A German 16-year-old named Kim (born Tim) has become the youngest person to undergo a sex change operation.

Paid for by the German health service, psychologists stated he/she was “without doubt a girl in a boy’s body“. Since the age of 12, Kim has been undergoing hormone therapy.

Dr Bernd Meyenburg, head of the Psychiatric Special Outpatient Clinic for Children and Adolescents with Identity Disorders at the University of Frankfurt Hospital explained

Very few youth psychiatrists have any experience with transsexual developments…I was always against such operations on children so young but after seeing how happy one of my patients was and how well adjusted after returning from having the operation abroad while still a teenager – I realised that in some cases it is the right decision…Kim is such a case – she always knew what she wanted.

Kim’s father explains his feelings:

I suppose it took me longer than my wife to accept it, but Kim is a very persuasive girl, she knows what she wants and how to get it. I am very proud of what she has achieved, how she has managed to get there and how she sticks to her dreams no matter how hard and painful they are to follow.

Photo: EUROPICS