Gender Transitioning: Not Worth the Risk

Ellie and Nele were two young girls who identified as trans males and took testosterone to
appear masculine. Ellie realized at the age of 14 that she was a lesbian, however, she also was
not comfortable identifying as a woman. She said, “I wanted to be neutral and do whatever I
wanted.” By 15 she felt she had limited choices in life if she remained female, so at the age of
16, her transition began.

Nele’s transgender journey started at age nine when she developed breasts early and the boys
began commenting. Throughout the next 10 years, she experienced catcalling, body shaming,
and eventually developed an eating disorder. She discovered she was attracted to women but was
scared of family repercussions so she came out as bisexual at age 19. Within a couple of months,
she was identifying as a male and began hormone treatments.

By 2020, Ellie was 21 and Nele was 24. They had met, fallen in love, and decided that they no
longer wanted to be males. They stopped taking testosterone and started referring to themselves
with the female pronouns of “she” and “her” again. Nele stated, “I’m very happy I didn’t have a
hysterectomy. It means I can stop taking hormones, and my body will return to looking
feminine…My voice will never come back. I used to love singing and I can’t sing anymore – like
my voice is just very monotone, it works very differently. When I call someone on the phone, I
get gendered as male.” Since the women stopped taking testosterone, their faces have softened
and they have developed curves in their hips, although, they don’t have breasts since both
underwent double mastectomies. Nele will never regain her voice and they both have
experienced vaginal atrophy (commonly found in menopausal women) as a side effect of taking
testosterone. 

As teens, both Ellie and Nele had psychological issues that they believed would be solved by
transitioning to male. However, despite transitioning, Nele continued to suffer from severe
anxiety and eating disorders, and Ellie still suffered greatly from gender dysphoria and not
feeling comfortable in her own body. There’s not much research about detransitioning, so they
had little idea what would be in store for them as they changed back to their natal sex. The
women would need to face the demons they avoided so long ago. Ellie and Nele boarded a
gender rollercoaster when they were just teenagers. Now they must figure out their lives as
females.

Anxiety, lack of self-confidence, and eating disorders are experiences that many, if not most
women experience during puberty. But, unfortunately, Ellie and Nele were unable to go through
the normal maturation process and face the changes that come with it. In some ways, their
development was arrested. They avoided the normal development that comes with adolescence
altogether by becoming men. Later, they realized that they did want to be female, but in some
ways, it was too late. Had they received the support they needed from family, friends, and
medical professionals in the beginning, they may have worked through their issues and faced
them head-on instead of permanently altering their bodies to avoid reality.
In 2019, 1 per 10,000 males and 1 per 27,000 females were affected by gender dysphoria. This is
when individuals feel that they are the opposite sex to which they were born. According to a
2016 study, most children that experience gender dysphoria do so around age seven, and on
average, the youngest age that people seek gender-reassignment surgery is age 19.

The Problem with Medical Transitioning

When children or adolescents have gender dysphoria, some may choose to temporarily suppress
puberty through using the puberty-blocking medication, GnRHa (gonadotrophin-releasing
hormone agonists). When taken regularly, puberty blockers suppress the body’s release of sex
hormones which affects things such as primary sex characteristics (sex organs such as the penis,
vagina, testicles, ovaries, etc.) and secondary sex characteristics (breast development, growth of
facial hair, etc.).  

This medication is supposed to give the individual time to figure out what gender they will
identify as, but pausing puberty means that once the child stops taking the medication, puberty
will resume. In the long run, puberty blockers can cause lower bone density, delay growth plate
closure, affect the development of genital tissue (which limits options for gender-affirming
surgery if that path is taken later), and affect future fertility. At this point, those that choose to
transition need to take gender-affirming hormones to start looking like the opposite sex.
However, after using puberty blockers, if young people choose to desist, they will need to
augment the hormones that they suppressed with the puberty blockers. Girls will need help
bringing their estrogen levels back up, and boys will require the same with their testosterone. It
will be some time before their hormones function as they should without intervention.

The question is, how much of a person’s gender dysphoria is a temporary condition? A study of
77 gender dysphoric children found that 3.4 years after attending a gender identity clinic, only
27% remained gender dysphoric. This suggests that children will change their minds as they
mature, and suppressing puberty into their mid-late teenage years would produce serious
consequences. 

The side effects of all the manipulation of the body’s natural hormonal processes begin with the
puberty blockers. These long-term side effects continue with the administration of gender-
affirming hormones.

Gender-affirming hormones can be very dangerous, especially for males transitioning to female
because estrogen therapy is often insufficient so other treatments are required that can lead to
liver toxicity (i.e. jaundice, hepatitis) or even liver failure which can be fatal. Additionally,
transgender people often experience:
·         Mental health problems such as anxiety and suicidal thoughts
·         Problems with their brain structure and function
·         Lack of bone mineral density in the lumbar spine
·         High triglyceride concentrations
·        Elevated blood pressure
Human Guinea Pigs

There has not been extensive research done on the long-term effects of these hormones, yet it’s
clear to see that they are very damaging to more than just the physical appearance of a person.
These children are being used as guinea pigs in experiments we don’t know nearly enough about.
We would not encourage a child to smoke a cigarette or drink alcohol or take illegal drugs, so
why are activists and some medical practitioners insisting that children need to make these life-
altering choices without being capable of appreciating the long-term effects?
Ellie and Nele had problems. They needed help. Instead, they were given hormones and
mastectomies. Oddly enough, they are the lucky ones. They stopped before they destroyed their
future as mothers. Not everyone that regrets a decision is so lucky.