LIKE many teens, at 12 Cale Firgren felt uncomfortable in her developing body.

But feeling that she was actually meant to be a boy, she underwent gender transition, removed both her breasts and took testosterone. Yet slowly it dawned on her that she'd made a mistake.

Cale Firgren 12 Cale said that transitioning seemed like "the answer to my problems" at first

Now 24, the video games producer from Warwickshire describes how when she entered puberty , she "hated [her] breasts and the attention they brought".

Despite people complimenting her on her "amazing curves", she felt embarrassed about them and "began binding my breasts to hide them."

In 2012 she started taking testosterone prescriptions and three years later she had both her breasts removed in a bid to transition into a man.

While at first Cale said it seemed like "the answer to my problems", after about a year she admitted feeling like a "fraud" and it wasn't about her "wanting to be a boy,” she “just didn’t like what it meant to be a woman."

Cale Firgren 12 Cale, when she was living as a man

In November 2017, Cale started the process of transitioning back into a woman and stopped taking her testosterone prescriptions.

But Cale isn't the only teenager to struggle with her identity.



The rise of gender confusion

Over the past five years, the number of children referred to the NHS’s specialist gender change service has risen by 700 per cent .

. The number of girls being referred for 'transitioning' treatment far exceeds boys and has increased by 4,415 per cent .

. This week, trans support group Mermaids, which campaigns for under-16s to be allowed to alter their bodies medically, was handed £500,000 by the national lottery to increase their localised support - however this has since been put under review following a backlash.

by the national lottery to increase their localised support - however this has since been put under review following a backlash. Sun Online posed as a 13-year-old to buy a breast binder - which causes rib fractures and breathlessness - and was told they had 'no problem selling to minors'.

At 19, Zahra Cooper tried to kill herself with a drug overdose. Not once, but twice.

After years feeling like she was a boy trapped in a girl’s body, the teenager had started to inject herself with testosterone to make her look and sound more manly but instead of making everything right, they made her feel suicidal.

12 Zahra Cooper started feeling suicidal after injecting herself with testosterone

"I've always struggled with my gender identity, always questioned whether I was a boy or a girl," the 21 year-old from Auckland, New Zealand later explained.

Everyone thought she was a typical tomboy, wanting her hair short, asking her mum if she could wear blue or black clothes. "I knew I was different when I was about 14. I hated my boobs at the time. Everything on the body, I just hated it," she told the NZ Herald.

At first, Zahra thought she was gay. But after searching the internet and watching YouTube videos about transgender people, she realised she felt more like she was trapped in the wrong body.

For four years, she struggled between the genders, being bullied at school and online for being "weird". At 18, she asked her family to start calling her "Zane" and to use male pronouns.

12 At the age of 18 she asked family to call her "Zane" - but she has since de-transitioned and is now living life as a female

She eventually received hormone treatment but the testosterone tablets – and later injections - only made her feel worse.

After her two suicide attempts, her family waded in and she came off the testosterone, was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and de-transitioned.

She is now living life as a girl, deleting all pictures of her former life as “Zane”.



Cashing in on desperate teenagers

The children’s Gender Identity Development service (GIDS), which is based in London at the Tavistock and Portman Clinic with a satellite clinic now in Leeds, has treated a massive 800 children with puberty blockers .

. About 230 of the children who have taken these pills which halt the changes of puberty are under the age of 14. The youngest child was 10 years old.

who have taken these pills which halt the changes of puberty are under the age of 14. The youngest child was 10 years old. Chest binders - vests that can be worn under clothes to flatten down breasts to make girls look more male – are flourishing with over a dozen companies now selling them online .

. Over half the 1800 respondents in a recent study by the Binding Health Project admitted they bound their chests seven days a week.

EBay 12 Chest binders are flourishing with over a dozen companies selling them online

Doctors are also taking advantage of this new trend amongst teens with Dr Helen Webberley, who calls herself the Gender GP, being convicted earlier this month of running an illegal transgender clinic from her home in Monmouthshire, providing hormones to children as young as 12 who had been denied treatment on the NHS and charging between £75 and £150 an hour.

Huw Evans Picture Agency 12 Earlier this month Dr Helen Webberley was convicted of running an illegal transgender clinic

In their defence, doctors and companies say they are simply responding to the needs of children, many of which suffer from gender dysphoria – being at odds with their biological sex.

Dr Webberley told Sun Online: "It is currently thought that two per cent of the population is gender variant and whether people like it or not, that includes children.

"It is important to note that not all of these children will suffer as a result. For others though, this won’t be physically possible. They will become distressed at their changing body and for many this may become unbearable as puberty progresses.

“It is widely accepted that trans children exist so our approach has to be how we can help these children.”

Indeed, a recent survey by the local council discovered that at the “liberal” Dorothy Stringer School in Brighton no less than 40 pupils, aged between 11 and 16, did not identify as the gender presented at birth and a further 36 were gender-fluid, not identifying with their birth gender “all the time”.

12 There are 40 children at the Dorothy Stringer High School in Brighton who don't identify as their gender presented at birth

'Will there be people with mutilated bodies?'

But adolescence is a confusing time, and many believe that, while children should be supported, the answer shouldn’t be surgery or hormone treatment.

“People are embarking on medical transitions they may not need or want in the end,” says Jane Galloway, a parent and women’s right campaigner.

“I fear greatly that in 10 to 15 years’ time, we will find ourselves with a slew of young adults with mutilated bodies, no sexual function, who will turn round to the NHS and ask, ‘Why did you let us do this?’”

'Modern pressures on girls may lead them to believe they are boys'

Some therapists think the growing number of girls wishing to transition is because they see modern life being "easier to bear" if they become boys.

Jane also says the 'modern pressures' on teenage girls - with one in four believed to be suffering from depression due to problems such as cyber bullying and social media image - can also cause some to think they are boys.

She says on her website: "There may well be co-morbid mental health problems, or social anxieties around finding a way to be a girl that sits somewhere between the extremes of a porn-influenced availability and actually identifying as a boy.

"We need to slow down and let therapists gently explore with girls where this is coming from."

12 Jane Galloway, a parent and women's rights campaigner, fears that young adults could change their mind after having gone through with medical transitions

'A boy can wear sparkly clothing, but that doesn’t mean he's a girl'

Brie Jontry, 45, understands this only too well - both as a mother of a teenage girl who was temporarily thought she was in the wrong body and also as a spokesperson for a growing number of parents terrified by the ease with which confused teens are given medical treatment.

The 4thWaveNow website now gets 60,000 to 70,000 hits a month from concerned parents and teachers.

The site includes Brie’s story; the story of a mother whose daughter was 11 when she told her she wanted to be a boy.

Twitter 12 Brie Jontry's daughter ultimately decided she didn't want to transition

For two years Brie, who lives in the Chihuahuan Desert in the U.S., patiently stood by her daughter's sudden desire to change gender.

“I asked my daughter to show me some of the things she was reading and watching online which led to her realisation.

"Together, we explored all kinds of 'you might be trans if…' quizzes and 'Am I trans?' posts on Reddit’s “Ask a Transgender” subreddit, various Tumblr blogs, and elsewhere.



'My daughter was suffering because growing up is hard!'

"My daughter made a lot of new friends, some of whom now, two years later, have been on testosterone for a number of years; some have had mastectomies.”

Ultimately, Brie’s daughter changed her mind and decided she wasn’t a boy and didn’t want to transition.

“She came to understand that her suffering wasn’t because her body was wrong; she was suffering because growing up is hard!

12 The spokesperson for 4thWaveNow believes parents should help kids explore what it is that makes them uncomfortable about their sex without having to make any physical changes

"To her, 'being trans' explained a lot of her discomfort and anxiety, but she came to realise that it wasn’t actually 'being trans' that caused any of it,” says Brie.

Brie believes that parents should help kids explore what it is that makes them uncomfortable about their sex without having to make physical changes.

“Let them explore what is desirable about being the other gender while at the same time constantly reinforcing that there is no valid reason why a girl can’t…..or a boy can’t…..The only limits we have are biological.

"A boy can wear sparkly clothing, but that doesn’t mean he is a girl inside. It just means he’s a boy who likes sparkly clothing!” she says.

Rib fractures from breast binding

The chilling rise in the number of companies selling chest binders online is also hugely worrying.

Chest binding is commonly discussed by trans vloggers - search ‘my first binder’ on YouTube and you’ll get over 100,000 results.

EBay 12 A recent investigation showed that children as young as 12 or 13 could order breast binders from MORF, a trans support group based in Manchester

New research conducted by The Binding Health Project shows it can be dangerous to children’s health, with a staggering 97.2 percent of those surveyed reporting at least one negative health outcome that they attributed to binding.

Fifty respondents even believed they had suffered from rib fractures as a result of binding while almost 50 per cent complained of chest pain and shortness of breath.

Despite this, when a Sun Online reporter queried one of the biggest online retailers of these binders, gc2b.com, on whether they would sell to a 13 year-old, they replied: “We have no problem selling to minors as we encourage our binders versus the alternatives.

"If one is going to bind, we would much rather have them doing so in the safest possible way, rather than binding with duct tape or ace bandages, which can warp the ribs, harm breathing, and cause other serious health issues in the future.”

BBC 12 Dr Polly Carmichael revealed that fewer than half of young people referred to her NHS gender service actually decide to undertake any physical treatments

Teen issues aren't solely about gender

But children taking matters into their own hands is not the answer.

Dr Polly Carmichael, director of the NHS gender service for youngsters, believes the rise in the number of children expressing gender variance has a great deal to do with a greater trans awareness amongst young people.

“We do know in recent years there has been significant progress towards the acceptance and recognition of transgender and gender diverse people in our society,” Dr Carmichael told Sun Online.

“There is also greater knowledge about specialist gender clinics and the pathways into them, and an increased awareness of the possibilities around physical treatments for young adolescents.”

She does point out that the issues amongst teens are often not solely to do with gender – and it is a tricky stage of life for many.

“Many of the young people referred to our service have associated psychosocial difficulties,” says Dr Carmichael.

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“Bullying continues to be a common issue, which has a significant impact on psychological health.

"It has also been noted that there is an increased incidence of features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in young people presenting to specialist gender services globally.

"Less than half of the young people referred to our service ultimately decide to undertake any physical treatments in relation to gender dysphoria.”

Worried about your gender identity? Advice for teenagers If you feel confused about your gender identity, talk to an adult you trust or you can find a list of charities and support groups here

That said, many trans people say that transitioning is "totally worth it.

"It's about looking in the mirror and recognising yourself as you should be.”