Why We Must Protect Puberty

How Genspect’s Memorandum of Understanding is rallying a global movement to defend healthy adolescent development

So, you might very well ask: why on earth do we need a Memorandum of Understanding to Protect the Role of Puberty in Adolescent Development? It sounds absurd, doesn’t it? But in today’s upside-down world – where we have to go all the way to the Supreme Court to establish that men aren’t women – we’re forced to defend the most basic biological facts and fundamental realities. It’s a mind-melting, maddening waste of time and energy. And yet, if this is what it takes to stop harmful medical experimentation on children’s bodies, then count me in.

The Memorandum of Understanding on the Role of Puberty in Adolescent Development does two things: it safeguards the crucial role of puberty in adolescent development and it highlights the responsibility of adults to protect children. Genspect has made the MoU available on this website where organisations and parent groups from around the world can sign up, download the compliance badge, and display it on their own sites and social media to show that they are informed, engaged, and committed to protecting children and teenagers from avoidable harm. We've also issued a Statement of Concern that applies the MoU's principles by opposing the proposed NHS puberty blocker trial. Individuals can sign this statement and have their names displayed on the website.

Puberty is not an optional stage of development; it is a remarkable and transformative process. More than a biological milestone, it is a profound experience that helps shape our adult identities. While a small number of individuals with Differences of Sex Development (DSDs) may not undergo puberty in the typical way, these rare exceptions do not diminish the critical developmental importance of puberty for the vast majority of children and adolescents. The cognitive, emotional, physical, sexual, and social changes it brings are still not fully understood – a testament to the complexity and dynamism of this pivotal life stage.

At ten years old, most children are still immersed in their immediate world – thinking about fun, sweets, Mammy, Daddy, their friends, and upcoming treats. As they begin to mature physically, sexually, and cognitively, their capacity for more expansive thinking grows. By their early twenties, they have typically emerged as fully-fledged adults, with a far more nuanced understanding of themselves and the world around them.

When a child is put on puberty blockers, it is not only their sexual development that is halted; their entire developmental trajectory is disrupted. They do not experience a sexual awakening, nor do they go through a romantic one. While their peers are navigating first crushes – just as young children play at house, teenagers play at love – these essential developmental rehearsals are missing. Yet it is through these early, often awkward experiences that we prepare for one of life’s most fundamental evolutionary tasks; to form intimate bonds and, ultimately, to reproduce.

Of course, some adults will choose not to reproduce, and others may be unable to, but puberty lays the biological and psychological foundation that makes this choice possible in the first place.

The loneliness of being human often strikes with full force during adolescence; this is when a young person first begins to feel the deep yearning to fall in love. It’s no wonder so many adolescents turn to poetry, music, and art for comfort. As the brain becomes more complex, teenagers confront their aloneness and embark on the long, often difficult search for a mate – a search that underpins our most fundamental human drives.

The first-love relationships that teenagers experience further complexify the mind as they begin to realise that they can love someone and hate someone at the same time. Few of us remain simplistic once we have experienced the pain of unrequited love – and for most, this rite of passage typically takes place during adolescence.

But none of this is open to the puberty-blocked teenager. Instead they remain frozen in a childlike state. Like Peter Pan, they are happy to have friends and go on adventures, but they don't experience any deeper yearnings to find a mate or to grapple with life’s more profound emotional questions.

The Experimental Medically Constructed Adult

Puberty is a complex developmental cascade driven by the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. This intricate system initiates the maturation of reproductive organs, the development of secondary sex characteristics, the onset of fertility, and profound physical, neurological, and emotional transformations.

When a young person whose puberty has been suppressed reaches the age of 18 and moves on to cross-sex hormones – as approximately 98% do – they become what can only be described as an experimental medically constructed adult. Having bypassed natural puberty, their entry into adulthood is pharmacologically induced rather than biologically emergent.

Although some people with rare medical conditions may not go through typical puberty, never before in human history have people reached adulthood without undergoing some form of pubertal development. But this is now changing.

Puberty-blocked individuals undergo a chemically induced facsimile of puberty – a kind of partial sexual awakening disconnected from the natural maturation of their reproductive systems. For example, a teenage girl given testosterone may develop an increased libido, but because her ovaries, uterus, and other reproductive structures have not matured, the experience is largely pharmacological and not integrated into a fully developed adult body. It is a chemical reaction, not a holistic biological transition.

This startling example of medical technology offering bioengineered options may excite overzealous clinicians like Norman Spack – who has more than once described himself as “salivating” when he first heard about puberty blockers – but it is not good for humanity.

Facilitating meetings with detransitioners who never went through puberty has given me deep insight into the risks associated with these radical interventions. Through the Beyond Trans programme, I often meet female detransitioners who skipped puberty and are now fearful of reverting to their biological sex. Those who have undergone a hysterectomy or a bilateral orchiectomy are particularly fearful of reverting, as this would entail reintroducing a sex hormone into a body that never experienced natural puberty and no longer contains key reproductive organs.

These are experimental interventions, and we have yet to see the long-term outcomes for detransitioners who are now facing puberty in adulthood. Will the body fully “know” what to do with oestrogen or testosterone in this context - without reproductive organs and without the developmental groundwork laid during adolescence? We still lack long-term data. These detransitioners are understandably wary of further experimentation on their bodies and often feel forced to continue presenting as trans – despite deep regret – because they believe they have passed the point of no return.

The Case for Protecting Puberty

ProtectingPuberty.com

The MoU on the Role of Puberty in Adolescent Development affirms rights set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989), a legally binding treaty ratified by 196 countries. At its core, the MoU emphasises the protection of a child’s right to an open future – a principle it argues is undermined by the medical transition of minors experiencing gender-related distress. This position aligns with key articles of the UNCRC:

• Article 6(2) mandates the protection of "the survival and development of the child." Puberty blockers disrupt essential developmental processes crucial for maturation into adulthood.

• Article 19(1) obliges states to shield children from harmful practices such as “injury or abuse" Medical transition is associated with significant risk of harm to the body, including reduced bone density, potential adverse impacts on brain development, and compromised fertility.

• Article 24(1) affirms the child's right to "the highest attainable standard of health." Medical transition violates this principle by transforming previously healthy children into lifelong medical patients.

The MoU advocates for non-medicalised support that upholds the UNCRC's fundamental commitment to protecting children's health, well-being, and development.

We’re delighted that all the leading organisations who are informed about the harms of medical transition recognise the vital role that puberty plays in adolescent development and have already signed the MoU. Groups such as Sex Matters, Can-SG, Transgender Trend, Our Duty, Thoughtful Therapists, Critical Therapy Antidote, LGB Alliance, and many others have all declared their support. Key figures in the field have signed the Statement of Concern, including Prof David Bell, Dr Az Hakeem, Marcus and Sue Evans, Dr Stephen Levine, Sasha Ayad, Dr Louise Irvine, Dr Stella Kingett, Dr Jillian Spencer, James Caspian, Bob Withers, James Esses, and Prof Dianna Kenny.

We invite all organisations to display the MoU compliance badge to publicly demonstrate their commitment to protecting children and adolescence. Organisations wishing to feature their logo on the MoU website can email info@genspect.org for consideration.

Throughout this process, we have become aware of certain groups and organisations within our movement who believe that further studies are needed before taking a firm stance. But having spent years examining the evidence, we do not believe this is a tenable or ethically defensible position.

Tragically, some gender-critical clinicians and academics – despite their concern about puberty blockers – still cling to the idea that some children may benefit from skipping puberty. It is the early-onset gender-dysphoric children who remain most at risk from this viewpoint. These are the tomboys who came out of the womb with a swagger and a boyish strut; the feminine boys who squeal with joy as they twirl in their princess dresses.

It is almost unfathomable that, after all the books, articles, podcasts, films, webinars, and conferences, there is still uncertainty about puberty blockers. What astonishes us most is that even within our own movement, clinicians and academics still wring their hands and ask, What should we do? But there it is – too often, strategy and careerism outweigh principle.

While others continue to believe they can somehow play God in the lives of vulnerable children, those who have signed the MoU are drawing a clear line. These medical interventions on children are deeply harmful and should be banned. The jury is in. We don’t need more medical experiments on children. We no longer need to apologise for holding this position, and it no longer matters that zealots try to shame us by calling us transphobic. Sometimes, doing the right thing must come before appeasing the mob.

Puberty is the essential bridge between childhood and adulthood. We must protect every adolescent’s right to cross it, so they have the best possible chance at a healthy and free future.

To be considered for inclusion in the movement to protect puberty in adolescence, visit the new MoU website, download the compliance badge, and email info@genspect.org to add your signature.