Sydney - A 17-year-old Australian won approval from the courts to have her breasts removed so she could more easily pass as a boy, news reports said Monday.

"You can have prostheses and things, so if he changed his mind later on, it's reversible," Family Court chief justice Diana Bryant told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Bryant said the teenager, who had been diagnosed with "gender identity dysphoria," had since 2004 been taking hormones that prevented menstruation.

Bryant said the court had determined that there was no likelihood the teenager would want to revert to being a girl.

The decision was atacked by ethicist Nick Tonti-Filippini, who said the teenager suffered from a psychiatric disorder and that "what you are trying to do is make a biological reality correspond to that false belief." (dpa)