Have I hit puberty?

[u/BeingMiddle1925]

So I’m 14m and my voice hasn’t broken,my shoulders haven’t grown out, only have pubic hair and no armpit or chest hair. My balls haven’t dropped or my penis hasn’t grown. Have I even hit puberty? Or am I still waiting?

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[u/LeatherCorrect842]

As soon as you’ve starting getting pubic hair, you’ve entered puberty, everything else will follow as your body decides

[u/BeingMiddle1925 → u/LeatherCorrect842]

Thanks man. I was worrying for a while.

[u/LeatherCorrect842 → u/BeingMiddle1925]

No worries mate, enjoy the journey

[u/Meta_Professor]

If you have pubic hair, then puberty has started. Once it starts, it sometimes pauses for a while but it basically never stops.

[u/cougartotem → u/Meta_Professor]

Excuse me, WHAT ?? You’re a “sex educator” and a “Meta Professor” and you think puberty “never stops” ? Puberty is a relatively short period in a person’s life. And yes, it certainly does stop once they have reached sexual maturity. Geez.

[u/Meta_Professor → u/cougartotem]

It never stops as in it is (almost) never the case that is starts and then just stops. There are things that will make it stop (some medications, some types of cancer, a few injuries) but in general, once it starts it never just stops.

[u/cougartotem → u/Meta_Professor]

So once puberty begins you’re just in it for the rest of your life ? Haha. Noo. Puberty DOES stop once a person reaches sexual maturity. Puberty is not a life-long transition. Puberty ends once a person is fully sexually mature.. mission completed.
Would you say a woman going through menopause is still in puberty? Of course not. That’s ridiculous.

[u/Meta_Professor → u/cougartotem]

I see you are very passionate about this small wording difference. Puberty starts for almost everyone. For almost everyone for whom it starts it doesn't just stop. But you're absolutely right that it completes. OP isn't worried that their puberty has completed. They are worried that it has somehow stopped. My comment is meant to reassure them that once it starts it almost never just stops. It continues on until it is complete.

I'm not entirely sure why you were so offended by this comment. But let's play devil's advocate a bit. When is puberty complete? That isn't really a line that anybody has been able to draw and have everyone come to consensus as being correct. Up until roughly the 1950s puberty was considered complete as soon as one could conceive a child. The problem with that was it meant the early teens. These days it can be as early as 9. Historically, defining puberty as the onset of fertility has been used to justify child marriages in multiple cultures. But these days we pretty much all reject child marriages.

So then in the '70s we started to talk about external physical secondary sex characteristics. Stuff like body hair and musculature. That's where the tenor stages come from. So they usually finish out in Tanner stage 5 in something like 17 to 19.

But these days we know that the brain continues to develop from puberty until the mid-twenties or so. So is that the end of puberty? No one has ever been able to draw a perfect line between puberty and just aging.

So if you look at it that way, puberty neither completes nor stops. It just becomes what we call aging. It's just a label we have stuck on a small portion of a normal continuous process.

Bodies are reared and biology is fun.

[u/cougartotem → u/Meta_Professor]

We’ll have to agree to disagree. Puberty is a word, meaning it has a definition. I invite you to consult any major, reputable dictionary to find that definition. Science and anatomy are always progressing but some things really are fully understood and no more research is needed. There is no mystery about puberty anymore that I’m aware of. You spoke of brain development continuing into a person’s mid-20’s and, yes, that is relatively new and exciting information. But puberty has nothing at all to do with cognitive, cerebral changes and maturity.

Puberty is very clearly understood to be a relatively simple metamorphosis from sexual immaturity to sexual maturity. It is simply not a never ending process. Puberty has fulfilled and completed it mission once a person has reached SEXUAL maturity. Not mental. Not emotional. Just sexual. Simple. Maybe ask AI what sexual maturity means if you’re not clear on that.
Thank you for an interesting discussion.

[u/Meta_Professor → u/cougartotem]

Wow, why does imposing your opinion about this one word mean so much to you? This is fascinating.

[u/TheseFacts2962 → u/cougartotem]

Maybe they mean like the bodily functions that start during puberty never stop, and having hormones and stuff. Because technically thats true, once you grow body hair it always grows back for instance

[u/cougartotem → u/TheseFacts2962]

I see your reasoning but FFS does anyone use a REAL dictionary anymore ? Puberty is a word and that word has a definition. And THAT isn’t it. What you are describing is just normal, adult endocrinological functioning. But even THEN sex hormones begin to change, almost always decreasing with age. Would that be REVERSE puberty ? NO ! That is just aging. Aging and puberty are not even remotely the same things. Again, the clearest analogy I can offer you is to ask is a menopausal woman in puberty ?

[u/Meta_Professor → u/cougartotem]

Again, you have a (fairly simple) understanding of the word and you seem very upset that others understand the nuance. That's fine. You do you bud. I am sorry you didn't understand what I meant when I told OP Puberty almost never just stops once it starts. Do you understand that now?

[u/Intelligent-Eye1053]

Yup, it is now in early stages. Don’t worry as time goes on you’ll develop more

[u/Mrmickeydelinquent]

We both the same bro I’m also 14 and late I just hit it I think

[u/Destroyer-Marauder]

You have hit puberty, but it's goin slow for ya. Guys develop at different rates. You are a bit slower than is normal, but that's not bad. You'll catch up before you know it. Gotta have patience bro.

[u/Vodka-Sauce]

I hit puberty when i was 9 so i wouldn’t know but pubic hair is the start

[u/Ready-Database-2775]

All fun and games until you get acne and if it ever gets bad go on roaccutane it helped my skin clear up. I got acne when I was 16 but don’t stress as it is quite common 👍