Puberty is also when today’s transgender craze among girls typically takes hold. Girls feel alienated from a body pummeling them from the inside. The stress brought on by puberty is age-old. What is new is today’s adolescents’ relative inability to bear it—and the constant presence of apparent alternatives. And then there is the mise-en-scène of our “quick fix” era—marked by the conviction that no one should ever endure any manner of discomfort. Ritalin for inattention; opioids for pain; Xanax for nerves; Lexapro for the blues; testosterone for female puberty. Adolescence is a long haul, and
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