“I remember the first time I shaved my legs, I didn’t even tell my mom,” Bortner said. “I said, ‘Mom, look what I’ve done.’ She was like, “Oh, I hope you did it the right way.”
Bortner, now an intern at Oomla, said she doesn’t follow any particular channel. And she realizes that sometimes the information she finds isn’t legit — like the time she caught a few YouTube beauties giving some sketchy advice.
“I remember watching a video titled something like, ‘How to ease menstrual pain,'” Bortner says. “They say get a laptop when it’s really hot and put it on that area… All the comments like, ‘Why are you telling people to do this??’”
While Bortner is savvy enough to recognize bad advice when she sees it, others may not. Puberty is Start earlier and last longer, starting as early as eight or nine years of age. So young children are likely to scan for similar topics that were once considered teen topics.
Naturally, parents worry about what their kids will find.
“There is a tremendous fear, not unfounded, that children will browse pornographic websites when they start looking for information,” says Natterson. “Many people do, so it’s not an unreasonable concern. So how do you navigate that? “
It starts with being a trusted adult who can keep the vet informed — and again, keeping the conversation open, Natterson explains.
Dr. Meredthe McNamara agrees. An assistant professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine who specializes in adolescent medicine, McNamara recommends adults watch content featuring teens.
“I advise parents, guardians, loved ones and service providers to ask this young person what they have found and what they have read,” McNamara said. “I don’t believe in uncontrolled social media access. I believe it has to be a constant open conversation. I think the approach to this is with adults being humble and ‘What can I learn from my young people who are going through this?’ is very large. “
McNamara says some of her patients look to YouTubers who explain concepts really well, and others with slightly different or potentially inaccurate content. Even when correcting misinformation, McNamara always makes sure to thank her patients for showing her the material and telling them she learned something that helped her understand them better.
“It really helps young people take control of what matters most to them, which is their body and their life,” she says.
Resources for transgender and non-binary children
McNamara is the co-author, along with six other medical and legal experts, of a report in May, criticized scientific claims used as a pretext to criminalize medical treatment for transgender youth in Texas and Alabama. She has also collaborated with some op-eds on this issue.
While the internet can be harsh, especially for disadvantaged groups, McNamara says she sees positives for the gender-diverse community.
“There is a lot of interesting data showing that social media is very protective and supportive of gender-diverse youth, they find each other and develop truly supportive and constructive friendships, they can continue to close together when possible not. McNamara said.
