Sex-change women think more like men after testosterone treatment - study

[stephaniec]

Sex-change women think more like men after testosterone treatment - study

http://www.eveshamjournal.co.uk/news/national/13635950.Sex_change_women_think_more_like_men_after_testosterone_treatment___study/

Evesham Journal/Press Association 2014 / 4 hours ago / National

"Women given testosterone while undergoing a sex change start to think more like men after the treatment, research suggests.

Their brains undergo structural changes and shrink in areas that play a key role in language, scientists found.

The discovery reinforces the idea that "men are from Mars and women from Venus" because of the way their brains are wired.

Women are known to have better verbal and multi-tasking skills than men, while men are believed to have a superior spatial ability."

[Arch]

I was rather confused by this headline. I was thinking, "Why would trans women want to go on T therapy?"

[stephaniec]

yes, same here

[Tysilio]

Moi aussi.

[IdontEven]

I was confused on the headline as well. Pretty interesting. I wonder if these are permanent one-way street changes or if similar changes occur for MtF's.

At the risk of being stereotypical, am I going to lose the ability to parallel park but gain the ability to do the language the goodly?

[Rejennyrated]

It's definitely not a one way street. I'm pretty sure there are other papers I have read that prove that.

Experientially too I have pretty comprehensively demonstrated it in my own life. For the five to six years on my life that I was under the influence of testosterone I became good at things that I can no longer really wrap my head around. For a start I did a physics degree! On the other hand subsequently with estrogen I acquired skills in language and social interaction which allowed me to do things like gaining an MA in creatve writing and my current medical degree, both of which would have been utterly impossible for the T fueled me. So yes it is reversible.

[suzifrommd]

Would it have killed them to call FtM transgender people "men"? Did they have to say "women"? It's a really interesting study and an important result, but it comes off instead as a denial of identity.

[Laura_7]

I was confused on the headline as well. Pretty interesting. I wonder if these are permanent one-way street changes or if similar changes occur for MtF's.

At the risk of being stereotypical, am I going to lose the ability to parallel park but gain the ability to do the language the goodly?

many people said they retained some abilities but gained others...
an increased sense of smell...
increased sense for colours...
verbal abilities were mentioned already...

[Arch]

I wish I had lost some of my sense of smell. In fact, I was counting on it. Didn't happen.

I did one of those color tests not long ago and found that my ability to distinguish distinct shades is abysmal--I was at the very bottom of the scale. However, I did not take the test pre-T, so I have nothing to compare with.

I was always good with space, but my sense of direction seems to have improved. I can find my way around more easily than I used to. I used to get lost sometimes when finding my way back from a strange place. Nowadays, that happens less often, even though I am less likely to consult my map or written directions.

[Jill F]

Me sex change woman, him not. *facepalm*