The evidence to support medicalised gender transitions in adolescents is worryingly weak
The effectiveness and side-effects of the most common treatments are not well understood
PRISHA MOSLEY was 17 when she was first given testosterone in a clinic in North Carolina, after she had declared to her parents that she was a boy. She had struggled through her teen years with anorexia and depression after a sexual assault. Luka Hein had both breasts removed as a 16-year-old in Nebraska. Chloe Cole, in California, was a year younger when she had her double mastectomy. She had been on testosterone and puberty-blocking drugs since 13, also after a sexual assault.
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This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Trans substantiation”
From the April 8th 2023 edition
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Emigration from Africa will change the world
As other countries age, they will need African youth
Why can’t stinking rich Ivies cope with losing a few hundred million?
Their huge endowments are not easy to cash in
Donald Trump is battling America’s elite universities—and winning
The Ivy League sees little point in fighting the federal government in court
An unrestrained Israel is reshaping the Middle East
Its quest for hegemony will strain domestic cohesion and foreign alliances
Dreams of improving the human race are no longer science fiction
But the “enhancement” industry is still hobbled by out-of-date regulation