Puberty blocker
Puberty blockers (puberty inhibitors, puberty supressors, or hormone supressors) are a group of medications used to inhibit puberty. They have recently beed perscribed to children diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder , or GID, a rare psychaitric condition in which a person feels that they are one sex while their body is another, although previously they have also been used to treat children with precocious puberty, or early onset puberty. Puberty blockers stunt the growth of sexual organs and production of hormones. Other effects include the supression of facial hair, deep voices, and Adam's apples for boys and the halting of breast growth and menstration in girls. [1] Children can be prescribed puberty blockers, with their parent's permission, by an endocrinologist, usually after psychiatric or mental health evaluations. Puberty blockers take the form of a monthly injection. Currently, treatment including puberty blockers are not worldwide.
Debate
Proponents of the use of puberty blockers argue that much of the mental and emotional distress caused by GID and body dysphoria can be mitigated with medications that ease a child into gender reassignment. The medications also are said to make gender reassignment surgery easier on the patient, as less is needed in terms of medical procedures and medications later on in life. Further arguments affirm that treatment with puberty blockers is reversible.
Opponents of the medications state that the use of puberty blockers only increases the agony for a child and could possibly prevent a child from resolving such feelings with time. Furthermore, opponents argue that transgender identities and the use of puberty blockers are being encouraged by societal forces onto children not yet mature enough to make decisions on their sexuality. [2]
References
External Links
Puberty Inhibitors, by Dr. Norman P. Spack MD- TransYouth Family Allies
Case Study- My son was six when he first demanded a sex change- The Telegraph Online
Non-profit works with transgender kids long before puberty- The Portland Mercucry