It will be tricky. For sports, you'd want a transition that erased the tendencies of earlier male development. For that matter, if you want to be a functional female (i.e. fertile) you'd have to do the same. From my POV, it's going to be a lot easier to have us stay healthy for >100 years than it is to legit switch sexes.
I think it's important that kids who are thinking of transitioning know they won't actually be the other sex. And that even delaying puberty may have
negative consequences - a
recent analysis
On the topic of "delaying" puberty, I am frequently frustrated by how this is presented in the media and by advocates of blockers.
There's a lot of messaging that it's "safe and reversible"... and when that's challenges, the challenge tends to be "it's not known we haven't studied it long enough".
And while that's technically true... we actually *do* know of some negative side effects of puberty not occurring in its normal time. 'Puberty' isn't a single hormonal exposure, even though hormones play a large part in that event. There are multiple systems that are affected by puberty, and are governed by the pituitary gland. The puberty blockers being used work by directly affecting the pituitary gland, and the hormone precursors that it creates. For post-pubertal people, the pituitary's only real role is to maintain the levels of sexual hormones in our bodies for proper reproductive function. It also has a role in moderating blood pressure, but it does so working in tandem with other systems.
During puberty, however, the pituitary gland governs several other processes: accretion of bone density, growth spurts, closure of growth plates, among others. It also prompts cognitive development that is associated with hormone exposure, a necessary step in mental maturation.
If puberty doesn't occur, it has long-term effects. It reduces cognitive ability, and it locks the person into a "pre-pubescent" state of emotional control. Bones stay weak and porous. Growth plates don't close properly. Because a major developmental step is omitted, there are other secondary effects as well - increased risk of stroke and heart attack being some of those.
These aren't unknown. We already know that there are long-term negative effects from puberty being interrupted or omitted. We know this, because there are a handful of developmental disorders that halt or impede puberty. My god-daughter has Kallmann Syndrome, which is one of those disorders.
One of the biggest problems is that, for all intents, puberty is on a timer. If you halt the development of normal pubertal processes... you don't stop the clock.
The timer keeps going. If you delay those pubertal processes, you use up some of that time. When you start puberty later, the direct hormone exposure will prompt the development of secondary sexual characteristics (assuming you're getting the type of hormone that your body needs, eg females get estrogen and progesterone, males get testosterone). But the *other* processes - cognitive, height, bone density, etc. Those don't kick off as if it's a fresh start. The delay has already used up part of their time limit.
We
already know that these negative outcomes occur if puberty is interrupted or omitted. It's not a mystery. The puberty blockers being used off label for transgender kids act directly on the pituitary. Why on earth would we think that this direct interruption of the pubertal process would be magically immune from the negative affects that we're already aware of?
*** Caveat: This is not my area of expertise, so this is necessarily a layperson's explanation of the process. While some details may be misstated, I believe the overall gist is correct... but again, I'm a layperson.
