Protecting the Right to Puberty: Social Work Organisations Must support this Memorandum of Understanding (www.protectingpuberty.com)
- EBSWA
- Jun 1
- 4 min read
PROTECTINGPUBERTY.COM IS A WELCOME INITIATIVE TO PROMOTE ETHICAL PRACTICE AND AN END TO INTERFERENCE IN CHILDREN'S NORMAL DEVELOPMENT
Children in care, children with autism and children who have experienced trauma have been found to be particuarly vulnerable to the belief that their distress and feelings of difference is due to being in the wrong body. These children have been encouraged to believe that social and physical measures including breast binders, puberty blockers and cross sex hormones represent a solution. Some social work organisations have promoted practice based on the advice of inexpert lobby groups such as Mermaids and LGBTYS. This MOU is calling for an ethical and evidence- informed approach that respects the right to puberty.
Merandum of Understanding on the Role of Puberty in Adolescent Development
Statement of Principles
We affirm the fundamental right of every individual to experience healthy pubertal development and emphasise the responsibility of adults to safeguard young people during one of life's critical developmental transitions — the journey from childhood into adulthood.
Integral to this responsibility is protecting each child's right to an open future. This includes the freedom to enter adulthood as whole as reasonably possible — physically, emotionally, and cognitively — and to have the opportunity to assume adult responsibilities and fully participate in society.
We assert that medically suppressing puberty to relieve gender-related distress infringes upon this right. We therefore oppose the use of puberty blockers for gender-distressed minors, viewing such interventions as ethically unjustified, medically unnecessary, and potentially harmful.
Adolescence often presents challenges for young people, particularly those who are gender non-conforming, psychologically vulnerable, navigating neurodevelopmental differences, experiencing social communication challenges, or coming to terms with their sexual orientation. Historically, most minors who experience gender-related distress resolve these feelings during adolescence.
The introduction of puberty blockers has disrupted this natural process. Approximately 98% of minors starting puberty blockers proceed to cross-sex hormones with many also undergoing irreversible surgeries, contradicting claims that these interventions merely "pause" development. Puberty suppression poses considerable risks to physical health and presents significant uncertainties regarding its impact on cognitive and psychosocial development.
Therefore, we regard further research into puberty suppression for gender-related distress as unjustified. Instead, we support first-line treatment approaches that are minimally invasive, developmentally appropriate, and ethically sound — including psychosocial support, psychotherapy, watchful waiting, and other non-medicalised interventions that may achieve positive outcomes without introducing irreversible risks.
We affirm that self-acceptance and emotional maturity can be fostered without the use of puberty suppressants. We advocate for a shift away from medicalisation and
towards supportive approaches that embrace gender non-conformity, reduce stigma, and prioritise the long-term health and wellbeing of young people.
Commitments
As signatories to this Memorandum of Understanding, we commit to upholding the following principles:
The recognition of puberty as an essential developmental process and the natural mechanism through which children acquire the rights and responsibilities of adulthood.
The affirmation of every child's right to an open future, and the corresponding responsibility of adults to ensure, as far as reasonably possible, that young people are protected from making irreversible decisions prior to reaching cognitive and physical maturity.2
2 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 6(2): “States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.”
The rejection of puberty suppression as an intervention for gender-related distress in adolescence.3
3 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 19(1): “States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse…”
Opposition to further research into puberty suppression as a treatment for gender-related distress, on the basis that the current body of evidence already demonstrates that interfering with healthy human development is not an appropriate response to gender dysphoria.4
4 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 24(1): “States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health…”
Support for research and clinical approaches that prioritise a least-invasive-first model — including psychosocial support, psychotherapy, watchful waiting, and other non-medicalised interventions — as ethically sound and developmentally appropriate responses to gender-related distress in youth
A commitment to fostering a culture that recognises gender non-conformity as a natural part of human diversity and supports the psychological wellbeing and long-term health in gender-distressed young people.
Mutual Understanding
This Memorandum of Understanding does not create any contractual obligations between the parties. Rather, it is signed in recognition of a shared moral and ethical responsibility to safeguard the developmental integrity of gender-distressed young people and uphold their right to an open future.
1 Carmichael, P., Butler, G., Masic, U., Cole, T. J., De Stavola, B. L., Davidson, S., ... & Viner, R. M. (2021). Short-term outcomes of pubertal suppression in a selected cohort of 12 to 15 year old young people with persistent gender dysphoria in the UK. PloS one, 16(2), e0243894. ,
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