53 Perceptions of sex, gender, and puberty suppression: a qualitative analysis of transgender minors 3 at a young age but also emphasize the importance of having the possibility to be treated with PS at the moment secondary sex characteristics of the natal sex develop. This made them feel setting an age limit as a dilemma. A theme on which informants (both among professionals and adolescents) take diverging viewpoints regards the conceptualization of sex and gender in the media on television and on the internet. Some adolescents and professionals think positively about the increasing media-attention, others raise doubts about it. Some speculated that information on television shows and on the internet may have a negative effect and, for example, lead to medicalization of gender-variant behaviour (Vrouenraets et al., 2015). Furthermore, according to some informants, the media do not seem to show a representative picture of transgender individuals. According to them most transgender individuals who are shown in the media function well despite their gender dysphoric feelings, even though that is not always the case in real life. Furthermore, the picture of transgender individuals that is conveyed to the public seems to be much less varied and complicated than the existing broad spectrum of transgender phenomena (Kuyper & Wijsen, 2014). This image depicts transgender individuals as much more binary than seen in real life; a complete transition is for example not the ultimate goal for all transgender individuals (Beek, Kreukels, CohenKettenis, & Steensma, 2015). If it is true that a stereotypical and binary picture is mostly shown in the media, this might contribute to more acceptance of transgender individuals in society. However, this is at the expense of an understanding by the public of the full range of transgender phenomena. After a change in the law, sterilization is no longer a requirement for transgender individuals to be able to change their gender in official documents in the Netherlands. Most interviewed transboys thought that, after this change in the law, they would not choose to remove their ovaries and uterus because “it is not necessary anymore.” It should be noted that the requirement for transgender individuals to be able to change their legal gender is and was not the only reason for transgender individuals to remove their ovaries/ uterus. Other reasons for desiring hysterectomy and/or oophorectomy are for example that transgender men may feel less female and more satisfied about their bodies after this type of surgery, may avoid problems with menstrual bleeding once PS is stopped or do not need to undergo investigations such as cervical smears to screen for cervical cancer. These reasons to undergo this type of surgery are discussed with the adolescents during the diagnostic and treatment phase. Yet, before the law change, many transgender individuals had their ovaries and uterus removed and may not have felt they had a true choice to undergo this surgery or not. Many may have felt forced to make the step in order to become their true gendered selves.
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