The reality of puberty blockers for youth experiencing gender dysphoria
Many trans activists claim children will “die” if they don’t get transitioned, and that the treatments are not only “safe” and “effective,” but some are also “reversable” if the child changes their mind early on. In this article, we will be looking at arguments for and against puberty blockers, and then I will provide my conclusion at the end.
Arguments for puberty blockers for youth
According to Daniel L. Metzger, MD, there are many advantages for those under the age of 18 to be treated with puberty blockers including:
It will help patients “pass” as the opposite sex as the physical outcomes are better if patients are treated before things like breast development, beard growth, or deepening of the voice.
It will prevent developmental problems related to increased discrepancies between the body and mind.
And lastly, patients are “suffering” from not getting transitioned.
The Provincial Health Services Authority in Canada also suggest puberty blockers for those under the age of 19 who find puberty “distressing” and in need of “relief” from such distress. They further list out criteria to get prescribed puberty blockers, including:
A long-lasting and intense pattern of gender non-conformity or gender dysphoria.
Gender dysphoria emerged or worsened with the onset of puberty.
Coexisting psychological, medical, or social problems, if any, are stable enough to start treatment.
The adolescent having given informed consent. The consent of your guardian is preferred but not absolutely necessary under the BC Infants Act.
A handout from Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) also suggests puberty blockers to give kids more time to think about making permanent decisions to their body, equating it to, “pushing the pause button on puberty.” The handout also states that kids who use puberty blockers may need less surgery later to look like the opposite sex as certain developments won’t occur, and give the example of not needing to remove breasts as breast tissue won’t develop.
An article from queer sex educator and wellness journalist Gabrielle Kassel claims that the side effects of puberty blockers are minimal while enhancing the quality of life for youth with gender dysphoria, going so far as to call the puberty blockers “lifesaving.” She references research scientist with the Trevor Project Jonah DeChants, who claims, “Going through puberty that causes you to develop physical attributes that aren’t aligned with your gender identity is emotionally and mentally distressing. Not to mention, it can be alienating, disembodying, and possibly traumatizing.”
Arguments against puberty blockers for youth
On Wednesday, June 14, 2023, U.S. Representative from Texas, Dan Crenshaw, a Republican, grilled a doctor who supports transitioning children.
During his questioning, he cites the British Journal of Medicine, which looked at 61 systematic reviews, concluding, “There is great uncertainty about the effects of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries of young people.” He stated that Journal of Endocrine Society came up with the same conclusion along with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Crenshaw asked what studies the doctor could provide to support her claims, however, she could only site the Standards of Care (SOC). It is important to note that the SOC for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) was outed last year for collaborating with castration and child abuse fetishists, referencing “extensively” in their draft guidelines the fetish site the “Eunuch Archive—a site that features child sexual exploitation fantasies centered around stopping little boys from going through puberty.”
As more research was done, it was also found that Thomas W. Johnson, a retired professor at California State University in Chico (CSUC), is not just a member of the Eunuch Archive, but has also aided in working on the SOC for WPATH.
“His academic interests advocate for expanding the concept of ‘gender identity’ to include men with sadomasochistic and even pedophilic castration fantasies — something that has now been included as a Male-to-Eunuch identity in the draft Standards of Care for the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), an international medical body that sets guidelines including those related to the transitioning of children.”
Rep. Crenshaw also questioned Dr. Miriam Grossman, a child psychiatrist, who claimed that the organizations that create things such as SOC are “rife with politics.” She stated she interviewed a number of doctors who tried to speak up against child transitioning through panel discussions or presentations, but were not given the opportunities to do so. Journals are also turning down articles that go against the trans narrative, according to Dr. Grossman.
Looking back at the article from Kassel, who called puberty blockers “lifesaving,” she also states in her article that, “none of the medications used to block puberty have been recognized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an official treatment for gender dysphoria.” She also admits that “no long-term, longitudinal studies of puberty blockers” used as a treatment to halt “normally timed puberty in youth with gender dysphoria” exist. By the time of this publishing, Kassel’s article was updated as recently as April 25 of this year—less than two months ago. She also goes onto state that “recent concerns about the impact of puberty blockers on polycystic ovarian disease, metabolic syndrome, and future bone density have been raised.” This begs the question of why, if she can admit all this, would she still consider puberty blockers safe and reversible for children with gender dysphoria?
The FDA has approved puberty blockers like Lupron to treat precocious puberty—puberty that is considered to happen too early and too quickly. Lupron was also used to chemically castrate sex offenders, and has more than 10,000 adverse event reports filed with the FDA by women who have taken the drug.
“Women who used Lupron a decade or more ago to delay puberty or grow taller described the short-term side effects listed on the pediatric label: pain at the injection site, mood swings, and headaches. Yet they also described conditions that usually affect people much later in life. A 20-year-old from South Carolina was diagnosed with osteopenia, a thinning of the bones, while a 25-year-old from Pennsylvania has osteoporosis and a cracked spine. A 26-year-old in Massachusetts needed a total hip replacement. A 25-year-old in Wisconsin, like Derricott, has chronic pain and degenerative disc disease.”
Going back to OHSU’s handout, they also admit there is no study on the safety of long-term risks for puberty blockers. They mention your bones can get weaker, recommending to go on calcium and vitamin D supplements as well as partaking in exercises to keep your bones strong. They also claim it could affect your mental health, and it will be different for different people. It could be low energy for those starting out, or increased depression for those who were already experiencing depression.
In 2021, Sweden’s Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital mentioned that there could, in fact, be irreversible damage caused from hormonal treatment of children including puberty blockers, writing, “These treatments are potentially fraught with extensive and irreversible adverse consequences such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, infertility, increased cancer risk, and thrombosis.”
There is a four-part docuseries on YouTube called, ‘Sweden’s U-Turn on Trans Kids’ that I recommend if you are interested in knowing more about why Sweden stopped providing hormonal treatments on children.
Sweden, by the way, is not the only country to stop providing puberty blockers to children. Medical authorities in Finland and France have also started to turn their backs on puberty blockers.
Finally, one doctor revealed on TikTok that hormone blockers can lead to infertility, stressing the importance of going through puberty as your “normal sex.”
Conclusion
The reasons behind being for puberty blockers for children seem emotionally driven with a dearth of scientific data to back up any of the claims made by trans activists who so frequently seem to be people in places that would benefit them greatly financially from young people transitioning and becoming lifelong slaves to big pharma. They frequently come off as more predatory toward children than as actual health providers. I can’t think of another reason why they would keep saying it’s “safe” when there are clearly so many issues that could potentially come with it, and have zero studies on long-term use.
Meanwhile, the doctors that are speaking out against things like puberty blockers have nothing to gain from telling children to wait a little longer. In fact, they often get ridiculed and silenced for doing so. Not to mention there is far more scientific data showing that the science doesn’t back up treating children this way. Even those who are for children transitioning have admitted that science is lacking for such claims as puberty blockers as a necessity. It is clear to me that children should wait until they are adults to transition if their gender dysphoria is so strong. It is the best thing for both their mental and physical health.
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Ian Brannan
Ian Brannan is an independent journalist who founded The Kansas Constitutional in April 2022. His work focuses on issues including abortion, Convention of States, drug policy, education, government, LGBT issues, media, and more. He is also the co-host of the Rainbow Rabble-Rousers podcast.
