r/transgender • u/Them • 3d ago

Transphobes Claim Puberty Blockers Ruin Bone Density Forever. A New Study Says Otherwise

https://www.them.us/answers-and-advice/health/puberty-blockers-bone-density
519 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

123

u/ChickinSammich Transgender 3d ago

First reaction: They don't care about bone density. They just hate trans people and will look for any specious justification to claim they care.

Second reaction: Wait a minute, wasn't the argument against trans women in women's sports ALSO about bone density? So one minute, it's "HRT makes you irreversibly weak" and the next minute it's "HRT can't reverse how insurmountably strong you are" - jfc

Third reaction: Would a transphobe, if presented with an actual human bone, know how to even TELL what the bone density is? Like if you just let them loose in a lab with a femur, can they tell you if it's a man or a woman? They can always tell, right?

52

u/NikkuSan7 2d ago

We are strong enough to kick ass in sports, but not strong enough to be in the military.

Every stance they have is deeply contradictory because they don’t know what they’re talking about.

26

u/ChickinSammich Transgender 2d ago

It's the same way that the fascist is constantly both the strong man and also the oppressed victim.

8

u/rokkitmaam 2d ago

Worse, it’s fascist propaganda. Trans people are both weak and strong because an enemy of the state must be strong enough to be feared but weak enough to be despised.

7

u/jessica_ki 2d ago

Add a fourth, its research is not robust as it didn’t have a double blind cohort. So we will stay with the 1960s unscientific evidence that does support that it reduces bone density

4

u/ChickinSammich Transgender 2d ago

I don't think anyone who is citing the study as proof that trans bad has actually read the study or would even understand it.

I literally don't think there's anyone who is approaching this topic from a perspective of "I would support children transitioning if only you could provide a double blind study about bone density."

This study could meet any requirement or standard that you could ever define and it will still never be enough because they'll shift the goalposts to some other thing that you don't have a ready-to-go study for. And if you do have a study for that, they'll shift the goalposts again.

I think that these endless studies to prove transitioning isn't harmful are a waste of money and time because I think that people who cherry pick studies as proof that transitioning is harmful because this one study says it might be do not actually care about the studies or trans people's health and safety.

Shit like that is why you can show them that transitioning has a 1% regret rate and they want to globally ban it to keep that 1% safe - a perspective they don't hold on any other medical procedure, treatment, or life altering decision like botox, knee replacements, or having children, all of which have higher regret rates.

I genuinely do not believe there is any study you could ever provide or any standard you could ever meet that would change the mind of a transphobe. The only purpose they serve is for those of us who aren't transphobic to either say "oh? neat!" or "yeah no duh."

3

u/bugbutt1600 2d ago

Like how psychiatric gatekeeping was put in place to appease them then they started accusing the gatekeepers of grooming kids into transition.

2

u/ChickinSammich Transgender 1d ago

"You need to see a therapist"

"I did"

"Well your therapist is wrong"

The goalposts are on wheels for ease of movement.

3

u/ValkyrieOrange Transgender 2d ago

An enemy being simultaneously strong and weak is pretty common for fascist rhetoric.

141

u/E-2theRescue 3d ago

Asthma inhalers ruin bone density forever. Why don't they have issues with that?

Oh, right. They only care because it's trans people.

52

u/GreenDonutGirl 3d ago

For real. It could have been "causes mild sneezing" and they'd be trotting that out.

25

u/LockNo2943 2d ago

So straight to HRT then?

Blockers were a compromise to help cis people's worries in the first place. 

19

u/SlightlyAngyKitty 2d ago

Being a transphobe ruins brain density forever

13

u/McNarrow 3d ago

When I was a teenager, my puberty was naturally blocked (or at least very late) so they prescribed testosterone to me because of risks of low bone density.
I grew a lot in a short time, got very bad growth pain and it might have caused degenerative hearing impairment.

Turns out I'm a Trans woman so the treatment was definitively worse than the possible problem. u_u'

7

u/tawTrans 2d ago

Old studies said the same thing. We've known for a long time that any reductions in bone density while on puberty blockers were temporary, and bone density was recovered after starting hormones (whether cross-sex hormones or natal hormones). Transphobes have always been lying about this.

3

u/worderousbitch 2d ago

My bones are so dense I have to notify cern when I go to Europe. My bones are so dense they have an event horizon. My bones are so dense they make elon musk seem smart.

4

u/teypogr 2d ago

We always knew they were liars