Various hormone-disrupting drugs, used in abundance in millions of pregnancies over many decades, may be quietly distorting human development.
[M]y mother had been prescribed a regimen of synthetic sex hormones during her pregnancy with me because, at the time, it was (falsely) believed that these drugs could prevent miscarriage or mitigate other pregnancy risks. But what specific sex hormones was my mother given? And to what effect?
I was acutely aware of the catastrophe of the fake estrogen drug, diethylstilbestrol (DES), which was administered to more than 10 million pregnant women worldwide from the baby boom era through 1971, and even later in many cases. This lab-made pseudo-hormone had been widely hyped as an anti-miscarriage treatment or a sort of vitamin that helped produced larger, healthier babies. It was even more heavily used in the livestock industry, causing additional low-level human exposure until it was phased out in 1979.
However, instead of producing healthy babies, DES was a teratogenic chemical mutilator later found to increase risk for a laundry list of horrors for the exposed offspring. In females, these included but were hardly limited to, vaginal and cervical cancer, breast cancer, malformed uterus and fallopian tubes, infertility, and miscarriage. In males, it was linked to testicular cancers, penile and testicular abnormalities, and gender identity differences.[1]
I noticed that those of us exposed to progestins (synthetic molecules with progesterone-like effects) and smaller amounts of synthetic estrogens, including DES, had exhibited shifts in personality. We were often described as more independent, sensitive, self-assured, individualistic, and self-sufficient, yet less cortically alert. Those exposed to higher doses of estrogens were more group-oriented, and less independent or self-assured.
The report also detailed the earlier research finding that synthetic sex hormone drugs could masculinize or defeminize females, or demasculinize or feminize males, both in terms of body and behavior.
Exposure to these drugs were not spread evenly throughout the population. A large U.S. study, the Collaborative Perinatal Project, which involving tens of thousands of pregnancies at public hospitals, found that 5 percent of pregnancies in the late 1950s and early to mid-1960s received such treatments. However, rates were much higher in private clinics and hospitals, like the clinic where my mother was treated, where wealthier women could afford these drugs.
These hormone imposters interfered with the natural signaling involved in developing typical male and female brains. In the case of my high-dose progestin group, she noted that we (females) developed “a more masculine configuration.”
Defects in hormonal signaling—whether innate or externally imposed—can lead to deviations from normal sexual differentiation of the brain, body, or both.
Case in point 1, faulty androgen receptors:Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is a rare genetic disorder in which an XY male with testosterone-releasing gonads (testes) develops along a female or even hyper-feminine pattern.
Case in point 2, virilized girls: The earlier generation of synthetic progestins, used before those given to my mother, had stronger androgenic effects, often causing physical virilization in exposed girls. Severe birth defects included micro-penis-like enlarged clitorises, scrotum-like fused labia, and a conjoined urethra and vagina, known as a urogenital sinus. Unlike natural progesterone, synthetic progestins can interact with androgen receptors, triggering a masculinizing developmental cascade in females.[6]
Case in point 3, estrogenized boys: If a male embryo/fetus experiences low or no exogenous estrogen exposure during the first several months, he is likely to develop a normal male reproductive system. However, if he is whomped with a potent estrogenic drug like DES during mid to late gestation—a critical period of brain development—his brain may develop along a more female-typical pattern. While it’s impossible to have a brain of the opposite sex to your body, the effects of DES can produce cross-sex brain patterns.[7]
[E]ven without a toxic exposure like DES, natural endogenous processes can lead to a non gender-conforming orientation. For instance, research suggests that some women who have successive male children may produce an antibody that increases the likelihood that males later in the birth order will be gay.
Though the use of synthetic estrogens waned in the 1970s, progestin-based protocols remained in widespread use for decades until just last year. In 2023, the FDA finally revoked approval for the last of these drugs, marketed as Makena (technically 17-OHPC, the same progestin in Deluteval and Delalutin). This decision followed clinical trials showing it was ineffective. In May 2024, the European Medicines Agency recommended suspending the marketing authorizations for medicines containing 17-OHPC.
Despite the widespread exposure of individuals to synthetic sex hormones and other hormone-disrupting drugs, knowledge and awareness of their potential fetal impacts has yet to seep into public consciousness.
Recent decades have seen a dramatic 20-fold increase in LGBTQIA+ identities (Figure 3).[10] It seems that narratives about this phenomenon are divided into two camps. One side argues that the escalating rates of gender non-conformity simply reflect greater acceptance of always-existing but previously repressed sexual identities and forms of expression. The other side is concerned that social constructs and contagions might be unduly persuading young people to adopt new gender identities and undergo medical procedures that they may later regret and can cause lasting harm.
However, this debate strikes me as a bit naive, a bit too ideological, and a bit too lacking in context. Neither side seems to contemplate how this surge might in part be the outcome of a long history of drugs subtly reshaping, or at least re-“flavoring,” segments of humanity. The debate should not be limited to “it’s Pride” or “it’s TikTok.” There is also toxicology to consider.
Source: Discovering My Gender-Bendy Prenatal History
