12 year old to start puberty blockers

[PreseaCombatir]

This child thinks they’ll be able to have a womb transplant to have a baby when they get older. It seems so cruel to lie to a child like this. link here

MrsKeats

My niece is 20 and started T this year. I have lost the close relationships I thought I had with her and my sister because I think it's a bad idea, and refuse to lie about her sex.

That poor child.

MrsKeats - unbelievably stressful for you. My DD is on the waiting list for Testosterone - she's 21 - And I find that hard enough to cope with. Regardless of how you feel about gender identity v biological sex, what parent wouldn't be distraught at their 16 year permanently altering their physiology and risking their fertility?

In this Louis Theroux documentary, there is a particularly poignant moment when the mtf teenager talks wistfully about being a 'mom' one day

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qkzt2

for those of you going through this with your children. It must be so hard, I’d be beside myself - these drugs and potentially mutilating a healthy body.

A family member of mine is transgender (a teenager) but they haven’t started on any puberty blockers or anything so far. I am so worried for them, are these hormone blockers even safe? But I can’t say anything or else I’ll be called transphobic or intolerant so I keep my distance. I really hope they don’t go down that route although when they become an adult it’s their decision.

I know young adults who have fully transitioned and are happy, confident etc but they know they will never be a biological parent. 16 should be the minimum age for starting the process so they can have a chance of fully understanding the implications. As well as happily transitioned individuals I know others that have reverted to their birth gender or said they are non binary. If we put less emphasis on girls = x and boys = y there will be less confused young people, not everyone fits narrow gender stereotypes, and they shouldn't have to mutilate their bodies in order to try to fit in our binary world, if boys want to wear dresses to school let them, if girls want to shun makeup and wear biker boots so what! Let's live and let live rather than hormones and surgery

Terrifying that the decision to have surgery at 18 seems to have been made already.

I think we need to stop referring to the experimental drug regimens as puberty blockers. Like other twee trans euphemisms the name betrays the reality.

This is absolute nonsense, a 12 year old is as yet unformed.

How can they lie to a child like this? It’s on Kent Onlines FB page. I don’t comment on FB any more but there are some critical comments on there which inevitably have been called hateful.

Do people not realise that not telling a child their gender but letting them choose it is so confusing for a child! I have a boy and a girl and there's no way I'm going to tell them they are gender neutral! If they come to me and tell me they feel like they are in the wrong body then I will think of options! We need to stop encouraging children to choose their bloody gender!!

I remember that doc Timelady and how one child spoke about needing or having to have an operation in the future. I thought it was awful to live with that knowledge, it's a frightening thought for an adult, even for simple procedures sometimes, let alone a child having that as a 'need' and not understanding that it is optional.

Being told that they will 'need' it to fully live as they want to (not that I' convinced on that score) when 90% of gender dysmorphic adults don't have the operation? What are these professionals and parents doing?

I also remember in the Louis Theroux programme a young adult saying they didn't have gender dysmorphia around their penis but just around their testicles.

I'm very worried for this child.

One of the comments on the FB page refers to Ash and the family featuring in a documentary two years ago.

"I hope I inspire others but I just hope that love and acceptance comes through everything." Ash
Ms Law Head of Primary School says "children like Ashley are pioneers."
This reminds me of the exploitation of some child stars, how very special they are till suddenly they're not.

What are the side effects of puberty blockers ? If they block the hormones that bring on puberty are they blocking the growth we all have associated with that. Without being graphic does it mean genitals and internal sex organs don’t grow but your body grows up ? Does it impede all growth, height ? Brain ?

Yes Ruby it does. It stops puberty happening. Have a look at the Mermaids thread where Suzi Green is talking about her child's undeveloped genitals

Clymene. What happens if the child taking puberty blockers changes their mind ? Do you experience puberty if you stop taking the blockers ? Would your sex organs then develop as if you had never blocked puberty?
Am l understanding that a child of 15/16/17 would have pre- pubescent features. I suppose that living with this as a young adult would lead to surgery if you wanted to have anything approaching a sex life.
This is so difficult to discuss, we are talking about children but this should be clear l suppose for parents taking their children down this road.
I find the whole issue of this so troubling.

They don't impede height as far as I'm aware - in fact, I believe they are used (as part of their original purpose) to delay the 'finishing off' of the long bones so that children have a chance to grow taller.

I can't immediately find anything useful that says whether this effect differs between (natal) girls and boys.

One of my concerns with the 'blockers' route is that it may well delay the maturing of the brain -- and that means that a child who is being kept artificially immature for their age is making some very difficult adult decisions.

What happens if the child taking puberty blockers changes their mind?

A child taking puberty blockers doesn't change their mind in nearly 100% of cases. So there's no choice about it at all. The child is on the juggernaut.

When they are used to delay early onset puberty, as far as I know, children develop normally once they stop taking them. For children who are taking them to prevent puberty altogether as in this case, they will move from blockers straight to crosses hormones.

As Dodo says, no one really knows the impact on brain development if a child misses out on puberty altogether.

These drug are not approved for this purpose. No one knows

"It would be inappropriate for us to discuss the details of Ashley’s case, but there were complex issues during her time with us and at her previous school.

Quote from secondary school head teacher.

Let’s hope the ‘complex issues’ get unravelled before the kid loses significant bone density.

Oh! At the detransitioners event in MCR, Dr David Bell said the term ‘puberty blockers’ is misleading. He says that they are ‘potent drugs’ which probably have physiological consequences beyond affecting puberty.

He works at the adult service at Tavistock and Portman

tavistockandportman.nhs.uk/about-us/contact-us/staff/david-bell/

Terrifying that the decision to have surgery at 18 seems to have been made already.

In reality putting this poor 12 year old boy who has absolutely no concept of what he is giving up on so called 'puberty blockers' (and I agree re twee euphemisms) will almost certainly lead to him being sterilised and having surgery as GnRH agonists seem to lock them into the medical pathway, presumably by preventing brain development.

We know the outcome that awaits, we've seen it before thanks to the parents of Jazz Jennings. It isn't a happy ending.

These people think that doctors are gods, don't they?