\n\n“Nowadays, doctors recommend taking a humane and affirming approach when a child expresses that their gender may not match their assigned sex at birth. This affirmation includes allowing trans kids to socially transition (i.e., use whichever name, pronouns, and clothing make them comfortable). Medical interventions \u2014 like puberty suppression or gender-affirming hormones like estrogen or testosterone \u2014 are only recommended for adolescents who have been insistent, persistent, and consistent in their gender identity over long periods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The affirming model has been recommended by nearly every major American medical association, including the American Academy of Pediatrics<\/strong><\/a>, the American Medical Association<\/strong><\/a>, the American Psychological Association<\/strong><\/a>, the Endocrine Society<\/strong><\/a>, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health<\/strong><\/a>, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists<\/strong><\/a>, and many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the affirming model is often willfully misconstrued as instructing parents to accept a child\u2019s gender identity and rush them off into medical interventions, it\u2019s really more about creating a space for trans kids to explore their own gender expression and more thoroughly understand their dysphoria before deciding on whether to transition or not. Allowing a trans adolescent to go on puberty blockers is a decision most parents don\u2019t take lightly. Transitioning is a slow, deliberative process for minors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Puberty blockers merely act as a pause on an adolescent\u2019s natal puberty, so that adolescents ages 9 to 14 can be more mentally mature before deciding on the course of their permanent treatment when the time comes”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “puberty… brings along its own permanent changes, which could only partially be reversed through painful and expensive medical treatments in adulthood. Trans women forced through male puberty would then have to undergo painful and expensive electrolysis to remove facial hair and may be left with a body frame (shoulder and hip width) that would be unchangeable by any surgeries. Trans men would have to have surgery to remove their breasts and, like their trans female counterparts, be forced to live in an unwanted body frame for their entire lives.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n