Tesla CEO Elon Musk has caused a stir with his remarks on his estranged trans daughter, Vivian Wilson, in a recent two-hour conversation with controversial psychologist Jordan Peterson. The billionaire claimed he had been “tricked” into signing paperwork that allowed Vivian to take puberty blockers. Referring to her with male pronouns, Musk said his “son” had been (figuratively) “killed” by “the woke mind virus”.
Vivian has now shot back, saying she had “disowned him, not the other way around”. In 2022, she filed a request to legally change her name from Xavier to Vivian and to adopt the surname of her mother, Justine Wilson. “I no longer want to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form,” Vivian had reportedly said.
Musk’s comments have ignited a conversation about puberty blockers. What are they? Let’s understand. What are puberty blockers? Puberty blockers are used to delay the transformation that comes with puberty in transgender and gender-diverse youth.
These medications are called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues. During puberty, a child’s body goes through physical changes that make them attain sexual maturity and become capable of reproduction. This is marked by the brain sending hormonal signals to the gonads – ovaries in females and testicles in males.
Speaking to CNN , Dr Michelle Forcier, a professor of paediatrics at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Rhode Island, explained, .