By Alexandre Korté, child psychiatrist and Volker Tschuschke, Emeritus Professor of Medical Psychology at the University of Cologne
Summary: The feeling of not belonging to one's sex is not new; as a phenomenon, it dates back to ancient mythology. But it has always been rare, whereas there is currently a sharp increase in deviations from the experience of gender identity among young people. The text examines this problem by asking to what extent this development is also the result of technological, cultural and, above all, media upheavals, which lead young people to believe that they are the 'wrong sex' and, in extreme cases, to struggle to make the transition. The most important key points of the draft German "self-determination law" are presented, but it is unlikely that they do justice to the underlying problem. The text concludes by naming a number of open questions in this regard, attempting some initial answers and summarising the advantages of an exploratory and gender-critical therapeutic approach over a trans-affirmative approach.