Puberty blockers do not cause problems with sexual functioning in transgender adults, study finds

Throughout puberty, all types of hormonal modifications happen within the physique, which result in the event of exterior sexual traits, similar to breast progress, a decrease voice or physique hair progress. For transgender younger individuals who don’t establish with the gender assigned to them at beginning, these are sometimes undesirable modifications, which could be very drastic.

Puberty blockers can briefly halt these developments and provides younger folks time to discover their gender identification. Though puberty blockers have been confirmed to contribute to the psychological well-being of transgender younger folks, little is understood in regards to the affect of puberty blockers on sexual satisfaction and sexual issues later in life.

Researchers from Amsterdam UMC offered 70 transgender adults with questionnaires. All contributors began with puberty blockers after which obtained gender-affirming hormones. The contributors accomplished the questionnaire about sexual experiences, satisfaction, and potential sexual issues on common 14 years after the beginning of their remedy.

The findings have been revealed within the Journal of Sexual Drugs & Analysis.

Isabelle van der Meulen, researcher at Amsterdam UMC, explains, “Our outcomes present that greater than half of trans males and 40% of trans girls are happy with their intercourse lives. This corresponds to the sexual satisfaction of the cisgender inhabitants. There was additionally no distinction between individuals who began puberty blockers early or later in puberty.”

Most contributors had no hassle with need, arousal or having an orgasm. Of the sexual issues that have been talked about, problem taking initiative was the commonest drawback amongst trans males, whereas reaching orgasm was essentially the most continuously talked about amongst trans girls.

Nevertheless, most contributors indicated that these issues have been solely skilled as nerve-racking to a restricted extent. The frequency of sexual issues was in line with earlier research amongst transgender adults who didn’t begin hormone remedy till maturity.

These outcomes present essential insights for well being care suppliers within the steering of transgender youth and might scale back issues about sexual functioning later in life.

Van der Meulen emphasizes, “With these outcomes, we will higher inform younger folks when beginning puberty blockers about what they’ll count on sexually later in life.” On the identical time, the researchers underline that sexual experiences are advanced and are influenced by each bodily and psychosocial components.

“For instance, in search of and initiating sexual contact was typically talked about as an issue, one thing that isn’t straight associated to the bodily results of hormone remedy. That’s the reason you will need to take note of the psychosocial elements of sexuality within the counseling,” says Van der Meulen.