Food for thought! Some human fads can be dangerous, a well known fact for decades if not centuries!
Is it not peculiar that transgenderism mostly refers to men becoming women. What about females becoming males? This seems to be a very strange imbalance or shall we call it gender inequality?
"In recent years, administering estrogen to males who identify as transgender women has become increasingly common, including among adolescents. ...
One of the best-known risks associated with estrogen use in males is infertility. In their new review, Schwartz et al. note that while some patients retain limited sperm production, many do not—and they exhibit “testicular atrophy, hyalinization, and fibrosis,” meaning shrinkage, scarring, and tissue changes that may signal elevated cancer risk. A recent systematic review cited in the paper found that taking estrogen alongside testosterone blockers was linked to “higher proportions of sperm abnormalities . . . or azoospermia” (complete loss of sperm). Some of these effects may be reversible, but others are not. Tissue studies following orchiectomies (surgical removal of the testes) show widespread damage.
Cardiovascular complications are another well-documented concern. Multiple studies cited in the review report higher rates of dangerous blood clots—known as venous thromboembolism (VTE)—and strokes among trans-identifying males taking estrogen. One meta-analysis found VTE incidence more than twice as high as in non-trans-identifying males. ...
The paper also highlights potential cognitive risks, including memory loss and early-onset impairment. ..."
From the abstract:
"Efforts to alleviate the psychological distress of gender dysphoria have included the use of exogenous estrogen (often with anti-androgens) to alter secondary sex characteristics of natal males. In response to the rapid increase in presenting cases among young people, extensive scrutiny has now been brought to bear on these medical interventions for minors, with ESCAP reporting “an urgent need for safeguarding clinical, scientific, and ethical standards.”
However, due to the lack of systematic outcome data, the associated risk–benefit profile is unknown.
Several recent systematic reviews have found the evidence of benefit to be of low or very low certainty, while some risks, such as infertility, have been long recognized.
This paper compiles several emerging and accumulating safety signals in the medical literature. These range from increased rates of previously associated adverse outcomes with long-term estrogen use (e.g., acute cardiovascular events) to associations of estrogen use with newly identified adverse outcomes. Estrogen also induces changes in the brain, raising concerns for negative impacts on mood (e.g., depression) and cognition. These safety signals indicate the need for further investigation and a thorough systematic search for others, which may now be more evident due to the increased number of young people receiving these treatments. There is an urgent need for the evidence base to be improved with more studies, especially those with systematic long-term follow-up and those that can disentangle possible confounders, as well as systematic reviews to help interpret their reliability."
Emerging and accumulating safety signals for the use of estrogen among transgender women (open access)
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