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The Hook Up

Is Second Puberty Real?

25 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What were some personal experiences shared about puberty?

0.031 - 2.834 Jessie

The worst part about puberty for me was the random boners.

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3.214 - 16.909 Dee Salmon

Tambons at that age are so, like for me, they were so traumatizing because like I never fully understood how to do it properly. I just didn't want to be perceived as an adult. You know, you're in grade three. You're not mentally ready for the changes that your body's going through.

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16.929 - 20.132 Kieran

It does feel very much like a second puberty.

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20.432 - 23.456 Mia

A lot of the time I just feel like a little horny teenage boy.

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23.556 - 27.76 Pip Rasmussen

Get the therapist on speed dial for after this because we're going to re-traumatize you.

35.89 - 58.231 Dee Salmon

Hi, I'm Dee Salmon, and for those of you who have been following The Hookup for years now, I've got a bit of an announcement to make. Oh, what is it? Well, you know how I famously don't pay for parking? Famously. Because I just, I take the gamble. I take the risk, and I say, if I get a fine, I get a fine. And for me, getting a fine is cheaper than paying for parking. Right, right.

58.551 - 65.678 Dee Salmon

Because of the odds. Because of the odds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, this is a real recession indicator, but I've started paying for parking.

65.658 - 66.699 Pip Rasmussen

Oh.

66.939 - 67.56 Dee Salmon

I feel shame.

Chapter 2: How do societal expectations impact the experience of puberty?

81.235 - 98.628 Pip Rasmussen

Personal growth. And a recession indicator. Thank you. Hi, I'm Pip Rasmussen and my recession indicator is that I went out to dinner and and got a doggy bag takeaway in a little box and then went to the club and I cloaked my takeaway food at the club.

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98.688 - 102.378 Dee Salmon

You stunk out the club. Did you have fish?

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102.679 - 105.908 Pip Rasmussen

No, no, it was vegetarian. It was a vegetarian migarang. It was good.

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105.888 - 134.899 Pip Rasmussen

gorgeous i couldn't let it go and the portion was so big and i was like i'm gonna have this for lunch tomorrow and i'm going to the club and i'm bringing the food with me went to the cloak room went and gave the lady my cloak or i should say my coat why do they call it cloaks no one's wearing cloaks anymore medieval day type shit room anyway so i got my jacket gave it to the lady and then i was like i know this is really fucked up but i need you to cloak this as well do you have a fridge and i'm not joking she rolled her eyes at me she went

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136.432 - 137.114 Dee Salmon

I mean fair.

137.134 - 140.121 Pip Rasmussen

And took it. And she was so mad. And I was like.

140.322 - 143.329 Dee Salmon

Yeah, because you're stinking out her closet. She has to sit there all night, Pete.

143.39 - 147.019 Pip Rasmussen

It was very tightly packed into a container.

147.42 - 149.084 Dee Salmon

I draw the line. That's where I draw the line.

Chapter 3: What is the concept of second puberty and is it real?

167.83 - 181.407 Dee Salmon

We talk about love, sex, and any relationships. So this episode is actually something I don't think we've ever spoken. Can you believe? Have we not? We are like a sex education podcast and we have never spoken about going through puberty.

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181.387 - 194.785 Pip Rasmussen

It is such a universal experience, which is why I'm surprised that we haven't really covered it. And we thought we would open up the floor today and hear your stories about what it was like for you going through puberty. Like, did you experience a lot of shame and embarrassment or was it really good?

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195.185 - 216.134 Dee Salmon

Yeah, I never got taught about puberty in school. I don't think like many of us were kind of given that that convo about what to expect. So, yeah, we kind of want to unpack that in this episode and talk about as well, like Like kind of Pip said, like some of the shame that comes with that, but also some of the ideas that shift based on your assigned gender, right?

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216.154 - 229.855 Dee Salmon

Like I think we see as soon as you develop boobs or develop certain parts of your body, then all of a sudden, like how you were seen in the world completely shifts. Yes. And the impact that that can have on you as a person learning about yourself in the world.

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229.835 - 242.815 Pip Rasmussen

Yeah, there's like mental, there's physical and also we're going to cover what is kind of this like urban legend thing called second puberty. We're going to figure out if it's real and if you've experienced it, we're going to hear your stories.

244.195 - 261.496 Dee Salmon

So with a lot of episodes that we do, Pip, we hear from you on our Instagram at Triple J The Hookup. So we're not going to talk about like puberty in the sense that like there is this one size fits all. We're going to hear so many different experiences. You might be listening or watching and going, I never went through that or I never experienced that or I never felt like that. So fine. So valid.

261.797 - 269.186 Dee Salmon

But we are basically just going to be hearing from you, your DMs, your stories, your voice memos around those experiences that you had growing up.

269.386 - 286.69 Pip Rasmussen

Yeah. Well, maybe we can start with us as we like to, you know, wet everyone's whistle and soften the blow and talk about our own experiences of puberty. How was it for you in general? I'm sorry, I'm still going to go using wet the whistle. Wet the whistle? Um...

Chapter 4: How do hormonal changes affect physical and mental health during puberty?

286.67 - 313.133 Dee Salmon

I was a really, really late developer. Yeah. So I feel like everyone that I was friends with had their period, had boobs. And I didn't really until I was like in my late teens. And I felt so much shame around that. Like I desperately, desperately wanted boobs to fit in. Really? Yeah. Like I was like, everyone I knew had them.

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313.153 - 327.544 Dee Salmon

And like, also they got so much attention from guys and I just wanted, I was seeking that malvalidation. Like I wanted to be seen as like attractive. So I would buy bras and just like fill them with tissues and like make it look like I had boobs when I absolutely had nothing there.

0

327.524 - 342.36 Pip Rasmussen

I just got a flashback to like all those like coming of age films that we would have watched like Angus Boys and Perfect Snog. Wait, was it? Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging? Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging. Even like the Bend It Like Beckons as she's the man of it all, like doing those things like to just try and fit in.

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342.577 - 359.543 Pip Rasmussen

I kind of relate to that, but I also felt like my puberty blues was kind of like moodiness and being like really angry and short tempered. And I feel like I still am like that a bit. So maybe I've never really grown out of it, but I do remember fighting my brother a lot growing up.

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359.703 - 373.193 Dee Salmon

The slamming of the doors. I think I slammed so many doors and was just like, just this feeling of like, you never get me. Or like, fuck you. Like I always was so angry over the smallest thing, like not being allowed to go to a sleepover or not being allowed to go to something.

373.294 - 381.156 Pip Rasmussen

Yeah, I really resonated with the time that my brother first called me a bitch. And it was like fucking mic drop moment. I was like, and then I was like.

381.136 - 403.768 Pip Rasmussen

my god he's right I'm being a bitch like I was being so mean but yeah I was like you as well I was like a bit of a late bloomer as well and yeah we'll unpack a lot of the shame around whether you were late or early because that does play a big role in how you felt about your body changing like when that was happening but first we did a poll on our Instagram as you mentioned at triple j the hookup if you're not already following us what the fuck are you doing

403.748 - 408.578 Pip Rasmussen

We asked, what was your experience going through puberty? 13% of you said it was a good experience.

Chapter 5: What are the common challenges faced during puberty?

408.598 - 416.674 Pip Rasmussen

12% said I'm traumatized. And 76% of you said it was average and pretty standard. Can I just say, I'm actually really surprised by this.

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416.974 - 420.942 Dee Salmon

I'm so shocked that there's not more people traumatized. I know. Only 12%.

0

421.342 - 428.772 Pip Rasmussen

Like, are you forgetting all of these like pivotal moments? Because I feel like throughout this episode, we're going to have so many flashbacks and be like, oh, fuck. Yeah, that happened to me too.

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428.913 - 442.952 Dee Salmon

It wasn't more the fact that I was going through puberty. Maybe that people are misinterpreting. I don't think that I didn't have a traumatic experience like developing. I had a traumatic experience in the way that I was late or like the shame around that or like,

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442.932 - 451.462 Dee Salmon

you know, I just feel like the way that society deals with puberty was traumatic rather than the actual experience that I was physically going through.

451.502 - 464.197 Pip Rasmussen

And also, sorry to throw back to what I was just saying about all these movies and books that we're growing up with. Like the plot lines were all about like these things happening to people, like getting your first period or getting a pube or getting a boner.

464.237 - 464.738 Max

Like,

464.718 - 473.913 Pip Rasmussen

Wet dreams. Yeah, these were things that people were writing about and being like, this was so awful at the time. And I'm like, maybe people are forgetting that they went through this, but I think we're going to jog your memory.

473.953 - 476.297 Dee Salmon

And we can bring it right back for you. Bring it back.

Chapter 6: How does sexualization affect young people during puberty?

518.839 - 525.488 Pip Rasmussen

So in girls, it's ovaries producing estrogen and progesterone. And in boys, testes produce testosterone.

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525.468 - 539.008 Dee Salmon

And we're going to be talking about the trans experience as well. So if you do hear us say like girls or boys, like we are talking about the sex that you were assigned at birth. But yeah, it's so huge. It's not even just the physical changes like you were saying, Pip.

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539.028 - 556.602 Dee Salmon

It's also the mental changes, that rapid increase in hormones or the drops that are happening, the changes like really mentally huge. Like you were saying, like Moody, I was crying. I felt like I was crying constantly. Really? I just felt like no matter what it was, I would just cry over it.

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557.344 - 563.659 Dee Salmon

Millie sent us a DM saying I was a raging bitch, yelled at a teacher, didn't understand why I was so hot-headed.

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563.639 - 585.31 Pip Rasmussen

Yeah, I feel like it's all that prefrontal cortex stuff developing and not being developed at all. And then, yeah, just getting thrown into so many bodily changes. So let's unpack all of that. First, let's start with the good experience. So what was it? 13% of you saying it was a great experience. Someone who sent us a voice memo about this. I really, really love this. Kelly...

585.29 - 597.91 Pip Rasmussen

sent us a voice memo and she said that she grew up in a really open and educational household. She had like no shame around puberty and it was talked about with her entire family. And this is what happened when she got her first period.

598.191 - 617.522 Heidi

It was a Saturday. I was meant to be going to tennis. My mum later that day made a cake to commemorate and celebrate this moment. with the rest of my family. So my younger brother and my dad, I guess I'm really lucky that the kind of family that I grew up in, I didn't feel any kind of like awkwardness or shyness around that. It was just like a matter of life.

Chapter 7: What are the differences in puberty experiences for transgender individuals?

617.863 - 618.764 Pip Rasmussen

I'm obsessed with that.

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618.824 - 619.826 Heidi

I want a period cake.

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619.926 - 639.698 Pip Rasmussen

Imagine like your dad and your brother as well. Like I have both of those. And like, I can't even imagine like them being like, let's have a period cake. Give me a slice of that cake. I mean, obviously it's red velvet flavoured. Oh, obviously. You know, when I got my first period, my mum was actually away for like a work trip or something. And I like called her and I was like,

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639.678 - 656.323 Pip Rasmussen

It finally happened. Oh, my God. I felt like I was just waiting for so long. And she cried. On the phone? She was really upset that she wasn't there for me. And that was really sweet because, like, we didn't necessarily, like, openly talk about, like, that kind of thing. But it was really nice to, like, know that she really cared.

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656.343 - 656.563 Max

She cared.

656.924 - 667.82 Pip Rasmussen

And then my grandma gave me a present. She gave me a little, I think it's called, like, a potpourri or whatever. Yeah. Like, the little bag of, like, lavender that you put in, like, your socks and undies. And she gave me, like, a bar of soap. And I was like, okay, symbolically, what does that mean? What are you saying?

668 - 670.325 Dee Salmon

Dirty? Yeah. I don't know about that.

670.586 - 673.492 Pip Rasmussen

But it was just like one of those grandma gifts that they were like, just give her something.

Chapter 8: What insights do listeners share about their puberty experiences?

673.532 - 674.755 Pip Rasmussen

You're a woman now.

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675.095 - 684.315 Dee Salmon

I love that. I'm in two minds because I feel like I was like you. Mine, I was a late bloomer and mine came ages later than all of my friends, like everyone I knew before.

0

684.295 - 699.823 Dee Salmon

me had it and I I don't even remember it being like a momentous thing which is kind of like it came and it was a bit scary and I think I cried and then that was it yeah but like there was no hoo-ha around it and there was no like acknowledgement of it being this significant like change

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699.803 - 718.506 Dee Salmon

And so I'm kind of like in two minds because I like the idea of being like let's create some sort of ritual, make some sort of symbolic moment of this. But then at the same time I'm also like, yeah, like maybe we should just normalise and it shouldn't be a thing and it's just like, oh, yeah, now you've got it. I know what you're saying. I don't know how I feel. I haven't decided.

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718.527 - 720.529 Pip Rasmussen

I think that we should have period parties.

721.1 - 722.882 Dee Salmon

Love. Any excuse for a party.

723.002 - 728.769 Pip Rasmussen

Any excuse to throw a party. Any excuse for a little red velvet cupcake. And I think maybe it could be kind of fun.

728.789 - 746.728 Dee Salmon

And don't gender it. I don't like the gendering. Like I don't like the – I hear so many stories and I feel like this probably was mine of it just being like, oh, that's your mum or your auntie. Yeah. No. Like it should be everyone – like Kelly. Like Kelly involving dad and brother. It's like, no, this is your daughter. Yeah. If you're a father.

746.809 - 749.031 Dee Salmon

It's like don't just be like that's your mum's business. Yeah.

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