Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shlemon - Which Requires Consent: Puberty or Puberty Blockers?
Episode Date: January 9, 2025Alan responds to the claim that children should be required to consent to puberty. ...
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Do children need to consent to going through the natural process of puberty?
Well, that's what some advocates of transgender ideology are asking.
And that's what I want to consider in this episode of my podcast, Thinking Out Loud with
Alan Shleeman. The United Kingdom recently banned providing puberty blockers to minors.
Now puberty blockers are these drugs that, you know, quote unquote, pause puberty.
And they're intended to sort of give a gender dysphoric minor
additional time to sort of decide whether they want to be a boy or a girl.
Now, here is what the British court reasoned.
In other words, this is one of the reasons why they thought they need to ban these drugs.
They said, quote, it is highly unlikely that a child that is age 13 or under would be competent to give consent
to the administration of puberty blockers, end quote. Now, of course, I think this makes sense
to most people, right? I mean, how can a child understand the long-term risks and consequences
of taking synthetic hormones that stop the body from producing testosterone and estrogen,
which would thereby prevent puberty and the natural maturing process of human development.
Now, naturally, transgender ideology advocates were in an uproar over the decision, and many
of these advocates, you know, went to news outlets, you know, wrote articles,
posted on social media, and just expressed their outrage and anger.
Now, though I would argue their criticisms were not persuasive, there was one particular
response that, in my opinion, was especially absurd, okay?
And it was on Reddit, and there was a user there who was upset about this British court
ruling that children couldn't consent to puberty blockers.
Okay, so listen carefully.
They were upset that the court said
that children can't consent to puberty blockers.
And so this is how the Reddit user responded.
He said, well then how are children
able to consent to puberty?
Puberty, he argued, is more serious of a decision and requires more maturity than blockers.
So end quote there.
Okay, so in other words, puberty, in their opinion, is riskier than the drugs that block
puberty.
Now, ridiculous as this is, this type of reasoning actually
isn't new. I've seen this type of reasoning happening on the abortion debate as well.
In fact, a lot of abortion choice advocates have long offered a similar type of argument
in defense of the abortion choice position. And what they claim is, is that pregnancy is a dangerous condition
and giving birth therefore is more dangerous than abortion.
And so what they try to do is list a bunch of complications
that can possibly arise after a woman conceives.
And the bottom line is,
is that pregnancy and childbirth are dangerous,
so women should have access to abortion.
Now, the view that treats puberty and pregnancy
as undesirable processes,
stems from a more fundamental shift in thinking.
And that shift is the result of the fact
that society has slowly abandoned the Christian worldview,
and all of the theistic implications
that arise from that
worldview. And so here's the idea. They say, look, if there's no God, which of course they don't
believe there is a God, if there's no God, then there's no creator who created our bodies and made
our bodies to operate in any kind of particular way. And so consequently, organs are our bodies,
organs don't have any kind of teleology. Teleology is just a fancy word for, you know, organs, our bodies organs, don't have any kind of teleology.
Teleology is just a fancy word for, you know, design or purpose or final function.
Right?
So they say organs don't have any design or function, right?
Or any final function that's intended to be there.
There's no way that an organ is designed to function.
And if there's no design, if there's no standard
or no optimal way for an organ to operate,
then there can be no substandard
or less than optimal way that they can function.
So for example, a uterus can gestate a fetus
or not gestate a fetus or not gestate a fetus.
A uterus can grow fibroids or not grow fibroids.
A uterus can be kept in a woman's body or it could be removed.
And so likewise, it is reasoned that genes
and genetic pathways and the endocrine system
can progress a body through puberty or not, right?
We can accept the process of puberty
or block the hormonal pathways that lead to puberty.
So again, do you see what they're trying to say is
there's no way the body is supposed to be.
It just is, and we can do what we want with it.
Now, as a result of this worldview shift in our culture,
some people think it's possible that any process
of the body therefore is optional.
And that's why they think puberty might need consent.
Indeed, even life itself is a matter of consent
for some people, right?
Which is why physician-assisted suicide
has gained popularity in a lot of parts of the world.
But I wanna offer or suggest two fundamental mistakes
in this type of thinking.
And here's the first one.
Puberty, like pregnancy, is physiological.
Now, what I mean by that is that physiology
refers to normal body function.
It's a healthy state.
And so more specifically, puberty is a process
that is consistent with the design of the endocrine system.
And so therefore claiming that puberty requires consent
presumes that it can be viewed
as a pathophysiological process
or some sort of disease state.
In other words, puberty is a condition
for which puberty blockers are the treatment.
Okay, again, that's their view.
But I hope you can see that puberty and pregnancy
are not abnormal processes or dysfunctions.
They're normal ways that the body operates.
Now, it's true that either process can become dysfunctional,
but so can any physiological
process at any stage of development, right? I mean, your body could develop mutations,
tumors, infections, and you know, a whole bunch of other things. So puberty and pregnancy, though,
are not inherently, though, pathophysiological. Now, the second mistake in thinking is that you don't consent to a natural process, right?
Natural processes, especially the body development, simply occur as a result of your being alive,
of your being a living human being.
And so you don't consent to being born, you don't consent to getting taller, you don't
consent to producing urine, right?
They just simply happen to you.
And in fact, we know they are a normal process
because when they fail to occur in a person,
we naturally become concerned, right?
We call in the doctor or some other person to evaluate,
what's the problem?
And so if you consent to cause a disease process,
then not only have you created a physical health problem,
but I would argue you've also probably
have a mental health problem.
And so in the same way, puberty is a natural
developmental milestone in humans.
And if someone never experienced puberty,
we would recognize that as a symptom of a disease process. And we would want to
call in a physician to evaluate what's going on. And so this is why it doesn't make sense to consent
to or to refuse consent, right? Puberty like pregnancy is a natural physiological process
that ensures the continuation of the species. Now, fortunately, most people see the error in this thinking,
and it's puberty-blocking drugs, not puberty itself,
that requires consent.
But even so, children can't possibly understand
the long-term effects and the implications of synthetic hormones
that cause a critical physiological process like puberty.
And that's why adults are the ones who are supposed
to be the ones who are responsible for the welfare
of their children.
Sadly, of course, too many people have been deceived
by the way society has thought about these ideas
and have become infatuated with transgender ideology.
So as my boss, my friend, Greg Kogel says, look, the world is confused.
That doesn't mean that we have to be confused, right?
And I love that quote because every year it seems there is a new ideology that is brought
up in society that people start to become enamored by. But these ideologies are
often contrary to truth or to common sense. So even though we as believers have access to the truth,
both through special and general revelation, it's still possible for us to become deceived.
And so that's why it's important for us to stay vigilant and to ground yourself in God's truth
that will help you
to be less susceptible to that confusion.
Well, that's all I have for you today.
If you've enjoyed this episode, I encourage you to share it with a friend.
And also, don't forget to subscribe to my podcast so you don't miss any future episodes
when they are released.
And thank you for listening.
I look forward to thinking out loud with you, next time.