Arguments for puberty blockers

It is all a puzzle. My DGC is paying privately for the hormone treatment from their own pocket from the proceeds of holiday and weekend jobs. But they now have an NHS appointment for which they have waited 5 years and have to travel a long way for.

I think the problem is that those not in this situation simply cannot understand what it is about and feel the answer is for the person to simply act and dress as whatever gender they favour and for society to accept this.

But it does seem to go deeper. This does not seem to answer the problem and it is based on more than simply gender stereotypes.

I recognise this, even though I am struggling to get my head round it.

The link with autistic spectrum disorder is well documented and needs fully researching. My DGC is on the very high end of this spectrum.

It is so sad to see a beautiful young body being destroyed - DGC now just looks like a little old man and it breaks my heart. If only they knew how precious that body is.

I’m sure all that most of us want is for our loved ones to be happy. But messing with their bodies is far more likely to have the reverse effect IMO.

And what in the name of all that’s holy does ‘born in the wrong body’ mean? It’s yet another of those facile phrases that we are used in what passes for ‘debate’ these days. It says nothing but has coded messages of compliance with a particular agenda.

We will look back on it in the way we look at other medical experiments, except this was on children.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

IOMGran

As someone with a trans (female to male) nephew I think he was an unhappy girl and is now a happy man. It was always obvious that she had issues, and now he doesn't speak to his dad at all as he feels he was unsupportive. For me I just want my kids to be happy.

I can understand why families of trans have such strong feelings on the topic.

I can too.

This is why I cant totally condemn their use, and do not consider it abuse.

What matters is very strict protections around their use to change gender. Generally, I am very against them except for the medical use alluded to above.

Bear in mind people can "go private". the "genie is out of the bag". Better with strict controls rather than a ban which wont work.

Luckygirl3 Sat 13-Dec-25 09:08:09

Thank you for that insightful post.

Lathyrus3

Yes indeed.

I had coffee this week with the daughter of a friend who I have known since childhood when she would come round to play with my boys. She was seven when she wore her last dress and her teenage years were spent on my drive fiddling about with a clapped out car ( that my boys showed no interest in at all)

She is now nearly 50, happily married to a man, still in hoodie and trousers and a very successful pinball engineer.

But she agrees that if she was a child now, the pressure would be intense for her to transition, because she would clearly according to trans ideology, be living as a boy and be in the “wrong” body.

We should not be encouraging girls like your friend's DD to think they need to transition, we should be telling them that what are still considered to be 'male' interests and careers eg engineering, car mechanics, plumbing, even mathematics and the sciences, etc can be just as achievable for women as men.

I can't remember the last time I wore a dress or skirt!

It is nothing short of wicked to prescribe these blockers to young children.

How can a 10 year old child give consent to take part in this trial? I’m wondering how many court cases there will be in the future of young adults suing parents who allowed this.

Yes indeed.

I had coffee this week with the daughter of a friend who I have known since childhood when she would come round to play with my boys. She was seven when she wore her last dress and her teenage years were spent on my drive fiddling about with a clapped out car ( that my boys showed no interest in at all)

She is now nearly 50, happily married to a man, still in hoodie and trousers and a very successful pinball engineer.

But she agrees that if she was a child now, the pressure would be intense for her to transition, because she would clearly according to trans ideology, be living as a boy and be in the “wrong” body.

I think Streeting is wobbling by some of the things he is saying, I think he knows it is the wrong thing to do.

NotSpaghetti

IOMGran
I also know a very unhappy girl who always played with my son, though my daughter was her age, was never interested (since a toddler) in anything remotely "girly", who refused school at puberty and became deeply troubled thereafter.

He is a lively interesting and thriving man in his 40s now.
Some people, I honestly think, really do know.

Indeed, they do. Also people know quite early f they are gay or straight. All I have ever tried to do is love and support my kids, because my reality and sexuality is not theirs, I don't know what is in their heads and hearts.

I think if we moved away from the ideas that there are girly things and male things it would be a start .

...but I am still wary of puberty blockers.

SUCH a difficult area to negotiate.
...and so lucky not to have been faced with such impossible choices.

IOMGran
I also know a very unhappy girl who always played with my son, though my daughter was her age, was never interested (since a toddler) in anything remotely "girly", who refused school at puberty and became deeply troubled thereafter.

He is a lively interesting and thriving man in his 40s now.
Some people, I honestly think, really do know.

My very dear young adult GC is tied up in all this and is now on hormones.
One clear factor is that the social element of this movement is part of the attraction. They are part of what they call a "queer community" and gain validity and social contacts via this.
Interestingly sex is not a factor ... they describe themselves as asexual.
I find it very hard to truly understand the whole situation, but just offer love, as do her parents.
They would have accepted hormones earlier if they had been on offer. I find that horrifying.
I am not sure that as a 20 year old they are even mature enough to make the decisions now. They seem to be just swept along by a movement that gives them some sense of belonging.
"Top surgery" .. a sickening euphemism... is now being proposed. It makes me very sad.
The idea that state sanctioned hormone treatment of children as young as 10 is being proposed horrifies me.
The aim is presumably to make a person happier, but in order to do so irreversible treatments run the risk of creating more unhappiness.
I do know people who have transitioned and seem happy ... but I guess you have to ... taking such drastic steps and then admitting it was a mistake must be a huge step.
What a mess it all is.
I often think that generations to come will look back on this and wonder what the hell we could have been thinking of

Lathyrus3

If there is a dissonance between the biological sex and what the mind says the sex should be, why is it the body that is wrong and must be treated and not the mind?

i have often wondered this.

But why should their be a dissonance just accept the way you are. There are a lot of people around who are at various stages of having this feeling and if a man wants to dress like a woman and live what they considered a feminine lifestyle, let them. They just should not be using spaces intended for those who are biological women: toilets, changing rooms etc etc.

Actually I have no problem with men attending WI meetings. If men take over, it will be the women who vote them there.

I have been involved in a number of activities where sex is not an issue and have rarely experienced this male takeover, far from it. It has usually been a female takeover as women have begun to participate in activities previously run by men and have themselves taken on, and been voted in to all the senior roles at various times and are evenly represented at the organising level of the group.

If there is a dissonance between the biological sex and what the mind says the sex should be, why is it the body that is wrong and must be treated and not the mind?

The one about the right espousing ideas of what women should do?. How is this different the idea that there is a way to live like a man?

Since I do not seem to have read the 'other thread', or not the key posts. I cannot tell.

How is that any different to the gender stereotypes being complained about on another thread?

I agree women cannot be a man, but a woman can feel more comfortable dressing and living as if they were a man.

There have been large numbers of children who went through the Tavistock and went on puberty blockers, most followed by cross sex hormones. Why not look at their outcomes instead of recruiting a whole new cohort of children for an experiment? Given that there can't be a 'control group' what worthwhile extra knowledge can be gained from exposing this new group?

I personally know two trans women, both have fully transitioned . Both knew as teenagers that they were in the wrong body and had a very unhappy life as teenagers and young people. One had several suicide attempts and the other resorted to drugs to deal with the pain .
However both say that puberty blockers shouldn’t be given to under 16s and definitely not 10 year olds .

In the 1980s I lived near someone whose child was diagnosed gender dysphoric when very young. Even at 3-4, before starting school, it was clear that the formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria was not by choice. The parents were absolutely certain she would kill herself if left to develop and start menstruating.

I moved away and we lost touch, but they popped up on my Facebook some 20 years later, with a young adult pictured as their son. I wondered how the intervening years had been for them all.

IOMGran

As someone with a trans (female to male) nephew I think he was an unhappy girl and is now a happy man. It was always obvious that she had issues, and now he doesn't speak to his dad at all as he feels he was unsupportive. For me I just want my kids to be happy.

I can understand why families of trans have such strong feelings on the topic.