"Trans Kids" Crowdfunding Hormones, Puberty Blockers
This article was originally published for Reduxx, a new online publication founded by me and Anna Slatz.
Emily Waldron, a boy who identifies as a girl, is one of a growing number of children raising money online for drugs euphemistically referred to as “puberty blockers.”
Waldron, 13, last year appeared on the BBC’s The One Show with Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie, who called him an “extraordinary young person.”
“I am transgender,” Waldron said. “Four years ago, when I was just beginning to transition, I thought I was the only one like me.”
Waldron, who campaigns for school libraries to stock LGBT-themed children’s books — with titles such as Boy Erased — received over £14,000 after launching a GoFundMe campaign. Waldron has been given puberty-blocking drugs by his family since the age of 12.
A search conducted on GoFundMe’s website can reveal that other parents are using the crowdfunding site to finance the cessation of their children’s healthy development — including for girls as young as 10 years old.
In doing so, many are bypassing medical regulations. In Waldron’s case, ‘puberty blockers’ were not prescribed by an NHS doctor. They were instead purchased from a private clinic thanks to Emily’s internet crowdfunding campaign.
Crowdfunding campaigns are paying not only for puberty-blockers, but also for operations by private surgeons who remove teenagers’ breasts or construct false breasts, mutilate their genitalia to simulate an artificial penis or vagina, and remove internal female or male anatomy — including hysterectomies — to align with their preferred sex role stereotypes.
“They are side-stepping the NHS,” says Stephanie Davies-Arai, the founder of TransgenderTrend, which calls for safer healthcare for children and teenagers struggling with body dysmorphic disorders related to gender stereotypes.
“The internet is full of videos and photos of them after surgery, which portray these operations as cool and the new normal.” Davies-Arai says.
Reduxx has previously reported on the case of a TikTok-famous gender surgeon who performed a double mastectomy on a 13 year old girl, and often makes whimsical videos aimed at a young audience about “yeeting” their “teets.” Dr. Sidhbh Gallagher advertises double mastectomies on her TikTok page.
Currently, the hashtag for “top surgery” — a slang term for a double mastectomy — has over 1 billion views on TikTok. Half of all TikTok users are minors.
One popular influencer on TikTok with hundreds of thousands of followers claims to have identified as a lesbian at the age of 8 before “coming out” as a trans man. She posted videos of herself during and after undergoing a double mastectomy at the age of 15 which received millions of views. The teen was commissioned by a company that makes prosthetic penises, referred to as “packers”, to be a spokesperson.
The trend of medically intervening with puberty is even more disturbing in light of certain forms of transgender erotica and pornography shared online which feature, as their central and recurring theme, the sexualization of childhood transition.
Transgender erotica available on Amazon sexualizes children, as well as their forced transition. Genres such as "age regression" and "petticoat discipline" — forcing young boys to wear women's lingerie — can be purchased through the online retailer. Examples of titles include, Turning My Son Into a Pretty Little Girl, Changed Into a Little Girl, and The Man Who Became a Pregnant Teen.
Pornography accounts on social media advertise and sell estradiol. One popular pornography creator, a male who claims to be a woman, jokingly suggested targeting young boys who watch transgender porn with advertisements for hormones.
On November 24, 2021, Swedish news outlet Svt Nyheter reported that Ricard Nergårdh, a medical professional at the Karolinska Institute stated that the use of drugs euphemistically labelled “puberty blockers” were in fact a form of “chemical castration.”
One of the drugs most commonly used as a puberty blocker, Lupron, is also used to chemically castrate high-risk sex offenders.