Binders (pictured) are items of clothing designed to flatten and constrict the breasts, which can cause serious health issues
Like many troubled adolescents, the 13-year-old who logged on to an online forum was looking for guidance and support.
Calling themselves a 'female to male trans' person, they spoke of their physical self-loathing. They were desperate, they said, to wear both a 'packer' — used to create the impression of male genitalia — and a 'binder', an item of clothing designed to flatten and constrict the breasts, and which can cause serious health issues.
'The thing is, my mum won't let me,' they wrote of the binder in 2019. 'She says it's neglect to do it for under-18s.'
No binder? No problem. The chatroom moderator offered to send the item to the troubled teenager — behind their mother's back.
Many would feel that such an intervention was questionable from any source. But this wasn't just an anonymous nobody — the offer came from Mermaids, a registered UK charity for 'gender variant' and transgender children.
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