Everything in life includes side effects that are not reversible. If i eat an ice cream cone, I’m a little different than i was if i didn’t eat an ice cream cone.
The promise of puberty blockers is that they delay the massive, irreversible effects of puberty. Are there side effects? It sounds like there are.
If you are a trans girl, looking puberty in the teeth, and you have the options of
- proceed with male puberty. Grow taller than most women. Develop a masculine face, masculine bone structure, a deep voice, an Adam’s apple, facial hair, and the large pores typical of masculine facial skin. If you ultimately change your mind and want a male body, great. But if you persist in feeling that you are really a woman, everyone who looks at you will think “male” for the rest of your life, possibly even if you ultimately get massive amounts of cosmetic surgery.
Or
- take puberty blockers now. Don’t undergo those massive changes for a few years. If you ultimately change your mind and want to present as male, you can undergo male puberty, but you might end up shorter than you otherwise would have, and you might have a smaller penis. But you will look like a guy. And if you persist in feeling that you are really a woman, you can undergo a forced female puberty, and grow hips and breasts and have a female face and female skin. You’ll be able to pass comfortably as female, and not have to constantly tell the world that you really want them to view you as a women.
Which do you think might be more attractive to a young trans women? Which do you think might lead to a less stressful life?
There is the question of future fertility. A trans woman is not going to bear a child unless medical science dramatically advances. But she might be able to sire a child. Talking with a friend whose daughter recently came out as trans, they are freezing her sperm now, to retain that option. I’m not sure what is recommended for young trans men, although I’ve heard of a few who have borne children