G&STC’s Director Jesse Kahn talks with Gabrielle Kassel at Well+Good About What Puberty Blockers Are + Why Trans and Non-Binary Kids Deserve Access to Them
CHECK OUT G&STC’S DIRECTOR JESSE KAHN TALK WITH GABRIELLE KASSEL AT WELL+GOOD ABOUT WHAT PUBERTY BLOCKERS ARE AND WHY TRANS AND NON-BINARY KIDS NEED & DESERVE ACCESS TO THEM.
"The simplest way to imagine puberty blockers is to think of them like a pause button," says Jesse Kahn, LCSW-R, CST, director and sex therapist at The Gender & Sexuality Therapy Center in New York City. "Using them holds off physical changes that occur during puberty while the person is taking them."
The point? To keep teens from going through puberty in a way that does not align with their gender identity, says Jonah DeChants, PhD, a research scientist with The Trevor Project. Kahn agrees, adding that puberty blockers "give individuals the opportunity to explore their own gender before their body forces changes on them, and decide for themselves what that gender is." A boy who was assigned female at birth might take puberty blockers to stall the development of breasts or the onset of a menstrual cycle, for example. "It also allows them time to decide if they want to try other forms of medical transition down the road," Dr. DeChants adds.
The idea that 8 to 14 is too young for someone to know if they are experiencing gender-based distress is unfair, says Dr. DeChants: "We don’t assign judgment values to other kinds of distress that kids might be experiencing." So, saying that a kid is too young to recognize their distress dismisses their pain and the harm they are currently enduring, he says. It also disregards what they're telling us about their identity. "Just as you and I are the experts of our own lived experience, so are pre-puberty individuals," says Kahn.
Puberty blockers can be a lifesaving intervention
Entering puberty before you've been given time to feel comfortable with your own gender identity and build your own social supports can be traumatic and lead to increased anxiety, depression, and risk of suicidal thoughts, says Kahn. Puberty blockers could offer a way to alleviate that distress and affirm the validity of a young person's feelings and experience.
MORE FROM G&STC DIRECTOR JESSE KAHN ON THIS TOPIC:
The simplest way to imagine puberty blockers is to think of them like a pause button. The use of puberty blockers holds off physical changes that occur during puberty while the person is taking them (via injection or implant). They are also completely reversible-if a person stops getting the injection or has the implant removed, puberty will resume as it would have before. Using puberty blockers gives pre-puberty folks time to explore their gender before experiencing physical body changes associated with puberty, as these changes can be very distressing for the individual. They are also a form of suicide prevention: For transgender individuals who desired and had access to puberty blockers, the risk of suicidal thoughts was lower than those who did not have access to blockers but wanted them. And–they're already commonly used! Puberty blockers have been administered to cisgender kids experiencing precocious puberty (or accelerated puberty) for decades. So the safety of puberty blockers has been well documented and studied for a long time–it's not just something new for transgender kids.
We've talked a bit at G&STC about the deeply personal experience that is exploring and unpacking one's gender and how, since it is such an internal experience it can (falsely) look from the outside as though it's a rapid process. But, just as you and I are the experts of our own lived experience, so are pre-puberty individuals! The leading cause of fear is that kids who go on puberty blockers will later change their minds–however this ignores that 1) puberty blockers are completely reversible, so if someone did change their mind, they could resume puberty without an issue and, 2) that the current experience the child is going through is one of distress. Whether or not they will later realize the gender they were assigned at birth was the right identity for them is only something they can discover with time. And, choosing to go on puberty blockers isn't choosing to medically transition. Because the process is easily reversible, puberty blockers prove an opportunity for pre-puberty individuals to explore their own gender before their body forces changes on them, and decide for themselves what that gender is. They may realize they are cis, and just weren't ready for their body to change in such a huge way, and/or they may continue to affirm that they are trans.
Puberty blockers act as a "pause" button on puberty, allowing transgender and gender expansive kids or kids experiencing gender dysphoria to hold off on going through the physical changes that come with puberty. The changes that come with puberty are so closely linked to our understanding of gender and gender presentation–voices changing, breast development, facial hair growth, etc. Being forced into those changes before you've been given time to feel comfortable in your own identity and build your own social supports can be traumatic, and lead to increased anxiety, depression, and risk of suicidal thoughts. With puberty blockers, prepubescent individuals are given a reprieve instead of being forced to go through puberty that changes one's body in a way that doesn't match their internal sense of identity and who they are. This can help decrease or manage any anxiety or depression they may be feeling as well affirm the validity of their feelings & experience.
Always start by educating yourself. What is it you don't know? Set aside some time to do your own research, and make sure you’re getting your information from reputable sources - ideally from folks in the community you’re learning about. Don’t be ashamed that you don’t know everything already, just make sure you take the time to educate yourself. We have a short list of places you can start with that on our blog here. You can also give monetary support to trans-led organizations and mutual aid networks who would be doing direct work with your local trans community. And small things like offering your own pronouns, not assuming you know someone's gender or pronouns based on looking at them, and correcting misinformation when you hear it.