— ✍️Rahul and Tamanna Yadav

A year ago, a sanitary napkin advertisement caught attention due to its unusual portrayal. Typically, sanitary napkin advertisements feature teenage girls or adults, but this one depicted the main lead and other children who appeared to be around 8 or 9 years old. At first, this may seem surprising, but it reflects a concerning trend of early puberty, where more girls are experiencing their first period at a younger age.

Over the last few years, a silent biological shift has been observed worldwide, including in India, with children entering puberty at increasingly younger ages. Precocious puberty—defined medically as the development of secondary sexual characteristics before age 8 in girls—was once considered rare. However, this is changing, and the issue is becoming more complex. Precocious puberty is far more common in girls than boys, with girls accounting for approximately 95% of cases.

While puberty has traditionally been viewed as a natural biological transition into adolescence, premature puberty involves much more than physical changes. For many young girls, it becomes a distressing and isolating experience, marked by confusion, stigma, and hypervisibility.

Premature puberty sits at the intersection of biology, environment, society, and gender. It is not just a health issue but also a feminist one. Girls who mature early face heightened vulnerability to psychological distress, social isolation, and gender discrimination, as their bodies are scrutinized through an adult lens long before their minds are ready. This phenomenon raises urgent questions: What drives this biological acceleration? And how do gendered social expectations affect girls experiencing early puberty?

The Declining Age of Puberty

Global data reveals a downward trend in the age of pubertal onset, with studies indicating that girls now begin breast development earlier than in previous generations. A systematic review and meta-analysis found that the age at thelarche (breast development), measured through physical or clinical examination, declined by three months per decade between 1977 and 2013.

Most studies on this subject are based in Western contexts, but anecdotal clinical evidence suggests similar trends in India. While comprehensive data is still lacking, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is planning its first survey to assess the prevalence of early puberty. However, doctors have reported a surge in precocious puberty cases following the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2017 cross-sectional study among girls aged 11 to 15 in two schools in Kollam, Kerala, found a significant prevalence rate of 10.4%.

What Explains This Biological Shift?

Scientists are investigating the possible causes behind this phenomenon. A growing body of research points to exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which can alter pubertal timing. EDCs are hormonally active substances used in industries for nearly a century and are found in cosmetics, plastics, packaging materials, pesticides (in non-organic fruits and vegetables), and more. Chemicals like bisphenol-A (BPA) mimic estrogen, and higher BPA levels have been linked to early puberty. However, the effects of EDCs are not uniform and depend on factors such as exposure timing (prenatal vs. postnatal), dosage, and body weight.

Beyond chemicals, childhood obesity is a significant contributor to central precocious puberty. Obesity prematurely activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. Research applying life history theory suggests a connection between multigenerational stress and early puberty. Factors such as family adversity, ethnic identity, economic hardship, BMI, and personal trauma have been identified as key risk factors. This implies that puberty is not purely biological but also a physiological adaptation to stress, reflecting broader societal inequalities. In India, stressors like poverty, academic pressure, or parental migration for work may similarly influence pubertal timing.

Psychosocial Influences on Puberty

Social scientists argue that psychosocial factors also shape pubertal timing. The seminal paper by Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper (1991) posits that early puberty is not just a biological anomaly but an adaptive response to a child’s early social environment. Drawing from life history theory, the authors suggest that in unstable environments marked by harsh parenting, father absence, or emotional neglect, children may perceive the world as unpredictable and resource-scarce. As a survival mechanism, their bodies accelerate reproductive development, leading to earlier puberty. In this framework, early puberty is a biologically rooted response to psychosocial stress rather than a pathological deviation.

However, it is crucial to recognize that early puberty does not occur in isolation. In a world where gendered expectations are deeply entrenched, it does not merely change a girl’s physiology—it reshapes how society sees her, polices her, and restricts her freedoms. These changes come at a cost: biologically, emotionally, and socially.

The Gendered Costs of Early Puberty

Girls who experience early puberty face higher risks of obesity, diabetes, and breast cancer. Beyond physical health, it affects their emotional and psychological well-being, leading to low self-esteem, anxiety, and early bone maturation, which can result in reduced adult height.

In a country where menstruation leads to 23 million school dropouts, early puberty is a serious concern. Lack of access to clean toilets, sanitary products, and menstrual education forces many girls to miss classes or leave school entirely. In many parts of India, girls who menstruate early face increased restrictions on mobility, are pulled out of sports and extracurricular activities, or are even viewed as "marriageable," leading to early exits from education. Thus, dropout rates are not just due to physical discomfort but also gendered social expectations.

Beneath these visible consequences lies a deeper structure of social control that shapes psychological and emotional development. Feminist scholars like Sandra Bartky and Susan Bordo, building on Foucault’s Discipline and Punish, highlight disciplinary mechanisms such as constant surveillance. Bartky argues that these practices condition women into a state of "conscious and permanent visibility," reinforcing stereotypical femininity and internalized subordination.

These disciplinary forces intensify during puberty, when bodily changes invite heightened scrutiny. As Laura Mulvey explains, social norms are often constructed from a heterosexual male perspective, subjecting women’s bodies to constant judgment and sexualization. This "male gaze" does not wait for age—once a girl develops breasts, hips, or height, boys, men, and even family members begin viewing her through a lens of sexual suspicion. In cultures where female sexuality is tightly controlled, girls learn to perform "good girl" behavior as a survival strategy, as Judith Butler notes. Early puberty forces them into this role prematurely, before they are emotionally ready.

For these girls, early puberty becomes doubly oppressive: they struggle to navigate rapidly changing bodies while enduring stigma, shame, and anxiety. A recent study in JAMA Network Open found a link between early puberty and increased mental health risks.

The Premature End of Childhood

Smriti, a PhD scholar at NIT Jaipur, observed: "I’ve noticed that early puberty in girls leads to changed societal expectations regarding their behavior, attire, and social interactions. These expectations arise before they are mentally mature enough to understand them. I’ve seen girls as young as ten, once they show signs of puberty, being told to sit with elders instead of playing with friends during family functions."

Her reflection underscores what sociologists describe as the early social end of childhood. Childhood is often defined in contrast to adulthood, and society tends to stop viewing someone as a child once they exhibit adult-like traits. However, the transition from childhood to adulthood is not instantaneous- it requires time, care, and guidance.

The stage of middle childhood (ages 6–12) is crucial for cognitive, social, and emotional development. Disrupting this phase with premature adult expectations, due to early puberty, creates a mismatch between physical and emotional maturity, hindering a healthy transition into adulthood.

To conclude, early puberty is not just a biological shift, it’s a social rupture. When girls grow up too soon, their bodies are thrust into adult scrutiny while their minds remain in childhood. This mismatch creates emotional strain, social isolation, and a loss of innocence. To truly protect girlhood, we must go beyond medicine and address the deeper gendered expectations and inequalities that rush girls out of childhood before they are ready.

- Rahul Yadav is a PhD candidate in the Social Sciences department at NIT Jaipur, and his co-author, Tamanna, is pursuing her master’s in Sociology from JNU, Delhi.