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Comment by figrole | Hacker News Reader

Middle-aged men choose to transition to become transwomen, and they all went through puberty. Some even fathered kids.

So there's no reason for trans-identifying teenagers to have their own puberties blocked, before they can even make properly informed decisions about choosing lifelong sterility and lack of sexual function.

Like the older trans, they can wait a few years to adulthood or even later, and then decide what they want to do. This is the safer and more sensible option, and the one most compatible with "do no harm".

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You are wrong. Puberty blockers do not cause infertility or lack of sexual function. Your statements are incorrect and incongruent with established medical knowledge and advice. Also, trans is an adjective, not a plural noun.

Over 96% of children who present with gender dysphoria and are given puberty blockers then go on to take cross-sex hormones. This treatment pathway does indeed cause infertility and lack of sexual function.

There's no good reason why these children can't experience their normal, untarnished puberty, and defer the decision to medically trans themselves to later on, in adulthood, when they are older and wiser.

Puberty blockers and hormones are different things, that's why they have different names. Puberty blockers do not cause infertility or a lack of sexual function. So 96% of children go on to become adults that choose to take hormones because they made the right decision going on puberty blockers. There is a good reason why children should have access to puberty blockers, and to not suffer through a puberty that isn't in line with their gender; it's so they don't kill themselves.

That is one interpretation.

Another is to consider that while over 96% of children given puberty blockers proceed to cross-sex hormones, those treated with watchful waiting desist in around 85% of cases.

This suggests that puberty blockers are much more likely to cement gender dysphoria, rather than treat it.

Furthermore, there is no evidence to show that not being prescribed puberty blockers causes gender dysphoric children to kill themselves.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7073269/

"There is a significant inverse association between treatment with pubertal suppression during adolescence and lifetime suicidal ideation among transgender adults who ever wanted this treatment. These results align with past literature, suggesting that pubertal suppression for transgender adolescents who want this treatment is associated with favorable mental health outcomes."

> Middle-aged men choose to transition to become transwomen, and they all went through puberty. Some even fathered kids.

> So there's no reason for trans-identifying teenagers to have their own puberties blocked [...]

If this is really your whole thought process, I'd implore you to read up on why transitioning is beneficial for transgender youth. Do you know what would happen if we were to implement your idea? We'd have a lot more suicides in transgender youth, because going through the "wrong" puberty is hard, and leaves a lot of mental anguish. Instead of relying on simple thought patterns, could we please do actual research into these complicated topics and try to find what works best for those afflicted, not what feels right to us in the moment? Thank you.

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