Women and equalities committee today 22 Jan

[impossibletoday]

May be of interest...

https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/bacb0793-8233-46d8-9a9d-e48e31ec0149

Puberty blockers

All about puberty blockers

Thank you for this, I wasn't aware it was happening today.

First speaker is all 'young people, young person' which raises my hackles

..and saying that puberty restarts and that there are no negative effects when used for precocious puberty?

I thought it was well documented that there are issues with bone density.

I think this is going to be a bottle glass of wine watch if the rest continues in the same vein as these first few minutes

Oh gosh, I only got a few minutes in…. I wish they’d make a clear distinction between using puberty blockers for precocious puberty and for gender distress. It would be foolish to expect the same outcome when you stop the drugs before v after natural puberty, so the two need to be discussed separately

It's as though he can't quite bring himself to say that they're doing this to children. He says that the doctors talk to the 'young people' about how the drugs will impact their fertility and sexual function. He knows how it would sound if he made it clearer that these are children.

Will this go on Hansard in due course?

https://committees.parliament.uk/event/22659/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/

Statement on it from LGB Alliance.

https://lgballiance.org.uk/statement-on-wesc-puberty-blocker-hearing

When their gender is different from their biological gender?

Help ma boab.

Thank goodness Rosie Duffield is on that committee. Hannah Barnes has done a great write up www.newstatesman.com/politics/society/2025/01/are-politicians-trying-to-undermine-the-cass-review

Is this trying to put the genie back into the bottle? That Professor Butler is quite the smooth salesman.

I would be quite shocked if he said he wasn’t involved in something his name is on. And if he batted away the bone density issue if some under his care had broken bones. On camera.

And the fellow who talked about ‘trans female’. Seriously trans female. Are we talking about magic?

The WPATH woman (Professor Simona Giordano) who said that it can be predicted that a dysphoric adolescent can get worse and worse mentally. I though I read most dysphoria resolved through the process of puberty.

When asked about what it meant when a drug was used on or off label wrt the risks, Prof Giardono said that it is likely (that if applied for) puberty blockers would be given a licence for use in gender dyphoric children/adolescents. She says it is likely it would be approved for that indication but pharma companies may just not have any financial incentive to do so. Also they have a lot of evidence through use. She throws precocious puberty in there as if it was of a similar situation. But it isn’t. Those children then go through puberty at the correct time. When used to prevent puberty at the correct time, there are questions about damage done to an adolescent by interfering with their normal development. Physically, mentally, sexual and reproduction development.

And evidence? I think that particular rock has been looked under, and it may not be quite as present and correct as they would like you to believe.

They smoothly talk a good game, for sure. Now the Cass Report has looked more closely at what exactly has been going on, it is not exactly convincing.