New standards of transgender health care raise eyebrows

As if more drama were needed in the gender wars, the public launch of the latest standards of care by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (wpath) on September 15th was a mess. Known as soc8, they originally included a list of minimum ages for treatments—14 for cross-sex hormones, 15 for removal of breasts, 17 for testicles. Hours later, a “correction” eliminated the age limits. The head of the drafting committee, Eli Coleman, said the publisher went ahead “without approval” before final changes were made.

This only intensified concerns about the document’s “gender-affirming” approach that supports self-diagnosis by adolescents and children. wpath, based in Illinois, has been the main transgender-health organisation that is looked to for guidance across the world. Since its views count, critics worry about soc8 saying hormones and surgery should be allowed at even younger ages. They think this medicalises too many teens who need neither, just therapy. soc8 also says puberty blockers are reversible, a contested claim.