Althouse: Kisspeptin.

February 16, 2012

Kisspeptin.

"Without kisspeptin, a human being cannot attain sexual characteristics of his/her gender and child-bearing capacity. Kisspeptin is absolutely required for the start of the puberty process in humans."

35 comments:

Paddy O said...: This is what came to my mind: "Kisspeptin... now with more rainbows!"; 2/16/12, 10:04 AM
Tibore said...: It's not the kisspeptin I'm worried about with adolescents. It's the "play doctor" peptin and "heavy petting" peptin that parents should be watching out for. If unchecked, those can lead to the dreaded f-word peptin, and nobody wants teen pregnancies.

... what?; 2/16/12, 10:20 AM
Anonymous said...: How about some tellpeptin as a chaser?; 2/16/12, 10:46 AM
Andy said...: This could be a big deal for transgender people. The ability to block puberty until a decision is made about gender makes transitioning substantially easier. As more and more people identify as transgender earlier in life, including before puberty has begun, this sort of research will increase their options.; 2/16/12, 10:54 AM
edutcher said...: Paddy's got it.

This is a product ingredient to make your breath more kissable all evening long.

Andy R. said...

This could be a big deal for transgender people. The ability to block puberty until a decision is made about gender makes transitioning substantially easier. As more and more people identify as transgender earlier in life, including before puberty has begun, this sort of research will increase their options.

Oh, yeah, some confused (or propagandized) kid wants puberty stopped when he's 10 and the idiot parents go along with it.

No, this is like cyanide capsules - to be taken with the most extreme discretion.; 2/16/12, 11:13 AM
Rob said...: I am now convinced that Andy R. is a satirist.; 2/16/12, 11:19 AM
traditionalguy said...: Genes are indeed wonderful things...almost intelligently designed things. Pass them on.; 2/16/12, 11:32 AM
Brian Brown said...: Andy R. said...
This could be a big deal for transgender people.

Actually, it will be bigger than you think.

This research will eventually lead to the creation of drugs that will reduce the chances for gayness.

Said drug will be the most popular selling drug of all time.

The left will be looking to ban such drug.

Isn't reasearch fun?; 2/16/12, 11:37 AM
gerry said...: So, disordered sexuality is is caused by an unhealthy system that may be treatable?; 2/16/12, 11:48 AM
Curious George said...: "Andy R. said...
This could be a big deal for transgender people. The ability to block puberty until a decision is made about gender makes transitioning substantially easier. As more and more people identify as transgender earlier in life, including before puberty has begun, this sort of research will increase their options."

This is frightening.; 2/16/12, 12:06 PM
Lyssa said...: I agree that Andy R's suggestion, if seriously applied, is frightening.

However, there was an interesting story a few months (years?) back about a family with a very severely mentally disabled girl, and they wanted to get her a hysterectomy to keep her from going through puberty. (They called it the "peter pan" surgery.)

At first, sure, it sounded horrible, but after thinking about it, it made sense - she would never even walk or talk, why should she have to go through the pain of menstration or the discomfort of having a caregiver deal with it, and the fact that she would avoid puberty would keep her from growing as much, too, which would be easier as she reached adulthood, since she completely depended on caregivers to bath and move her.

So this could be a good thing for those extreme situations. Definitely not for healthy people who are "confused," though.; 2/16/12, 12:27 PM
Andy said...: It's fine, the world is going to keep evolving no matter how scared and confused all of you are.

Transgender people are already stopping puberty. You can google "puberty blockers" if you are interested.

This research might lead to a more effective way to do so. Your bigotry or ignorance is not enough to stop progress.; 2/16/12, 12:37 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Transgender people are already stopping puberty.

No, they aren't. Their parents are.; 2/16/12, 12:43 PM
TosaGuy said...: "This research might lead to a more effective way to do so. Your bigotry or ignorance is not enough to stop progress."

Eugenicists love their version of progress.; 2/16/12, 12:50 PM
Known Unknown said...: Freeman ... a regular hot knife through butter.; 2/16/12, 12:50 PM
Methadras said...: Andy R. said...

This could be a big deal for transgender people. The ability to block puberty until a decision is made about gender makes transitioning substantially easier. As more and more people identify as transgender earlier in life, including before puberty has begun, this sort of research will increase their options.

And this is the twisted mindfuck of a thought process you delve in. Brilliant. Where did you formulate this thought Andy? That giving children the option to halt puberty as a means of debating their gender identity? Remember folks, he said it. Consider the source.; 2/16/12, 12:52 PM
Known Unknown said...: The problem is the sexual development timelines usually need to sync up with the emotional and mental development timelines.

What does stopping one do to the others?; 2/16/12, 12:54 PM
Methadras said...: Andy R. said...

It's fine, the world is going to keep evolving no matter how scared and confused all of you are.

Transgender people are already stopping puberty. You can google "puberty blockers" if you are interested.

Yes, what a shocking truth that is isn't it. As if somehow you stating the obvious makes it all better. Of course, you stupid fuck the world will evolve. However, it isn't fear and confusion that makes people step back when you utter such mind-numbing nonsense, but rather the idea that you think this is somehow right, correct, and part of the evolutionary processes and we are somehow powerless to stop it.

Do you even understand what you are advocating? That you put the power of halting puberty in children that are clearly incapable of making such life changing decisions themselves? That you would be willing to completely circumvent parental authority in favor of your deviant thought process to get kids to come out as gay, bi, or transgendered because somehow you think they can have the judgmental capacity to make such a decision?

Only a childless, militant, deviant homosexual like you and other like you would have such aberrant thoughts. You aren't normal. You don't think like 98% of the rest of the world. Your declaration of this proves that you are in effect a dangerous individual that is willing to sacrifice the childhood process like of puberty to satisfy your twisted prurient fantasies.

This research might lead to a more effective way to do so. Your bigotry or ignorance is not enough to stop progress.

And then to top it all off you proclaim this absolute sexually depraved gibberish (because in reality this is basis for your thought) as being progressive. As if the attaching the word progressive to this type of deviant mental exercise makes you somehow more enlightened than the rest of us because you believe you know more or you know better. All the while calling everyone else a bigot and ignorant to marginalize disagreement with such an idea. You are a fascist and a clear reason for fueling the utter distrust and depravity that describes the modern homosexual movement.; 2/16/12, 1:04 PM
Methadras said...: EMD said...

The problem is the sexual development timelines usually need to sync up with the emotional and mental development timelines.

What does stopping one do to the others?

I imagine it would create physiological havoc. If you stop puberty while you are still aging. You are stopping all sort of biological processes that make gender important. But if you halted this important process and left the decision making to the children like Andy R(etard) advocates, why its all better now because circumventing natural processes in the name of deviant homosexual militancy is just so progressive, you bigoted ignorant hick.; 2/16/12, 1:08 PM
Methadras said...: Lyssa said...

I agree that Andy R's suggestion, if seriously applied, is frightening.

However, there was an interesting story a few months (years?) back about a family with a very severely mentally disabled girl, and they wanted to get her a hysterectomy to keep her from going through puberty. (They called it the "peter pan" surgery.)

At first, sure, it sounded horrible, but after thinking about it, it made sense - she would never even walk or talk, why should she have to go through the pain of menstration or the discomfort of having a caregiver deal with it, and the fact that she would avoid puberty would keep her from growing as much, too, which would be easier as she reached adulthood, since she completely depended on caregivers to bath and move her.

So this could be a good thing for those extreme situations. Definitely not for healthy people who are "confused," though.

This would have to be applied on a case by case basis. I could certainly understand a situation like this taking place for a legitimate medical purpose for comfort and possibly safety. However, what people like Andy R(etard) suggest is doing it for purely ideological means.; 2/16/12, 1:10 PM
Geoff Matthews said...: I guess one question to ask is, if it puberty can be turned off, can we turn it back on?
Would going through puberty again have any beneficial results (more testosterone for men, other hormones for women)?; 2/16/12, 1:15 PM
Ann Althouse said...: If people can -- using a drug -- turn off puberty and continue looking like they are 12 when they are 20, that might cause some people to claim a gender identity of "child" and preserve attractiveness into adulthood and seek relationship with those terrible people who are attracted to children.

Should that drug be banned?; 2/16/12, 2:54 PM
Darrell said...: Roman Polanski has pre-ordered a
55-gal drumful. I suppose you American Puritans will find something mean to say about his support for science now!; 2/16/12, 2:56 PM
Curious George said...: "Andy R. said...

"...until a decision is made about gender..."

There is no decision on gender. That has been determined. The only decision is "changing gender". Hey, if some adult wants to be a freak show, fine. But putting this on children at the age of 11-13, you are out of your fucking mind hatboy.; 2/16/12, 3:24 PM
Curious George said...: "Ann Althouse said...
If people can -- using a drug -- turn off puberty and continue looking like they are 12 when they are 20, that might cause some people to claim a gender identity of "child" and preserve attractiveness into adulthood and seek relationship with those terrible people who are attracted to children.

Should that drug be banned?"

Also frightening. First, it's not people. It's children. And "child is not a "Gender".; 2/16/12, 3:26 PM
chickelit said...: Andy R said: Your bigotry or ignorance is not enough to stop progress.

Progressives foster bigotry; 2/16/12, 3:32 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: I wonder if Freeman and others could apply that hot knife and explain what is a better solution to gender identity disorder? That is, being born as a female but having the gender identity of a male, or vice versa? Is it better for the parents not to try to help their child deal with it?

Is the advice to just live with it, adjust? Accept the fact that the person is attracted sexually to people of the same sex? Or accept the fact that the person is doesn't adjust and spends their life being uncomfortable and miserable? "Too bad."; 2/16/12, 3:42 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Is the advice to just live with it, adjust? Accept the fact that the person is attracted sexually to people of the same sex? Or accept the fact that the person is doesn't adjust and spends their life being uncomfortable and miserable?

Learn to love yourself as the feminine man or masculine woman you are.

Everyone accepts things about himself that he cannot change. I find it totally bizarre that people advise others to mutilate themselves over this issue and then pretend that that's somehow the nicer position! Also, in this case, you're talking about children, not adults.; 2/16/12, 3:54 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: @Freeman. I think you are right about self acceptance. But having a lifetime of experience of how difficult it is to be different, I'm not sure how I would deal with the situation if it were my child's life involved.

I would probably want to use whatever medical procedures are available now if it looked like the child were unable to feel comfortable in their body. I'd take their word for it, and the evidence of their anxiety and depression if they really can not accept being in the "wrong" body.; 2/16/12, 5:01 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I would argue that most people feel uncomfortable in their own bodies around puberty. As for being different, holding off puberty until adulthood would make one different indeed. Also, I don't think adults should be so easily led around by their children.

Most of these transgender identity stories seem to involve clothes and hair. "He threw fits about keeping his long hair," or "He begged and cried to wear dresses." This focus on external markers is totally foreign to the experience of actually being a specific gender. If a woman were told that she could never wear dresses again, she might not like it, but she would not be psychologically damaged by it. I therefore question the whole idea of this being a real disorder and not just a specific form of low self esteem.; 2/16/12, 5:18 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: I've tended to take it as a form of spiritual ignorance.; 2/16/12, 5:46 PM
Amartel said...: So this "puberty blocker" could be used to produce a minor, as opposed to master, race of nonjailbait pervbots. Lovely.
In addition to its easily foreseeable abuse by oversexed parents of confused adolescents.
All in the dubious service of a minute percentage of people who are born betwixt and between.
Pass the kisspeptin and grow up.; 2/16/12, 6:13 PM
Nathan Alexander said...: I've never understood how Progressives like Andy R. can speak so easily about "identifying as transgender" before puberty, or claim to know they were (or their children will be) gay before puberty.

This is the same progressive ideology as the people who force boys to play with dolls and girls to play with trucks so they won't have gender roles "unfairly" imprinted on them...or refuse to let their boys play with guns (and are surprised when the boy chews his toast into the shape of a pistol and says, "Bang!")

The cognitive dissonance of such views is ridiculous.; 2/17/12, 8:02 AM
Curious George said...: "Nathan Alexander said...
I've never understood how Progressives like Andy R. can speak so easily about "identifying as transgender" before puberty, or claim to know they were (or their children will be) gay before puberty."

Freaks like company.; 2/17/12, 8:44 AM
gerry said...: Transgender people are already stopping puberty.

If transgender feelings and physical traits have origins in a bodily malfunction, should the malfunction be enhanced? Or should it be treated to correct it?; 2/17/12, 10:06 AM