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Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Puberty blocks and gender reassignment surgery should not be given to kids under 18 and further, there should be limits on how much transgender ideology and information reaches them.

Firstly, while this sounds quite anti-trans, I for one am not. My political views and a mix of both left and right, so I often find myself arguing with both sides on issues.

Now for the argument. My main thought process is that teens are very emotionally unstable. I recall how I was as a teen, how rebellious, my goth phase, my ska phase, my 'omg I'm popular now' phase, and my depressed phase.

All of that occurred from ages 13 to 18. It was a wild ride.

Given my own personal experience and knowing how my friends were as teens, non of us were mature enough to decide on a permanent life-altering surgery. I know the debate about puberty blockers being reversible, that is only somewhat true. Your body is designed (unless you have very early puberty) to go through puberty at an age range, a range that changes your brain significantly. I don't think we know nearly enough to say puberty blockers are harmless and reversible. There can definitely be the possibility of mental impairments or other issues arising from its usage.

Now that is my main argument.

I know counter points will be:

1. Lots of transgender people knew from a kid and knew for sure this surgery was necessary.
2. Similar to gays, they know their sexuality from a young age and it shouldn't be suppressed

While both of those statements are true, and true for the majority. But in terms of transitioning, there are also many who regret their choice.

**Detransitioned** (persons who seek to reverse a gender transition, often after realizing they actually do identify with their biological sex ) people are getting more and more common and the reasons they give are all similar. They had a turbulent time as a teen with not fitting in, then they found transgender activist content online that spurred them into transitioning.

Many transgender activists think they're doing the right thing by encouraging it. However, what should be done instead is a thorough mental health check, and teens requesting this transition should be made to wait a certain period (either 2-3 years) or till they're 18.

I'm willing to lower my age of deciding this to 16 after puberty is complete. Before puberty, you're too young, too impressionable to decide.

This is also a 2 part argument.

I think we should limit how much we expose kids to transgender ideology before the age of 16. I think it's better to promote body acceptance and talk about the wide differences in gender is ok. Transgender activists often like to paint an overly rosy view on it, saying to impressionable and often lonely teens, that transitioning will change everything. I've personally seen this a lot online. It's almost seen as trendy and teens who want acceptance and belonging could easily fall victim to this and transition unnecessarily.

That is all, I would love to hear arguments against this because I sometimes feel like maybe I'm missing something given how convinced people are about this.

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**Update**:

I have mostly changed my view, I am off the opinion now that proper mental health checks are being done. I am still quite wary about the influence transgender ideology might be having on impressionable teens, but I do think once they've been properly evaluated for a relatively long period, then I am fine with puberty blockers being administered.
gpt
For starters, no one is getting gender-conforming surgery below 18. It just doesn’t happen - it’s a scare tactic from the right. 

Continuing on, you can’t just pop into the CVS and pick up a pack of over-the-counter puberty blockers. Transitioning is a multi-year process and each step is done under the care of multiple doctors and psychiatrists. They don’t progress to the next stage until it is clear that the current state is working well, and every step requires sign-off from the physician, psychiatrists, the child's parents, and the child themselves.

They start with social transitioning. The adolescent is allowed to dress as their preferred gender and start using new names and pronouns. 

**If** the doctors feel this is progressing well, then they will administer puberty blockers when the adolescen starts displaying signs of puberty (giving them earlier would be pointless). Going through puberty as your birth gender is very traumatic for trans children, and puberty blockers help reduce that pain. Contrary to what you may have heard, it is reversible. Stop taking them and you go through normal puberty, just a bit later. 

**If** that step is working well, the doctors will then prescribe hormonal replacements so that the now older child begins developing secondary sex characteristics of their preferred gender. This is less reversible but only happens after years of the child being their preferred gender full-time. 

Then, once the child is an adult, they _may_ undergo corrective surgery. Typically this is just a mastectomy for FTM transitions. Most trans people never get “bottom” surgery. The few that do do so as adults and again, after years (sometimes a decade) after transitioning. 

Thousands of doctors and psychiatrists have been studying this and it is **the** treatment protocol for transgender individuals. No step is taken lightly, and every step is done slowly under the care of specialists.