A question about kids.

[kariann330]

So I know a lot of mental disorders and other afflictions are easily passed from parent to child. I'm wondering,is GD also hereditary? I'm wondering because I'm temporarily off hormones again because of an infection that requires antibiotics and my doctor doesn't want the two interfering with each other. Well knowing this my SO wants to try for a baby and I'm worried about not only passing along my bipolar, but one day finding out my son/daughter is in the same depressing situation I'm in right now.

thanks in advance

Kari

[suzifrommd]

So I know a lot of mental disorders and other afflictions are easily passed from parent to child. I'm wondering,is GD also hereditary? I'm wondering because I'm temporarily off hormones again because of an infection that requires antibiotics and my doctor doesn't want the two interfering with each other. Well knowing this my SO wants to try for a baby and I'm worried about not only passing along my bipolar, but one day finding out my son/daughter is in the same depressing situation I'm in right now.

thanks in advance

Kari

No evidence that GD is hereditary. It appears to be caused by conditions during pregnancy and not genetics.

[EllieM]

My understanding is that the jury is still out on that one. There was a study published in 2009 (Hare L, Bernard P, Sánchez FJ, Baird PN, Vilain E, Kennedy T, Harley VR (2009) Androgen receptor repeat length polymorphism associated with male-to-female transsexualism. Biol Psychiatry. 65(1):93-96) http://ts-si.org/files/doi101016jbiopsych200808033.pdf that suggests there may be a genetic link. That was one study. Another one published in 2013 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23324476
concluded that
"This gender disorder does not seem to be associated with any molecular mutations of some of the main genes involved in sexual differentiation."

That may all be moot, though. If you have been on a transitioning dose of E for more than six months, you may be sterile.
In the event that you can still father a child, and by some chance the child turns out to be TG, you being who you are will be sensitive to that and the child will not suffer as you did. So really, Kari, I don't think you have anything to worry about. This is a new world and you are a pioneer.

[Carrie Liz]

I'm actually having issues with my dad accepting me, because apparently he was a bit of a cross-gender fetishist. He often imagined becoming a woman as a sexual fantasy, and therefore he assumes that that's the same feeling that I'm having, and he always tells me that I shouldn't transition because he supposedly knows the feeling.

I don't know if that counts or not, since he's not trans, but there does seem to be a tendency for more feminine-leaning men in his side of the family. All of them are more quiet and introspective, almost none of them are stereotypically masculine.

[allisonsteph]

I don't think that gender dysphoria is a mental illness or hereditary at all. I firmly believe that the cause of gender dysphoria is the constant reinforcement  of "traditional societal roles". I am a big believer in not pushing the binary on children. I don't think that my gender dysphoria is caused by being born in the wrong body, I think it is caused by being told that it is not acceptable to express myself in a way that I am comfortable. Allowing children to just be themselves will go a long way in preventing dysphoria.

[suzifrommd]

I don't think that gender dysphoria is a mental illness or hereditary at all. I firmly believe that the cause of gender dysphoria is the constant reinforcement  of "traditional societal roles".

How would you explain trans women who are desperate to transition, and still wear traditionally male clothing, engage in traditionally male occupations and have traditionally male hobbies after their transitions?

[Jamie D]

How would you explain trans women who are desperate to transition, and still wear traditionally male clothing, engage in traditionally male occupations and have traditionally male hobbies after their transitions?

Operant conditioning

[allisonsteph]

How would you explain trans women who are desperate to transition, and still wear traditionally male clothing, engage in traditionally male occupations and have traditionally male hobbies after their transitions?

That is precisely what I mean by traditional societal roles. I was the person you just described for more than 30 years until it became a choice between transitioning or suicide. In other words, my dysphoria was not because there is something wrong with me, it is because society is telling me that there is something wrong with me.

[EllieM]

Operant conditioning

oooh...
you're dating yourself, there Burrhus...

[Ashley Allison]

I know personal experience doesn't count for much, from a scientific point of view, but I have a sibling that has GID also.  I find the odds of that happening mind boggling.  In the greatest of all likelihoods, there has to be genes that predispose our neuro-architecture to gender dysphoria.

[allisonsteph]

I know personal experience doesn't count for much, from a scientific point of view, but I have a sibling that has GID also.  I find the odds of that happening mind boggling.  In the greatest of all likelihoods, there has to be genes that predispose our neuro-architecture to gender dysphoria.

Or you were both raised in the same environment and subjected to the same experiences attitudes that shaped the people you and your sibling became.

[kountrygurl]

I do have a 23yo daughter who is lesbian. She does prefer to be seen as male. She usually binds. She also uses the male version of her name most of the time. But she does not consider herself as transgender. She says she has no desire at all to transition. What she says is she's just a little extra butchy looking with out the bad attitude. Now that's not meant to be offensive that's just her description of herself.

[Declan.]

I don't think that gender dysphoria is a mental illness or hereditary at all. I firmly believe that the cause of gender dysphoria is the constant reinforcement  of "traditional societal roles". I am a big believer in not pushing the binary on children. I don't think that my gender dysphoria is caused by being born in the wrong body, I think it is caused by being told that it is not acceptable to express myself in a way that I am comfortable. Allowing children to just be themselves will go a long way in preventing dysphoria.

I was allowed to express myself however I liked all my life. No one ever thought it was "weird" or harassed me about it. I was always masculine, and it was seen as a great thing by everyone around me. Nobody ever tried to force me into a "traditional societal roles," at least, no one who had any kind of influence over me. So while that may be true for you, it's not true for everybody, and it doesn't explain the brain scans and other physical markers that have nothing to do with that. That's a very common argument used against us by trans-exclusionary radical feminists who think we would not exist if "gender roles" didn't exist in society.

[allisonsteph]

So while that may be true for you, it's not true for everybody, and it doesn't explain the brain scans and other physical markers that have nothing to do with that.

Ok, I concede that point.