Gender bender: When a 6-year-old tried ripping off his penis to be a girl
London: Six-year old Briella Carmichael's parents describe her as just another 'little girl,' happy and confident, and possessing characteristic little ‘attitude’. But that was not always the case.
Not long ago, Briella was shy, withdrawn and sad. So much so that she resorted to self-harm and even attempted ripping apart her - penis.
Recounting her ‘daughter’s’ transition, Kirra Carmichael, Briella’s mother told Daily Mail, “Since she could even walk, she's gone for girly things. She started telling me that she could see a girl when she sees a mirror. Once she asked me if she would grow up to be like her father, with facial hair and started crying hysterically when I told her that she would.”
Though Kirra and her husband Scotty were initially taken aback at their son’s behaviour, things were about to get more serious.
“She started harming herself. It was over a period of time and I don’t know how long for. She tried to rip her penis off and it swelled up and got infected,” Kirra recounted, and added that she had to skip school for a week owing to dehydration- a method Briella followed to not use the boy’s washroom.
Things finally fell into place when doctors diagnosed her with gender dysphoria, a condition of feeling one's emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one's biological sex.
Scotty and Kirra began attending transgender information sessions, and soon enough, things started changing.
“We started calling her Briella, and the family started using female pronouns as per her request. Over time, she was buying girl stuff. It made her so happy,” Kirra said, adding that the transformation was not an easy process in Briellla’s school, where the parents and the teachers had to organise a ‘Safe School programme’ to sensitise the students about diversity in gender and orientation.
But another challenge awaits the Carmichaels- getting their daughter's name legally changed from Baylin to Briella. "It’s a huge thing, but I know she’s not going to go back," Kirra Carmichael said.
