Can Sex Toys Bring on Precocious Puberty? Myths and Truths Busted (Essential Reading for Parents)

Sometimes I see articles posted on the internet (or hear from acquaintances) about this: “My child discovered sex toys in the drawer, observed their parents having sexual intercourse. Could this cause precocious puberty?” I can taste the fear of “being afraid they might damage their child.”

In fact, in recent years, there have been parents who worried about "sex toys causing precocious puberty" and "the impact of sex toys on teenagers."

Many people hear the phrase “precocious puberty” and immediately have the most gruesome pictures come to their minds: the image of sexually exposed children, their developing physical bodies and childlike minds. The worst part is, unfounded stories about sex education only spread the fear.

Moving forward, today, we must learn to distinguish between the actual nature of precocious puberty, the causes of this phenomenon, and the possible relationship of sex toys to the growth of teenagers. Also, permit me to show you a scientific method to pick the right sex toys that will not harm the human body.

Physical Changes

First, the most important point: there are established medical norms when it comes to precocious puberty, and mere parental apprehensions about it being too soon aren't one of them.

In general, if girls display noticeable signs of puberty before the age of 8 years and if boys display them before the age of 9 years, their physicians are likely to suspect that they have precocious puberty.

These changes feature noticeable breast development in girls, with glandular enlargement that is palpable by touch, and the areolae enlarge and darken; in male children, testicular development begins, the penis grows, and may be accompanied by a darkened scrotum and skin that is more wrinkled, with pubic and armpit hair, oily skin, and acne evident in both sexes.

Such physical changes usually do not take place in isolation and are at times accompanied by rapid growth, such as having to switch shoes every two to three months or always wearing short trousers.

With children, the dangers of early puberty include childlike appearance beyond peers. Of greater significance, though, includes excessively rapid bone growth, greater bone ages, and early growth plate closures that lead to shorter stature as an adult. Added to the psychological unpreparedness to be judged by adults, the discomfort and sense of inferiority complex can stick out vividly even when an adult.

Normal vs. Abnormal Assessment

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Well, how can a parent decide whether it is “just a little early” or “something to worry about”? In this case, it is necessary to differentiate between the parents' subjective impression of “I think it is early” and the objective information of the developmental charts.

The age at which children enter puberty has definitely advanced by a margin when compared to previous generations, and this is most notable in girls. It has been known to occur that girls could develop breasts as early as 9 or 10 years old, which is still normal as per medical science. The presence of strongly developed breasts at 6 or 7 years old, followed by the onset of pubic and armpit hairs, and subsequent rapid growth spurt in terms of height over a year, is highly indicative of precocious puberty.
Besides the physical examination, the physician would require bone age X-rays, blood tests to determine the level of hormones, as well as a check-up of the brain if needed, to ensure that there is indeed a problem associated with the central nervous system (brain) or gonads. The diagnosis is made after taking into consideration the age of the child, the order of events, the tempo of events, bone age, and test results.

Physical Changes Accompanying Precocious Puberty

What are the main causes of precocious puberty?

If one is to talk about the causes of the condition called precocious puberty, certainly one of the causes would be one’s natural constitution and genetics.

There’s a puberty timeline for every body that’s been written along the pathway of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and gonads within the brain. It has been somewhat predetermined through genes.

In some children, the onset of puberty occurs because of biological reasons. If their parent began menstruation in grade school or developed facial hair, it is likely that this child may experience puberty earlier.

Some of the genes linked with central precocious puberty include MKRN3. Certain mutations related to these genes could trigger the early release of puberty by the brain, hence an immense production of sex hormones.

Most kids get the entire gamut of tests, finding that there are no tumors in the brain or the gonads, yet they are still diagnosed with the condition of idiopathic precocious puberty. It is because the brain merely pressed the ‘activation’ button a little early in life, largely because of genetic factors.

Nutrition

The second key aspect would be nutrition and weight.

The first thing the body checks when it makes the decision to start puberty is this: "Does this person have enough energy to support the explosive growth during the next few years?" So, fat cells enter the conversation.

Today’s kids tend to eat plenty, yet get plenty little exercise. Many kids consume high-fried foods, sweet drinks, and snack nights, amassing considerable amounts of body fat at a remarkably young age. The body fat produces such hormones as “leptin,” associated with energy homeostasis, an actual signal to the brain, “The tank is full, time to go!”

Research has it that obese and overweight children, particularly girls, show a significantly increased onset of early puberty. This, combined with their inactive lifestyle, higher screen time (snacking while viewing videos), irregular sleeping patterns, and staying up late at night, disrupts the endocrine cycle.

Endocrine Environment:
Endocrine disruptors, plasticizers, and bisphenol A (BPA) might be names you've heard before. They get called endocrine disruptors because they interfere with your hormonal environment. Prolonged exposure can interfere with the timing of puberty.

However, such an effect is not necessarily an explosive reaction but a cumulative effect that comes from plastic food containers, beverage bottles, certain substandard materials of products, and environmental pollution, as well as one's own personal and genetic makeup, which jointly accelerate the coming of puberty.

In some cases, the reasons for precocious puberty involve tumors, injury, infection, or the development of tumors in the ovaries or testes, which force the hormones to act uncontrollably. In such cases, precocious puberty is actually the presentation that sends the physician on a search for larger problems.

Scientifically Known Confirmed Factors

To recap, the identified high risk for the onset of precocious puberty through scientific literature includes a familial history of early growth, genetic mutations, obesity/optimistically rich diet, prolonged environmental exposure to certain hormonal stimulants, brain and/or gonadal disease, and certain medicinal/therapeutic substances—with the direct link to the hormonal system.

What's noticeable here is the absence of "viewing sex toys" and "viewing adult content." Even sex toys, if they are made of substandard materials or excessive amounts of plasticizers, would be regarded as a type of toxic product rather than being stigmatized as sex toys.

By contrast, in relation to the use of toys by adults themselves, the selection of medical-grade silicone and plasticizer-free and properly labeled qualified materials not only satisfies a responsibility to yourself, but to the entire family’s endocrine system.

🤲 A quick remark for grown-ups. Safe introductory sex toys (and incidentally, solving environmental and hormonal problems)

Many parents lock up all their stress, exasperation, and exhaustion and only have their "me time" in the evening after the kids are in bed, scrolling through their iPhones, watching dramas, or daydreaming.

I’d like to tell you that your pleasure also needs attention.

If you are using toys such as vibrators or dildos, safety and quality of material are crucial and not just dependent on looks and cost. You should consider products that are made of "medical grade silicone," do not have plasticizers, have a smooth surface and do not have "a strong plastic odor," and have testing or certification marks.

This is an instance of the power of choice available to adults. We read packaging and make choices about what will be healthy for us and extend the same philosophy to the water bottles, lunch boxes, and toys of our children.

[Does the use of sex toys lead to puberty?] Scientific evidence: At this stage, there is no medical data that links the use of sex toys to puberty.

Regarding precocious puberty, keywords in the field of medicine include ‘genes,’ ‘obesity,’ ‘endocrine disruptors,’ ‘tumors,’ ‘chronic diseases,’ however not ‘viewing adult products.’

Some studies examine "the impact of exposure to pornography and adult content" among adolescents, citing possible effects on sexual attitude, age of sexual debut, and risky sexual activity. Even these studies consider the physical or mental aspects, rather than the onset of physical development.

What this means is that if a child is exposed to sex toys, at most, he or she will experience curiosity or confusion or even be embarrassed. Yet hormone levels will not increase.

The problem is whether they are watching too much excessive, violence, or incorrect sexual content without context. This impacts the values and boundaries they hold, which is a far cry from a medical condition regarding puberty issues.

EXPOSURE VS. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT: NOT EVEN REMOT

These two aspects have to be distinguished because they are on different levels—one is the onset of sexual curiosity and excitement and the other is the onset of puberty.

Children pick up, even before puberty, on their own that their bodies have areas which they feel more comfortable touching. Nothing is wrong with this, as it is part of human body exploration.

Onset of puberty is the process by which the brain takes time to regulate the production of hormones, making the gonads secrete high amounts of female sex hormones (estrogen) or male sex hormones (testosterone), while overall changes occur in the body. On the other hand, psychological arousal is the reaction one gets upon viewing a particular image or hearing a particular word, making the heart beat faster, irrespective of the age.

Confusing these two has caused people to believe that “children who see sexually related things immediately become sexually precocious,” which has a flaw in logic.

Facing sexually associated material does not cause any hormonal reactions.

Another set of parents worries that "if we tell them too much about sex too early, they will want to give it a try earlier too." This is of the same ilk as "Will viewing sex toys lead to precocious puberty?"

But the fact emerges from large studies conducted worldwide and from WHO directives that comprehensive and scientific sex education will cause children to indulge in early intercourse, when the fact may be that sex education can delay and even secure safe intercourse.

That is, the information in and of itself does not drive the hormonal timetable, but instead helps children grasp who they are and the decisions they will make when the hormones are already in play.

Because if you don’t talk to them, they’ll learn what sex is by watching their classmates’ phones, pornography, and memes in school—that's what we call a high-risk environment.

The same applies to sexual aids. It is not their presence that is the issue, but the fact that there is no clear definition of what they are in order to move them out of the corner of shame, obscenity, and taboo.

Sex Toys

[Reasons Why Many People Incorrectly Believe They are Related]
The false relation produced by social taboos

Why do people love to associate precocious puberty and sex toys when science doesn’t make the connection? The biggest offender has to do with “sexual taboo.”

The Chinese culture tends to push sex into a corner of the room, with nothing being allowed to be asked about, seen, or spoken about. The moment something sexual surfaces in a child's environment, something catastrophic has occurred.

Through all of these, the term "precocious puberty" is given a convenient usage as a scare tactic: short skirts are precocious, curiosity about one's own body is precocious, using one's body in one's artwork is precocious; together with the stigma on sexual toys, these two taboos mean an immediate assumption of sexual relationship.

Nevertheless, from a medical viewpoint, it should be noted that LPP represents a verifiable, trackable, and treatable physiological condition, as opposed to a mere behavioral issue that is undesirable to parents.

"If society is unwilling to discuss sex, it will resort to such epithets as 'bad,' 'precocious,' or 'perverted'—quick labels, none of which are correct,"cohorts.

Parents' Anxiety about Sex Education: This is how many parents feel when they hear that they should talk about sex with their kids: "Looking at that will make them ruin them, touching that will make them develop calluses, and if they go on like this, no one will want them afterward." When your son says out of the blue, "Hey, what's that?" or "Hey, why is that?", your response isn't scientific, it's "Oh no, he knows too much!" When you start browsing "the effects of sex toys on teenagers" and "the causes of precocious puberty," you become easily startled by a couple of sensation-seeking articles that have no real proof.

The anxiety escalates, and the first thing you need to do is find something to point the finger at—throw the toy away, block all the websites, ban everything sex-related.

The issue, of course, is the fact that the world doesn't operate in this way. The subjects they learn will still be presented to them in school, on the internet, and in social circles, and it simply becomes a question of whether you'll be present to assist them in understanding.

Rumors and Media Sentimentality The final accelerator is clickbait headlines.

You've certainly seen the headlines, right, such as "Sixth-grade girl goes through precocious puberty, reportedly linked to certain product!" or "Physician alarmed over possible effects of exposure to sex toys on development!" When you click on the story, you'll find very little real scientific information, mostly just generic phrases like "it could be related" and "be on the lookout."

True scientific research may contain phrases such as "certain groups have a higher probability of correlation," "multiple factors must be analyzed," and "direct causality has yet to be established."

If you are subjected to sensational media reports of sex toys long enough, you are bound to make the connection between the two and precocious puberty.

This is why I always encourage parents to ask three questions after reading such articles: Which study are they referring to? Is correlation or causation being talked about? Is "possible correlation" being gently replaced by "certainty"? Many rumors are frozen in that particular substitution.

Rumors

HOW TO PROPERLY ADDRESS TEENAGERS' SEXUAL CURIOUSITY? Age-Appropriate Sex Education Sex education is not a one-off activity; it's a journey.

For preschool-age kids, begin with talking about bodily boundaries. “What’s private about your body?” “Who can help you take a bath?” “Who can’t?” It’s O.K. to say ‘no’ if you feel uncomfortable.

For lower elementary grades, teach the appropriate terms for body parts. It's enough to say penis and little sister to skirt around the issue. Teach the child that certain parts of the body aren't bad words.

With age, it is necessary to introduce puberty changes, what menstruation is, what nocturnal emissions are, as well as explaining why this reaction takes place. Progressively, it is necessary to introduce sex, contraception, sexual consent, and internet pornography.

When the overall plan for sex education is in place, the mere sight by the child of sexual aids is only a minor event.

Studies indicate that comprehensive education in both sexes fails to make them engage in early sex; instead, it equips them to protect themselves better.

Supplying Science-Based Info Because sex toys will never advance the puberty age of a child, it is actually who is with them when giving sexual information that makes all the difference.

For example, if your child happens to see the vibrator or dildo and asks a question like "What's that?", take a deep breath and say to yourself, "This is a trust-building opportunity."

For younger kids, you could say: "This is a tool that grown-ups use to calm their bodies, just like you use your own toys. This is for grown-ups; you'll understand it better when you're older."

Your tone of voice must remain natural. Don’t act as if you have been caught cheating, and you must not say things such as "I don't know what that is," because the kids will know that you are acting.

With your calm and scientific explanation of sex, you are laying the most important foundation of sex education for them: that sex is not something to be ashamed of or hidden, but is just a part of life that needs to be understood and taken care of.

💧Add a small lesson of safe water-based lubricant/massage oil (rather cool--it demonstrates the 'reading of the ingredient list' lesson for children).

“Sex toy” often brings to mind one item: the vibrator. Other things, like vibrating eggs, and even the often overlooked lubricant, can provide pleasure.

Frankly, dryness, pain, and a lack of lubrication are the parts of relationships that tend to be ignored, particularly in the postpartum period, times of stress, and hormonal changes. The truth is that the body does not have an aversion to lubrication; it just requires a little assistance.

This is truly the best example of scientific product selection, and it is to be followed when it comes to lubricants, opting for products that contain water as the base ingredient, along with straightforward labels that avoid excessive scents and alcohol. If massage oils are being used, it is essential to examine the base oils, which should be safe for skin contact.

Start practicing reading product labels with your kids around you—it might be shampoo, lotion, body oil, or even lubricants—the reasoning is the same.

Providing a safe, non-humiliating environment for the discussion to happen: “What will really determine, though, your child’s willingness to open up to you in the future is whether you are a person who will ask questions about sex, or if you’re the kind of person who will always get angry.”

If you shut him down with "Shh, How did you know?" or “You can’t look at this kind of thing” every time the issue comes up, he won’t come to you when more serious events occur, like people sending him or forcing him to take pictures of inappropriate images.

By contrast, when you are able to set aside your own feelings of embarrassment in a moment like that and say, 'It's normal for you to be curious. We can talk about it. What part of it do you want to know?', then you are the adult on whom he can call for aid.

You do not require an accurate answer to each question, but you can respond, “I am not sure about this question either. Let us search it together.” Feeling that I am standing shoulder to shoulder with him is greater than any speech.

For relationships:
Viberating toys for couples to enjoy together
Practicing Communication is Much More Important Than Techniques

Lots of folks believe sex toys are for a person’s private enjoyment, stashed away in the farthest corner of a drawer. The truth is, seasoned individuals enjoy suggesting couple’s playthings, such as vibrating rings or remote-control toys.

Their power isn’t in their elegant designs, but their ability to require that you start a conversation about how you can use them comfortably. You could say, "Let me try this. What do you think?" The other person must learn how to articulate their interest, comfort level, and discomfort level. The key point of these discussions is your child’s power within a loving relationship: expressing a desire, respecting a partner, and knowing when to say “enough.” With this attitude, you will be more apt to use these values when speaking with your child about sexual activity. You could say, "Sex is something between two people. Good sex is when both people are comfortable with it," instead of "Don't mess around." An example such as this will go much further in shielding the coming generations than removing all the toys from the room. [What to do if there is precocious puberty] How to tackle precocious puberty if it is experienced? You may first consult a general pediatrician. For example, if the doctor says "This might require further examination by a pediatric endocrinologist," they have probably found something worthwhile. The specialists will then further distinguish between true central precocious puberty, which is the onset of puberty triggered by the puberty centers within the brain that functions at an early age, peripheral problems which pertain to the imbalance of the hormone within an organ, and early breast and pubic hair emergence, which may not need to be treated. Some children just have to be monitored. In other children, medications that hold back development or puberty may work. In this process, it is important for the physicians to be aware of the family history of puberty in the child’s family, the dietary habits of the child as well as their sleeping habits, changes in weight, headaches or vision problems, as well as any other ailments or medicines being taken. 👗And finally, for adults, a sensual touch: sexy lingerie/sleepwear (worn not for anyone else’s eyes but your own). Many people find that, after having children, their lives are occupied with household chores, work, and raising their offspring, making them less and less aware of their own bodies. You may feel like you're just someone's mother/someone's father, seldom if ever afforded the opportunity to treat yourself as “a wanted and attractive adult.” Actually, if you consider that the toys are too advanced, then maybe beginning with a good pair of sexy lingerie or sleepwear is perfectly all right. It does not have to be so revealing or dramatic; it could simply be soft and fitting well. It could be worn for your lover, or maybe for yourself alone. With the kids down and the house quiet, slipping on a nightgown that makes you say, "You know, I'm still sexy," is a moment of self-affirmation. It is a moment when you remind yourself that you are more than a "parent.” This gentleness and acceptance of their own bodies is what kids see every day, that their bodies can be lovingly treated, that their bodies should not be humiliated.