"Trans men" and "trans women" are bashing the uk court's decision to ban puberty blockers, saying that puberty blockers have no adverse effects, and that it's fine to "let a kid hit pause on their body for a couple years"

submitted by Bootsinmyshoes30 from twitter.com

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[–]refusetolie 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

The process of puberty is essential to the maturation of the brain. The rationale for stopping puberty is to postpone the decision to make permanent changes until the child is older without developing secondary sex characteristics. The implicit fact here is that older children, teenagers are better equipped to assess risks than are young children. The reason for this is due to brain development and additional years of experience.

While I do not agree that a normal 16-year-old is equipped to make major permanent decisions affecting health and fertility, even if that were the case, a 16-year-old who has had their puberty halted is in no way equivalent to a 16-year-old who is undergoing normal development. The delayed child is psychologically more like a prepubescent child, as the treatment introduces a developmental asynchrony. Thus it is not rational to presume that their increased age confers the expected expansion in the ability to realistically judge risks and make permanent decisions.

Similarly, it is common for autistic children to be delayed in social development and emotional maturity even if they are cognitively normal or even far superior to the norm. Given the degree of overlap between autistic minors and cross-gender identification, the effect of delaying the brain maturation of a child who is already delayed in these respects likely compounds the socially damaging effects of developmental asynchrony.

[–]MarkTwainiac 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

The process of puberty is essential to the maturation of the brain.

Yes, and - more to the point - the maturation of the brain that begins in puberty & ends circa age 25 is precisely what enables the vast majority of people to grow out of "gender dysphoria" and so many of the underlying issues that "gender dysphoria" is based on - such as an an embrace of & fixation with of rigid sex stereotypes; an obsession with their physical appearance; the belief that everyone is always looking at them & negatively judging them; as well as magical thinking, childlike fantasies, simplistic world views and the utterly wrongheaded conviction that the way for a person to resolve emotional and mental distress is to change how they look, how they "identify" & what labels/pronouns they apply to themselves and publicly announce with the daft idea that the whole world must play along. As the brain matures, most people also figure out that a core tenet of trans ideology - trying to control how everyone else in the world perceives you and what words they use when they speak of you - is pointless and tyrannical too.

Of course, brain maturation does not automatically resolve underlying issues like anxiety, depression, autism, body image issues, EDs, and so on. In fact, there are some mental illnesses - such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder - that tend to emerge/become evident only as the brain becomes more mature. But in general, brain maturation does give people the capacity to begin to see that there are other, better ways of dealing with their mental health and social adjustment issues than going "trans."

Moreover, as you point out, whether kids are autistic or "cognitively normal or even far superior to the norm," delaying puberty will put them behind their peers - both psychologically and socially. As they watch their peers move on in life and develop and grow, their sense of not fitting in and being out of the loop will only increase. As will their profound sense of loneliness and their inner conviction that "there's something really wrong with me."

PBs essentially lock kids into their "gender dysphoria" and other mental health problems and prevent them from finding a way out. Jazz Jennings, who started blockers at age 10-11 and estrogen at 12, tragically illustrates this all too well.

[–]Bootsinmyshoes30[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Very well written as always <3

By the way I wasn't around on the 1st of January to tell you this so I wanted to say now happy new year. And thank you for doing all you can to educate the "trans" and tras every step of the way in 2020, both on the reddit gc sub that got banned and here. You inspired me to be more active as well, couldn't do it without you 🥺

[–]MarkTwainiac 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thank you for your kind words. You cheered me up on a day when I really needed it. So glad you are here! We're all doing what we can.

Best wishes to you, and happy new year. Let's hope it's better than the last one. Again, thanks for the kind words. Keep up the good work.