18
The Splendor of the Human Person:
A Catholic Vision of the Person and Sexuality
In responding to our culture's confusion related to sex and gender, it is im-
portant to understand the dynamics and stages related to gender "transition."
These dynamics are true for anyone, but pose threats for children, whose bod-
ies have not yet fully developed, and who have not reached the ability to make
a mature, lifelong decision. The current progression of "transition" (rejecting
one's sexual identity as male or female and asserting a self-determined gender
identity at odds with biological sex) occurs in the following four steps:
1. Social transition (new name, pronouns, apparel)
2. Suppression of natural puberty with puberty blockers
3. Hormonal transition with cross-sex hormones
4. Surgeries
Social transition (changing external appearance, name, or pronouns) is
often presented as low-risk and fully reversible, although the reality is more
complicated. It reinforces the confused child's false beliefs about "who" he or
she is and effectively puts an adult "stamp of approval" on the child's desired
identity, in direct contradiction to the biological reality of the child's body.
Research indicates that "childhood social transitions were important predic-
tors of persistence, especially among natal boys."
16
Experts also warn that the
16 Steensma, T., et al, "Factors Associated with Desistence and Persistence of Childhood Gender
Dysphoria: A Quantitative Follow-Up Study, "Journal of The American Academy of Child &
Adolescent Psychiatry 52 (2013): 582-90, emphasis added.
5
Terminology Related to Gender
"Transition"
