Dr Natacha Kennedy,
Goldsmiths, University of London.
Abstract
This paper presents an examination of survey data from the parents of young trans people following the imposition of a UK-wide ban on puberty blockers for trans children. The consequences of this ban on trans and non-binary children and young people are analysed revealing very serious adverse effects, only a few weeks after its imposition, including sharply declining mental health, increased depression, social isolation, anxiety, stress, self-harm, attempts to avoid school and suicide ideation. The ban appears to be a particular worry for children who are currently known only by their identified genders who fear being coercively outed to peers. Parents themselves also report significant corresponding increases in levels of stress and worry, with regard to their children’s well-being and possibility that they might attempt suicide. Parents also reported that their children are experiencing increasing levels of transphobia and social exclusion since the ban was imposed. This analysis questions the entire rationale and ethical basis for the puberty blocker ban, providing evidence that it is both dangerous and unjustified given the significant level of harm it is causing young and consequently concludes the that the proposed ‘study’ into puberty blockers is ethically unjustifiable.
Keywords: Hormone blockers, trans youth, ethics, ban, harm, evidence.
‘There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children.’
Nelson Mandela 1995