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Hey Non-binary folks, do you know you are "fascinating"

Started by peky, March 22, 2013, 01:53:22 PM

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peky

Med Hypotheses. 2012 May;78(5):626-31. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2012.01.041. Epub 2012 Feb 22.
Alternating gender incongruity: a new neuropsychiatric syndrome providing insight into the dynamic plasticity of brain-sex.
Case LK, Ramachandran VS.
SourceCenter for Brain and Cognition, University of California, McGill Hall, 9500 Gilman Dr. M/C 0109, La Jolla, San Diego, CA 92093, USA. lkcase@ucsd.edu

Abstract
Between the two extreme ends of human sexuality - male and female - lie a poorly understood and poorly studied spectrum of ambiguously defined sexual identities that are very much a part of the human condition but defy rigid classification. "Bigender" is a recently formed sub-category of ->-bleeped-<-, describing individuals who experience a blending or alternation of gender states. While recognized nominally by the APA, no scientific work to our knowledge has addressed this fascinating condition, or proposed any physiological basis for it. In addition, the alternation aspect has not been proposed as a nosological entity distinct from blending. We present descriptive data suggesting that many bigender individuals experience an involuntary switching of gender states without any amnesia for either state. In addition, similar to transsexual individuals, the majority of bigender individuals experience phantom breasts or genitalia corresponding to the non-biologic gender when they are in a trans-gender state. Finally, our survey found decreased lateralization of handedness in the bigender community. These observations suggest a biologic basis of bigenderism and lead us to propose a novel gender condition, "alternating gender incongruity" (AGI). We hypothesize that AGI may be related to an unusual degree or depth of hemispheric switching and corresponding callosal suppression of sex appropriate body maps in parietal cortex- possibly the superior parietal lobule- and its reciprocal connections with the insula and hypothalamus. This is based on two lines of reasoning. First, bigender individuals in our survey sample reported an elevated rate of bipolar disorder, which has been linked to slowed hemispheric switching. We hypothesize that tracking the nasal cycle, rate of binocular rivalry, and other markers of hemispheric switching will reveal a physiological basis for AGI individuals' subjective reports of gender switches. Switching may also trigger hormonal cascades, which we are currently exploring. Second, we base our hypotheses on ancient and modern associations between the left and right hemispheres and the male and female genders. By providing a case of sharp brain-sex shifts within individuals, we believe that the study of AGI could prove illuminating to scientific understanding of gender, body representation, and the nature of self.

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.



You are getting the attention you rightfully deserve..congrats folks!!

Corrected typo in topic title
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Jess42

Thanks for the article peky, maybe there is hope for mankind yet.
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Brightest After Dawn

Interesting; I do have a lot of bipolar traits, though sadly in my case it's more a sudden switch between extreme anxiety and depression and "blah".  :(
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ativan

I find it pretty interesting that they make a point of having already named their speculation. :laugh:

*Hmmm...I wonder about this. But first, I shall name it alternating gender incongruity. We can refer to it as AGI.*

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Kia

I always had a sneaking suspicion I was amazing, now I can shove science in the face of all those nay-sayers
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Eva Marie

A little background on this study. We in the bigender community are well aware of it.

It happened in San Diego and some of us (yours truly) was involved with it. A very special person was in involved in getting the whole study started (bless you sweetie).

It is gratifying that people that are bigender now have something to use to explain "us", even if it does have a weird name (AGI).

Riven
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ativan

My moment of sarcasm was only at the idea that they had pre-named it.
Which is not at all unusual in studies.
If it had been stated as a term to use instead, it would have slipped by the sarcasm mode of my brain. :-\
It took me a couple times reading it to grasp the complete idea and concept they were stating.

Not a big deal, I have written many proposal's in the past that my superiors handed back.
Asking me to rewrite it in a way they and others could better understand it.
"Less street slang", was a common response. :P
Usually the biggest part of the battle to get funding and the go ahead to start.

The name fits, I hope it pans out into bigger and better studies, as always.
Hormonal cascading is of a great interest to me, I'm glad that it is a component of the study and research.
Hormone levels flucuate, nothing new there, to approach them as a cascade effect goes with what I have thought for a long time.
It should prove interesting. Again, I hope that pans out into more research.
Along with the rest of it, of course. It's very interesting, a novel approach instead of rehashing old ideas.

AGI, Alternating Gender Incongruity, is a proper designation. It's not weird, it's descriptive.
I just hope the psychiatric and pharmaceutical people don't look at it as an opportunity to make it a disorder.
Thereby using it as something that needs massively wrong medications, for massive profits.
It's still Bigender to me, a gender unique in it's own qualities.
Non-binary by my definition...
Ativan
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brainiac

Huh, I didn't know VS Ramachandran was involved in topics like this! He's world-famous neuroscientist, most well-known for his work on phantom limbs and in vision. (He apparently wrote another article suggesting that post-op transsexuals are less likely to experience a phantom of the removed/modified body parts than cis people who have similar surgeries--breasts for FTMs and penis for MTFs--since their brain map didn't really include the original bits in the first place. It was just a short hypothetical thing and they don't really have data to support it, but still, interesting. Note that this specific line was included in the abstract: "We would emphasise here that transsexuality should not be regarded as "abnormal" but instead as part of the spectrum of human behaviour." :)) And the first author, Laura Case, apparently does research into how the brain represents your "map" of your body, including in trans people. I'm gonna have to look more into her stuff, I totally wasn't aware of this! Thanks so much for bringing this up.

The hemispheric switching hypothesis discussed in this paper is really interesting. They don't have too much support for it here, but they make some interesting suggestions, like using transcranial magnetic stimulation (a technique that uses a magnet to activate brain parts through the skull in a completely non-painful, safe way--I've done it, it was awesome) to see if they could "instigate" a gender switch, or using fMRI to see where activation changes during different gender states in bigender people.
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peky

Other syndromes like "Borderline Personality Disorder" seem also to mainly result from biochemical/histological alterations of an area, and the altered interactions with other nearby or distant centers.

Also "hot" and hush hush in many circles is the finding -yet to be published- of a center (rumor is near the arquate center) responsible for your "emotional orientation"

It seems that all this centers are very plastic, and change with age, nutrition, and hormones...not the dogma many wanted or hoped for...but there is no doubt that what we are is biological....no need to resort to esoteric "mindfulness" just to explain how our brain puts ourselves together
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