In a message directly to them, and referencing having come out as gay, he said: “I know it’s not easy being a trans kid in our country today, the trans community is at the wrong end of all of the statistics for mental ill health, self-harm and suicide."
I just wanted to quote this bit of the article, as I feel this is often used in bad faith arguments such as: “I don’t hate trans people, I just want to protect them from the bad outcomes that come with being trans.”
Do these people ever stop to think that it may be the way that trans people are treated, talked about, and denied essential medical care that contributes to poor mental health outcomes? Maybe if we didn’t treat people shittily, they wouldn’t feel shit.
except for use in clinical trials
Let’s hope that allows many kids access to the care they need. If there’s a real concern about the safety of puberty blockers, then clinical trials are exactly what’s needed to find out. I’m not entirely convinced this is really due to medical concern though. It smells like Labour trying to out-bigot the Conservatives, just to prove they’re not lefties any more.
My understanding is by medical standards, the evidence is pretty low quality, which is why GnRH agonists aren’t approved by the EMA, MHRA, FDA, or NICE for gender dysphoria.
It highlights a wider issue in medicine though, the obsession with randomised controlled trials, which is basically the only evidence the GRADE method considers “high quality”. We are seeing exactly the same problem with MDMA assisted therapy, any therapy where blinding is difficult is dismissed by the medical establishment. NICE dismissed (es)ketamine for depression for the same reason. Add to that the fact that GnRH agonists are off patent, so there’s no incentive for industry to fund studies.
My understanding is by medical standards, the evidence is pretty low quality,
Your understanding is wrong and influenced by transphobic rhetoric, not “medical standards”, which have considered puberty blockers safe and effective since at least the 1980s.
The use of puberty blockers is supported by twelve major American medical associations, including the American Medical Association,[14] the American Psychological Association,[15] and the American Academy of Pediatrics.[16] the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,[17] the Pediatric Endocrine Society,[18] the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,[19] the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists,[20] and the American College of Physicians.[21] In Australia four medical organizations support them,[22] as does the Endocrine Society,[23] and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).[24]
Overall, puberty blockers have demonstrated an excellent safety and efficacy profile in the treatment of precocious puberty. The most common side effects reported include nonspecific headaches, hot flashes, and implant-related skin reactions.[39]
E: and before you try throwing bone density at me, most of the people impacted are cis (and will not be stopped from taking blockers), and either way, there is simple treatment to counteract this minor issue (and which is completely insignificant when compered to the alternative). The ban is 100% motivated by transphobia and cruelty.
Will this finally settle the debate so we can focus on more pressing issues?
God no. People made their mind up that children should be able to permanently fuck up their body and hormones.
That’s a hill they will die on.
Their bodies get “fucked up” by hormones if they do nothing. We all get “fucked up” on hormones to some extent, it’s just that puberty blockers allow more opportunity to decide which way to get “fucked up.” If you truly wanted to help “brainwashed trenders” not “fuck up their bodies,” you’d support puberty blockers. It gives them the most time to decide with as few side effects as possible.
You think transitioning is what happens when treatment fails? You think it’s some sort of unfortunate outcome? The data paints a clear picture: transition is the best outcome for us. No other treatment works, and as far as treatments for psychological phenomenon go, it’s one of the best.
I wish I could say you’re dying on a hill, but you’re not. You’re throwing screaming children into a pit and burning them alive. You’ll face no consequence for your humble contribution outside of possible guilt, but nothing will undo the harm.
Only for gender dysmorphia.
Which is still stupid to ban it for that, but a lot better than a total ban.
I don’t know why people are so worried about it. I was over 6 feet tall and shaving before I was a teenager, if I had been given the option to press pause for a few years I would have jumped on it.
There is pretty much zero negative side effects to puberty blockers, it literally just delays it and early puberty is an issue and one that continues to trend in the wrong direction.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/puberty-starting-earlier-treatment-children-rcna125441
Obviously it can be much worse for girls than boys, but it was still fucking weird being a child and having people twice your age assume you were a peer.
I don’t know why people are so worried about it
As far as I understand it, there are two main concerns that people have.
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There is very limited data regarding clinical proof that the long term use of puberty blockers is 100% reversible in cases that block puberty during the typical years that you would go through it. Traditionally, puberty blockers would be used in cases where children start puberty at extremely young ages, in these cases the puberty blockers would be withdrawn at an age typical for a child to start puberty.
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Leading on from point 1. Many people don’t trust children to make decisions that could impact them for the rest of their lives. Some parents are concerned they will be met with their child who is now a young adult to be asked “why the hell did you let me make that decision, don’t you know the brain is still developing at that age?”. I would not want to be held accountable for the countless stupid things I said or beliefs I held at a young age, so I can see why it is a concern.
Personally, I’m broadly in support of trans rights and what people want to do when they’re adults is their own business (as long as they’re not hurting anyone), but I think allowing a child to make a decision that may impact them for the rest of their lives is a grey area to say the least. Until conclusive evidence is available I’d draw the line for a child at anything that’s not 100% fully reversible.
Traditionally, puberty blockers would be used in cases where children start puberty at extremely young ages
Puberty blockers have been prescribed to transgender youth since the 90s, they’re use in combating gender dysphoria is just as much a part of the puberty blocker tradition as their use in combating early puberty.
I would not want to be held accountable for the countless stupid things I said or beliefs I held at a young age, so I can see why it is a concern.
This subtle notion that slips into this discourse that being trans is akin to a make-belief thing is deeply frustrating. No, children were not just being given puberty blockers because they suddenly declared that they weren’t their assigned gender. Getting puberty blockers required a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, something I can assure you is not an easy thing to get in this country, and even then still needed a specialist’s approval.
This is the worst part of this ‘debate’, people are led to believe that it’s the child deciding for themselves that they get puberty blockers despite the very stringent requirements on their use for trans youths. The point of this entire ordeal is not to protect kids (puberty blocker usage has a 4% regret rate), it’s to build up the idea that no amount of safeguards can make the prescribing of trans healthcare acceptable to people you don’t believe have full bodily autonomy. Where this goes from here is not looking for other areas in which our medical system is failing children, it’s expanding the list of trans people who don’t have full bodily autonomy. The Cass Review has already said that autistic people need special consideration.
I think allowing a child to make a decision that may impact them for the rest of their lives is a grey area to say the least.
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It’s not a child making the decision. It’s typically adults making the decision for the sake of the child, and based on the child’s needs. The child is involved but it’s not like the adults just go along with a childish whim. The decision is made with caution and care and expert consultation, and it is not made lightly.
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Deciding to go ahead with puberty is also a decision that impacts a child for the rest of their life. In cases of gender dysmorphia this can cause psychological trauma that won’t just clear up, and prolong the agony by forcing the person to live into adulthood with a body that feels deeply wrong. At this point, transitioning can be more difficult because the body may already have taken on pronounced characteristics associated with the wrong gender.
Vaccines can have devastating permanent side effects. Should parents no longer vaccinate their children?
The answer for both is:
Whichever option does less harm should be taken. A delayed puberty, despite potential long-term risks does less harm than a trans child going through the “wrong” puberty.
Besides, due to the start of puberty having a pretty large range there should in theory be little harm until the age of 14 or so. And at that age children are much more capable of deciding on medical treatments than as preteens.
The main difference with vaccines is the overwhelming medical proof of the benefits, that’s something that currently isn’t there with the use of puberty blockers during the years you would typically go through it.
I do somewhat agree with your less harm premise. If a child literally threatens to kill themselves, then as a parent you’d feel like you had little choice in the matter, however if there are permanent side effects and the child, now as a young adult starts regretting their decision, it’s going to be shit for everyone.
There is very limited data regarding clinical proof that the long term use of puberty blockers is 100% reversible
There is about 40 years of real life use, and I think a good 20 years of study before that?
How much data from clinical studies and real world use do you need to feel comfortable?
Many people don’t trust children to make decisions that could impact them for the rest of their lives
But the permanent effects of puberty blockers are negligible…
What do you think is permanent about them?
I don’t think you understand what Puberty Blockers are…
You seem to be wanting to ban something completely different.
The forty years worth of proof you are referring to is in almost all cases where the use was to block early puberty and then allow it to take its course at a normal age. There are very few case studies regarding the extended use of puberty blockers during the years where it would typically take place. I did mention these things.
How much proof I would need is a tough question because it obviously requires testing on children and it’s an ethical issue. If a consensus of respected doctors were to agree, I wouldn’t argue though.
At the end of the day, I’m not pretending to be an expert in puberty blockers, I’m saying that sometimes children need to be protected from themselves.
“Men have penises, women have vaginas; here ends my biology lesson.”
Jackass
No, sorry it from an interview he did. The full quote is
When asked if transgender women can be women on a Talkradio interview show, he was applauded by Julia Hartley-Brewer for his response, stating: “Men have penises, women have vaginas; here ends my biology lesson.”
Reported in the financial times, but also quoted in the Wikipedia bio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Streeting
Could you explain to me how biologically this isn’t factual? The baby doesn’t pop out with a penis and the doctor go “congratulations! It’s a girl with a penis!”
Fucking delusional, you want to shift your hormones and swap sexy bits as an adult? More power to you. Wanna let undeveloped children cause irreversible damage to their body because they had a phase where they liked to cross dress? Get fucked, it’s absurd we let 18 year olds even apply to college or vote.
Sex isn’t gender and puberty blockers don’t cause irreversible damage.
You’re a shit person who’s spewing other people’s opinions and thus hate, because you’re too intellectually lazy to read about these things to grasp the even the basic concepts being discussed.
So please refrain from going around calling people delusional until you spend at least a single minute reading up on what you pretend to understand.
There’s a reason the term “transgender” is used over “transsexual”.
Ah yes, I’m a shit person for presenting an ideology different from yours. But please, bring up some semantics to break down my point, see how that works for you.
What’s absurd is how you’ve formed a strong negative opinion despite it being pretty obvious you’re completely clueless about the details of the topic.
Kids aren’t just given puberty blockers immediately at their request. A lot of work is done prior, with the parent(s) and medical and mental health providers determining the validity of the situation and working with the child to determine the course of treatment, if any.
It’s fine to disagree, but at least educate yourself first. Otherwise you’re just another bigot.
You state that I’m clueless about the topic yet I’ve had not 1 but 2 seperate friends who I’ve been with through their ENTIRE transition one from 13 the other 19 both M>F
The first one was put on pb as well as a litany of other medications and supplements. The second i only recall estrogen and t blockers. Now fast forward about 10 years. 19 is now 29, and she is still one of my best friends. The 13? 23 now and absolutely regrets the decision and constantly posts Healthcare slam posts and self harm.
So please, tell me how to educate myself more you uninformed twat.
Let’s start with the basics. It’s not all XX and XY.
Anomoly noun
- Deviation or departure from THE NORMAL or COMMON order, form, or rule.
1 in 1,700 people are born with both sexual organs.
If extrapolated to the population of the United States that is 10% of the population of Nebraska that cannot be defined in this manner.
Therefore, that statement is not biologically factual as thousands of people have both.
Since this is a UK forum, the UK has 40,000 citizens who cannot be defined male or female in this manner.
Onto your point about manipulating gender at a young age.
The largest number of gender reassignment surgeries are performed on the population I just described, without their consent, at birth. And believe it or not often doctors get it wrong.
Someone assigned female by a doctor as a baby, well turns out mentally they are a boy, a boy who had their penis removed at birth. That might have some affect on a person, I think you’d agree.
So with that in mind, I agree with you about one thing, that non-reversible gender decisions should not be made without the consent of the individual being assigned a gender, as doctors are currently doing to intersex babies on a regular basis.
So can we stop pretending that gender reassignement is the problem? It’s just a wedge issue designed and promoted to keep the lower classes divided so that we don’t realize what the rich are doing to us and this planet. I am not your enemy. We are allies. The enemy is up/down, not left/right.
Transgender people just want to exist. Is it an unreasonable demand to exist and be acknowledged? I think not.
I understand your sentiment and I dont want to come off as just “transbasher” because i have close both male and female friends who after college decided they wanted to transition. I don’t agree with their thought process but I don’t tell them or put them down for their choice because it’s their choice as an adult.
On the subject of intersex births, I find the 1 in 1700 to be very generous. Having a mother who has worked labor and delivery for the past 30 years in a large hospital, she has only ever had 2 instances where the baby was born intersex. And that’s out of tens of thousands of deliveries. In those fringe cases I think sure we can allow those to be allowed to transition because there is a biological reason evident from birth. But if you just have a hormone imbalance that doesn’t mean you need to block the natural course of growth to see “what you’d prefer”. Just let the body do it’s thing and when it’s done developing then mess around with it.
Wanna let undeveloped children cause irreversible damage to their body because they had a phase where they liked to cross dress?
This hilarious argument if wasn’t just a bad faith argument should be enough for everyone be in favor of puberty blockers, to avoid avoid irreversible change while the person matures and can decide what one wants to do.
