Stupidest article I've ever read on puberty blockers

[WomenShouldStillWinWomensSports]

I'm not sure if words can convey just how completely ridiculous this article is. Read it and despair for the future of humanity.

The references to research are misleading, given that this "author" hasn't actually done research or critical thinking. The way it talks about "trans girls with beards" etc is deeply unsettling. The comparison of puberty blockers to the contraceptive pill, given to women and girls as they are the correct hormones for this sex of human, with decades of research and REVERSIBLE outcomes, is utterly ludicrous and a total false syllogism (if all As are Bs and all Cs are Bs then all As are Cs).

I mean have the Metro even bothered checking this before hitting publish? I thought news articles on news sites had some legal obligation for fact checking or something?

Boak.

Sponsored by Big Pharma, perhaps??? Or intentionally written to get lots of shares from people stunned at just how incorrect it all is?

https://metro.co.uk/2023/09/28/we-accept-teenagers-taking-the-pill-but-not-puberty-blockers-why-19564554/

Well known trans identifying male - it's propaganda

Yes but why is someone printing it? One third of any accredited journalism course focuses on ethics, how can someone get to news editor of a major news outlet and "person who can hit publish on an article" and not bother fact checking any aspect of it at all?

They have been ratiod and community noted on twitter/x

https://twitter.com/MetroUK/status/1707356983303790958

That article infuriated me so much I had to come on here to see if it had infuriated anyone else!

Tell me you haven't done any research on the topic you're writing about without telling me you haven't done any research on the topic you're writing about...

It's messed up though that someone somewhere still thinks it's fine to publish this utter, utter bullshit even now. 😠

Perhaps the Metro Platform could host a right of reply opinion piece. Left-wing feminist or gay critics of gender ideology are more "underheard and underrepresented voices in the media" than TRAs.

The Metro is absolutely dreadful on this issue. Completely captured.

This is one of its worst articles, though.

They must know by now the dangers of puberty blockers.

This is a conscious decision not an error.

Does anyone know if it would actually fall foul of not meeting basic IPSO standards? In the case of accuracy, it says they can't investigate if they would have to involve a third party, which surely means it's impossible to complain to them about accuracy as they'd always need the involvement of the news editor?

It’s just an opinion. It says opinion in big letters at the top. If anyone read it and thought “good point I / my child needs puberty blockers” hopefully a medical professional would be involved. They would be the ones with the onus on truth and research.
Hopefully putting this in print means in five - 10 years when everyone realises what a terrible idea it was, they won’t be able to back out of their statements.

Metro had been banging this drum for ages now. I don’t even pick a copy up to dry my wellies in these days.

A medical professional?

I see James Esses has requested a right to reply from the Metro.

As I said in another thread on this article, this has been written by a well-known trans activist who misleads in an attempt to get as many people as possible to transition.

Could you share a link please? I searched the whole board to check if there was a thread on this yet before posting, and found nothing.

This is the other thread.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4907858-are-puberty-blockers-just-like-the-pill

🤦🏼‍♀️ I read that as “willies” not “wellies”…. 😂

As a woman I actually feel insulted by this. Sure they’re both hormones but paracetamol and fentanyl are both painkillers. Doesn’t mean we should give people in pain easy access to fentanyl.

The clue is in the name. Puberty blockers. It blocks a normal part of human development. Do we even know what the long term impact of that might be?

I get that being a teenager and going through puberty is messy and upsetting at times. We’ve all been there. I believe there are a small number of genuine trans cases but for the most part it’s normal teenage angst being patholigised social contagion or neurodiverse kids being misled and misunderstood.

The clue is in the name. Puberty blockers. It blocks a normal part of human development. Do we even know what the long term impact of that might be?

We know quite a lot. If children don't go through puberty, they don't develop into mature, fertile adults. Puberty blockers sterilise children.

We know from women who took these drugs as children for precocious puberty that they cause serious health problems such as osteoporosis.

We know from "trans children" like Jackie Green and Jazz Jennings that it makes the cosmetic surgery to invert the penis more complicated because the surgeon will be working with a child's size penis.

I'm not sure what the actual benefits are supposed to be. The argument is normally based around the unsubstantiated claim that children will kill themselves if they don't get them.

I believe there are a small number of genuine trans cases

I don't believe this. I believe that there are people who believe that they are genuinely trans, but objectively I don't believe that people are genuinely born in the wrong body.

Yes but why is someone printing it?

It's intended as an opinion piece I think. The thing about those is you can print as much shit as you want - it's an opinion, not gospel

The fact that the article doesn’t even hyperlink to any sources is such an issue and I wish readers were smart enough to do their own research.

Although it’s an opinion piece, they make so many damaging claims that the least they could do is point us towards the research. If only the article could give a balanced opinion of the realities as opposed to all positives.

Opinion pieces are great, and you shouldn't expect them to be completely accurate.

But platforming medical misinformation... at least allow a response or it does start to look like unethical journalism.