Oklahoma law banning "gender-affirming care" for minors
The pending ban in Oklahoma of "gender affirming health care for minors" would prohibit the following procedures upon children:
(1) surgical procedures that alter or remove physical or anatomical characteristics or features that are typical for the individual’s biological sex,
or
(2) puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, or other drugs to suppress or delay normal puberty or to promote the development of feminizing or masculinizing features consistent with the opposite biological sex.
To better understand what is being discussed here, it is necessary to understand the history and effect of the procedures involved:
From the NIH National Cancer Institute
Surgical Castration
From the NIH National Cancer Institute
Surgical Castration
Surgical removal of the testicles (orchiectomy) or ovaries (oophorectomy) to stop the production of sex hormones.
Human Castration: Historical Notes
Human castration has been performed from early times for different reasons: to punish and revenge, to display one's religious fanaticism, to protect or to control women, for eunuchs' trade, for therapeutical purposes. In early modern times men were castrated to obtain sopranos voices, or for eugenic or racial reasons. Nowadays chemical castration is used as a therapeutic treatment or as a way to punish rape and other criminal behaviours. Castration is surgical or chemical act that may obviously cause serious physical and psychological consequences.
An example of "gender-affirming care" in another species:
An example of "gender-affirming care" in another species:
Jane Goodall and the Chimpanzees of Gombe
Male chimps that fall foul of the community hierarchy have been found disemboweled and castrated for their insubordination.
