Puberty. Or the biological process of development and maturity that occurs in the human body, and a growing child's first contact with difficult, yet necessary topics like growth and sexuality. Depending on whom you ask, it marks either a moment of excitement for being the first step to reach adulthood, or a big inconvenience for the seemingly-awkward (or even embarrassing) changes experienced. If you take a look at the Puberty Tropes index, you'll notice how widespread it has been in fiction, with each related trope portraying an aspect of puberty with varying degrees of accuracy. It's a frequent staple in teenage-oriented works (whether comedy or drama), but it can be theoretically touched upon in any kind of work if the creator deems it useful for Character Development.
Puberty pays no respect for a person's already-existing struggles in other departments, such as getting along in school or minding their business in their hobbies and duties, so it can (and likely will) catch them off-guard. Therefore, and in order to help you understand how and why it happens, as well as discern between its realistic and dramatized portrayals in fiction, this article has been prepared to explain its definition, the ifs and buts, the beginnings and the aftermath, and whether the aforementioned fictional portrayals are true or false. Just remember that the richest source of information on the subject is your family, so while this article has the best of intentions to educate you about puberty, neither it nor the best peer-reviewed book or website should be taken as a definitive substitute against a honest talk between children and parents — after all, parents already went through it, so they can talk to you about it from first-hand experience!
Concept and general aspects:
Puberty is a set of biological mechanisms aimed at providing physical changes to our body so it evolves into a state of maturity, the outcome of which is what we call adulthood. While the top priority of puberty is to enable sexual reproduction, it is not exclusively a sexual phenomenon, as it comes along with other changes like a deeper voice for speech, a stronger psychological capacity to think and judge, a higher pain tolerance, and a stronger immunological system. Also of note is that puberty isn't limited to human beings, because all organisms that sexually reproduce undergo it as well (which is a process called sexual maturity
); but for the sake of simplicity, we'll focus solely on human growth in this article.
In biology, the study of puberty is performed in anatomy, and is typically taught in schools as a precursory chapter of sexual education. The name hails from the Latin word puberatum, which means "age of maturity".note
It all begins when, upon a certain age being reached, the brain sends hormonal signals to the body's gonads, which are the ovaries (for a girl) or the testicles (for a boy); these signals are carried over by the endocrine system, which is the regulator of the production and processing of hormones in the organism. The age in question varies depending on the individual's sex, usually 9 years for girls and 11 years for boys.note The gonads, upon receiving the signal, produce hormones that gradually perform changes to several parts of the body, starting with the muscles, the bones, the brain, the skin and the hair. From there, specific transformations arise depending on the individual's biological sex, which will be described in the section below, but they have in common the goal of preparing the body for the capacity of sexual reproduction.
During the first year of puberty, the size and weight of the body increase their rate considerably, and the Secondary Sexual Characteristics develop;note from here on, while the more general traits of puberty still apply to both sexes, in other regards it'll fork between what happens to a boy and what happens to a girl, so we'll now describe the effects separately.
From boys to men, from girls to women:
The hormones that serve as the driving force for pubertal changes are the androgens and estrogens. Contrary to popular belief, the two groups of hormones are present in both sexes; the key difference lies in the proportion. Boys produce a larger amount of androgens while girls produce a larger amount of estrogens.
For the former, the androgen that plays the largest role for virilization is testosterone. In the majority of cases, the onset for male puberty is the enlargement of the testicles and scrotum, followed by a slow, yet gradual growth of pubic hair; the gradual maturity of the testicles leads to their ability to produce sperm, and may or may not lead to at least one Nocturnal Emission (which itself happens due to a trigger to the sympathetic nervous system during the REM phase of sleeping, a.k.a. the phase that kickstarts a person's dream); though the rate of likeliness isn't easy to pin down, one of the biggest factors is generally agreed to be the time during which no sexual activity (including masturbation) has occured. At age 13 (on average), the voice develops a deeper tone due to the increase of volume in the cavity of the sinuses and throat, and gives off the impression that the voice is "breaking" or "cracking"; luckily, this is a temporary effect that lapses off after a few months. Between ages 14 and 16, the skin becomes oilier, and the body begins growing hair in several parts of the body, such as the arms (including the armpit), the legs and the chest. Whether or not the beard and the mustache begin growing at this point varies depending on the lad, and this variation is generally agreed to be due to the genes. It is wise to clarify that puberty doesn't make the skin create follicles which then make the hair grow where it didn't before; since the boy's birth, his skin already has them latent in the dermis, and what testosterone does during the peak of puberty is activate them so blood and nutrients nourish them via capillaries, leading to hair growth (this obviously holds true for pubic hair as well). Hair in arms and legs can also grow in the female body, but to a noticeably lesser extent due to the lower presence of testosterone. At age 17, the male body in the majority of boys will have completed the essential steps, other than growing up a few more centimeters in the following years.
In the case of girls, the hormonal process begins similarly, but to a considerably distinct effect (and, under normal conditions, earlier than in boys). The estrogen that plays the largest role for feminization is progesterone. At age 9, puberty shows an onset with a slight, initially negligible breast increase, and the body's height performs a slow rise; not much besides these two things happens, but they do continue occuring gradually. At age 11 (on average), hair in the armpit begins to appear, as well as in the pubic area; the skin also becomes oilier and, depending on the girl's lifestyle and eating habits as well as genetic and environmental factors, the first menstrual period is likely to occur. The name of this period is menarche (which means "first month" in Greek), and begins when estrogens trigger an stimulation of the hypophysial receptors; this is done in order to line up the uterus (which forms the endometrium), but it requires a balance between the secreted hormones (luteinizing and folicle-stimulating) for it to proceed. Nothing unusual so far... except, every once in a while, a hormonal surplus (which can come from either secretion) accumulates and leads to an imbalance, due to which the endometrium develops in excess, and it just happens to be heavily vascularized. Thus, when it no longer manages to cope with the imbalance, it sheds in the form of a heavy menstrual bleeding. And anything that is vascularized is also nerve-sensitive, which explains why the menstrual cycle hurts so much. This is nevertheless a natural part of the girl's growth, as it helps the ovaries mature and become fertile, hence why the body repeats the process periodically during the following years; by age 16 to 19, the majority of girls will have wrapped up the stages in full. As a final side note, while menstrual cycles continue long after the start of adulthood, they finally cease at one point, usually between ages 45 and 55. The time that passes after the last cycle, once clocking at 12 months, is known as menopause (which is Greek for "pause of [cyclic] months"), and during that time the body experiences symptoms like flushing and unusual sweating.
At this point, it is time to address the elephant in the room, and perhaps the most uncomfortable aspect of puberty besides periods and wet dreams: Acne. Remember when we mentioned that the skin in boys and girls becomes oilier? That is what leads to this. Due to the increased hormonal activity, the body lubricates the skin and hair with an oily substance known as sebum (which is produced from the sebaceous gland) in order to prevent them from drying out. Since the skin itself is already busy discarding the dead layers, some hair follicles end up being plugged by the sebum as well as the dead cells, which asphixiates them to death and renders them unprotected against bacteria. The ensuing inflammation can manifest as whiteheads, blackheads or pimples. It's imperative to not pop them with your fingers (and preferably not at all), because doing so will make the debris (pus) leak onto the surrounding area of the skin, which not only risks further infection but also delays the healing process, and in the long run leave permanent reddish scars or marks.
Emotional and psychological effects:
Hormonal changes not only affect the physiology of the individual, but also the psychology. As a result, they may experience emotions from wide ranges, such as mood swings, a sense of insecurity, anxiety and depression. This is because, as with all other organs, the brain also experiences a change during puberty; the part of it that regulates the person's emotions. the limbic system, shows the earliest development, and it's not until much later when the part that regulates the thinking (neo-cortex) does, and until then the person has to relearn things like regulating emotions, controling impulses, and making rational choices.
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, puberty is bound to happen to every individual, including those who are already undergoing stressful moments in their academic and private endeavors. Left untreated, the issues regarding the mind can lead to drops in school grades, self-isolation from family or friends, long-term stress or even questionable thoughts and decisions (especially due to an obsession with the body's image and/or public perception towards them). A caring parent should strive to ensure their child that they're not alone, and that they can always count on family to talk about matters that shroud their minds in doubt. More serious cases of anxiety and depression should be brought up to a psychologist or counselor. Since schools aim to educate children about several subjects and topics (including, sooner or later, puberty), they should also provide human resources to lend a hand in assisting students who feel troubled in this regard.
Other perks and special cases:
Puberty doesn't happen the exact same way nor at the same time for everybody. The mechanisms of a biological system are far too complex for them to operate like that. In addition to age and living conditions, other parameters are decisive for the process of growth and development, such as genetics and immunology. Between the manliest lad and the girliest gal, there's a wide spectrum of outcomes awaiting at the aftermath of puberty.
If signs of puberty are shown too early in a child, the matter should be brought up to a healthcare provider. Factors that can lead to this scenario include a premature activation of the hormones due to the pituitary gland and hypothyroidism. Another potential anomaly is the sequence of the pubertal changes occuring out of order (in the case of girls, for example, them having periods before developing breasts, or lacking pubic hair even after developing them). Delayed puberty is equally problematic, however: If a boy starts puberty after age 14, or if a girl only does after age 12, a medical consult should be in order. If the mother or father are known to have been late bloomers back during their teens, there's a risk that the same will happen to their children due to genetic reasons.
For individuals who were born with flawed (or near-nil) capacity to respond to their targeted sexual hormones, the line that separates male and female development is further blurred. This too comes in a spectrum of scenarios, but two well-known instances are complete androgen insensitivity syndrome and complete estrogen insensitivity syndrome; these are intersex conditions that cause the affected individuals to be born with a body that is phenotypically consistent with one biological sex, but while having the chromosomes (and overall DNA) of the other, and as a result they'll undergo the states of puberty that are the opposite of what was genetically intended for them (for example, having the body of a girl while having XY chromosome pairs). Such individuals, unfortunately, are very likely prone to be infertile (and for girls, this is surefire confirmed by never having any periods), so puberty can only serve them with the other sexual and growth-related benefits, and additional medical analysis may be necessary to discard eventual side effects (like difficulties with sexual activity or gonadal tumors). On the bright side, a properly-supervised treatment can help their bodies proceed with puberty normally and have a normal lifespan.
The subject of puberty is not only crucial for cisgender and intersex individuals. A transgender person will realize that the development of their body won't align with their gender identity. There is a set of medical substances which, with supervised administration, can help suppress the hormones that drive puberty in the direction that is genetically marked by their AGAB: Puberty blockers. These substances are produced to block a specified group of hormones: androgens for trans girls (thus suppressing voice deepening and hair growth in the face and skin) and estrogens for trans boys (thus suppressing menstruation and breast development). The blockers do come with short-term side effects, such as fatigue, headaches, and insomnia; this is because the body is having its original pubertal process rerouted. Also, while many institutions in the United States recognize the use of puberty blockers, the stance is far more divided in other parts of the world (like Europe, where it's treated in a case-by-case basis depending on the country).note
Fact versus fiction:
Now that we've reviewed the basics of puberty and how it works in Real Life, the fun part begins: To examine at some of the common tropes, myths and potential misconceptions seen in fiction. We'll start with the ones that have been already debunked preemptively thanks to the above sections of the article:
- Puberty happens at the same age for boys and girls, and the respective gendered processes happen equally for them: Nope and nope. There many factors that determine how and when it happens, and under very rare cases the gendered changes aren't even respective. While we're still here, though, there's an additional thing worth mentioning. It has been observed that the respective ages of onset also differ depending on the individuals' residing region of the world.
- A girl whose breasts don't grow enough won't turn into a real woman: This misconception is one of the main reasons why A-Cup Angst is so common in fiction (and also Truth in Television). Many teenage girls feel like something is wrong or missing in them due to not having a larger bust, especially if they're surrounded by more endowed fellows and thus feel insecure about their image. But really, not having larger breasts doesn't mean something is amiss, as humans grow differently from each other, and a girl who reaches adulthood is considered by all accounts to be a woman no matter what. As for why some girls grow smaller breasts than others, there are many factors that influence their development besides hormonal activity, such as nutrition and loss of weight, genetics and a lack of breast tissue development.
- Puberty determines a person's sexual orientation: No. A growing child might develop a crush on someone during puberty, since the higher hormonal activity is bound to increase their interest in sexual attraction, but chances are that they already fell in love, or were infatuated, with someone else from the same gender as the new Love Interest when they were kids. An individual's lovemap is rarely, if ever, altered by puberty, and for all they know they might have been consistently straight, gay or bisexual since they can remember. The origin of this myth is tied to the phenomenon of "bicuriosity", but as a person grows they are simply figuring out their preferences, with some experimentation along the way (and there's nothing wrong with that either).
- Relatedly, a kid falling in love or feeling infatuated is a sign of that kid entering puberty: It is often said metaphorically by parents that, when their child is having a crush on someone, it's because they're beginning to grow up. However, the reality is that romance is known to predate puberty, as it's not something that is triggered by the same hormones involved with the engineering of growth (and if you're wondering why, it's because the hormone whose level increases with emotions like fun, de-estressing and affection is dopamine; it is true that the body gains the capability of producing more of it during puberty, however).
- Nocturnal emission only happens to males: It's known that wet dreams help testicles get rid of older sperm in favor of the formation of newer, healthier sperm. As a result, it's believed that wet dreams only happen to males. However, it has been observed that they're possible in both sexes, albeit less common for women (and it's not known to happen in the days next to, or shortly after, menstruation). As a final side note, wet dreams can continue happening even after puberty ends.
- A boy or girl with a lot of acne is showing a sign of being unhealthy: This misconception arises from the unfounded belief that acne is caused by not having a balanced diet or not taking bath. Now, make no mistake, eating well and having a good hygiene is always essential for any individual, but even the healthiest child will eventually get acne. The ultimate factor that leads to it is the secretion of sebum, which messes with the hair follicles.
- A boy or girl not growing as tall as others is a red flag: People grow and mature at different rates from each other. Unless other, unusual effects are observed besides the child not growing up, parents have nothing to worry about. It can be an inconvenience if an Amusement Park features an attraction whose entrance sign dictates a specific minimum height for someone to ride, but the overuse of such signs plus the misunderstanding that "short equals immature" in both real life and fiction have led to the You Must Be This Tall to Ride trope to be discredited.
