna feel determined to alter yourself in whatever way you CAN, to see if it's possible to elevate your sense of lovability~ EVEN if it's to try and change yourself from a boy into a girl, or a girl into a boy (that is, if nothing else you've tried has worked to correct this situation)??
In short, won't you do just about ANYTHING to get the attention you've been needing and craving since you were a newborn from a mother who's so busy running around pursuing a career and taking care of everyone else in their life, they forget their own child has acute needs as well?
The most tragic mistake far too many parents make, is they give the lion's share of their attention and time to the job that PAYS em the most~ and their children suffer terribly from neglect.
Having spent nearly half a lifetime in the beauty business, I can tell you first hand, how often women wanna spontaneously change their hair style and/or color, when the rest of their life feels out of control, or they're feeling flat or empty. Honestly, it's uncanny!
Hair always grows back, right? So even if a radical change in this regard provides temporary respite from inner malaise, it's like a "fresh start" or a system reboot, if you will. But the relief they get from the novelty of this outer change is fleeting~ and they're always glad their impulsive choice isn't likely to have dire consequences that last more than a few months.
My point is, we MUST proceed with great caution and rationality when it comes to radical alterations someone who LACKS adult emotional development wants to institute! It's every human's prerogative to change their mind~ but body parts don't "grow back" like hair does, and SOMEBODY has to be in charge of making decisions for children until they've outgrown childhood and adolescence, and can make well-informed and wise decisions for themselves. Amen