Is There Something Unique about the Transgender Brain?

[stephaniec]

Is There Something Unique about the Transgender Brain?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-there-something-unique-about-the-transgender-brain/

Scientific American /By Francine Russo on January 1, 2016

"Some children insist, from the moment they can speak, that they are not the gender indicated by their biological sex. So where does this knowledge reside? And is it possible to discern a genetic or anatomical basis for transgender identity? Exploration of these questions is relatively new, but there is a bit of evidence for a genetic basis. Identical twins are somewhat more likely than fraternal twins to both be trans."

[Peep]

None of these studies account for agender or non binary tho

[Elis]

I also don't understand why children at such a young age can definitely say they're not the gender assigned to them but for other people it takes them much longer to discover they're trans. Could it be that the latter are more on the non binary side?

[Kellam]

Neat.

[Eva Marie]

I also don't understand why children at such a young age can definitely say they're not the gender assigned to them but for other people it takes them much longer to discover they're trans. Could it be that the latter are more on the non binary side?

I figured it out in my early 40s. In my case it was caused by lack of access to information. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was different, I just had no way to figure out what the difference was until high speed internet came along.

Another reason is that the times were different when I was a kid than they are today. People my age were raised in an era when being transgender was considered a filthy perversion that was not acknowledged or discussed or accepted - if you had these feelings it was socially better to bury them than to risk becoming an outcast.

Today there is access to information and a lot more acceptance so I believe you will begin to see more people transitioning sooner rather than later.

[suzifrommd]

I also don't understand why children at such a young age can definitely say they're not the gender assigned to them but for other people it takes them much longer to discover they're trans. Could it be that the latter are more on the non binary side?

For me, it's that the available sources of information were stuck on the standard narrative - always knew from a young age, feel like a woman in a man's body, want to play with dolls, etc. I assumed since these things didn't apply to me, (I just wanted to be female, really, really badly) I wasn't trans.

Once I found Susan's Place, I realized that many other people experienced it the same way I did.

[Deborah]

For me, it's that the available sources of information were stuck on the standard narrative - always knew from a young age, feel like a woman in a man's body, want to play with dolls, etc. I assumed since these things didn't apply to me, (I just wanted to be female, really, really badly) I wasn't trans.

Once I found Susan's Place, I realized that many other people experienced it the same way I did.

i thought I was trans pretty early but that standard narrative left me with a lot of anxiety and doubt wondering if maybe I was just insane, or a pervert, or any number of other things.  In fact, at my first psychologist appointment last year the first thing I said was I believe I am trans but I want to rule out insanity before going forward.


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[Cynobyte]

Yea, it took til my late 30's before this all made sense.  When I was a kid, I used to think my mom was mean about a few things that I wish she was alive now to talk about. 
1.  I walked on my tiptoes
2.  I played with my neighbor who was a girl with dolls.  Hated boy toys (except matchbox cars)
3.  I spoke in a higher pitch voice which I always was ridiculed about
4.  Always played in mom's clothes

I lived in a small town in nebraska where I just started remembering this, that my mom was hard on me about these things.  I would get yelled at and beaten by her and others.  I can remember someone saying I'd thank them someday?  I was only a few years old?  I was always called Jamie in nebraska,  but somehow it was turned to James when we moved to Texas just before my teens?

Well, I hated sports, still do..  Played tennis in high school.  I was usually a loner in school, made mostly a's.  Hated crowds, esp of guys? 

Moved back to nebraska half way through high school.  Got almost all my classes w just girls, usually because the smart classes like math and sciences were just girls.

My truck I painted pink and turquoise.. Even my wife met me wearing my favorite pink pants.. 

The strangest thing was I had wierd sexual desires at that age I just couldn't figure out.  Its hard to describe.  But having sex with girls, i imagined i was them..  I was big with the ladies though.  They say it's because I was nice, courteous, and not so nasty or pushy..  I was living in nebraska I guess, not much to pick from when all the guys were into corn, combines, and country music..  I stuck out like a sore thumb.  I couldn't stand their lifestyle,  yet I didn't want to be so obvious..  I joined the military my junior year of high school to make sure I got my job and got out of nowhere nebraska as soon as I graduated..  I just didn't fit in, and I couldn't figure out why?  I had friends,  but I even hid from them, looking for something else..

Then I joined the military, I met my first gay guy there.  I wasn't attracted to him, but we became good friends and had alot in common..  for some reason I was always the new girls supervisor and trainer and got along great with them.  My military buddies thought I was odd, they just thought it was because of my genius of science and electronics..  most inventors have qwerks? 

It was not until I got out that I first saw a transgender person.  It was in vegas, I was in awe..  it was not until a few years ago that I found out about them online.  What an srs was (maybe this was why I always had this secret desire to have a vag?)  My skills, I was already designing and trying to figure out how to get one..  I never though a surgical procedure was in place already.  I had shaved my body hair since highschool.  Hated any type of hair (I cut my hair military style until a couple years ago.. 

Ok, dont wanna keep boring ya..  when all this stuff finally added up and made sense, i was given a few years to live, im retired, and my son has went to college, so poof,, here I am!  we all don't know where this is heading, just glad to get there at some point:)

Postcards from the other side:)

[Peep]

I also don't understand why children at such a young age can definitely say they're not the gender assigned to them but for other people it takes them much longer to discover they're trans. Could it be that the latter are more on the non binary side?

It could also be that not every child (or adult) is self aware enough to realise, or self confident enough to push for, what they really want. I know I always wanted to join in with the opposite sex socially (less the dolls vs trucks dichotomy and more whatever the boys were doing even if it was just standing around) but was never confident enough to ask and always assumed I would be rejected or unable to keep up (because of society's low expectations of "female" bodies). I didn't have the confidence for the fight to be accepted and so stayed with a small group of 'tomboy'-ish girls because it was easier.

There's also the idea that some children will see the gender roles more, and to the parents enforcing them, there will be more of a transgression, and so they question their child's gender and get an affirmative answer. My parents never really pushed any roles or questioned our choices (until i came out at 24, that is, at which point I suddenly became a super girly girl in their eyes, conveniently, whereas up til that point i was never femme enough  ).

[Deborah]

There's also the idea that some children will see the gender roles more, and to the parents enforcing them, there will be more of a transgression, and so they question their child's gender and get an affirmative answer. My parents never really pushed any roles or questioned our choices (until i came out at 24, that is, at which point I suddenly became a super girly girl in their eyes, conveniently, whereas up til that point i was never femme enough  ).

That's an interesting thought.  When I was a child my parents didn't really push any gender stereotypes on me either.  Maybe just a little in the selection of allowed toys but nothing really beyond that. 

That all changed when they discovered my secret at puberty and thereafter I was forced on a hyper-masculine path.


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[RobynD]

I figured it out in my early 40s. In my case it was caused by lack of access to information. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was different, I just had no way to figure out what the difference was until high speed internet came along.

Another reason is that the times were different when I was a kid than they are today. People my age were raised in an era when being transgender was considered a filthy perversion that was not acknowledged or discussed or accepted - if you had these feelings it was socially better to bury them than to risk becoming an outcast.

Today there is access to information and a lot more acceptance so I believe you will begin to see more people transitioning sooner rather than later.

Exactly this. I'm not sure when i figured out that there was such a thing as GD, but i bet it was no more than 15 yrs ago. There just wasn't the information readily available. I just thought i was a sort of gender outlaw that enjoyed being a feminine male. It took the right sort of therapy and research for me to figure it out. I knew i was different and i knew it caused many problems in my life, i did not know how to address it.

The terms my culture had for transgender people, focused on all sorts of mainly negative, or comedic things like "mrs doubtfire". This was basically all i had to go on.

[Peep]

Yeah I'd be interested to see how the trans narrative changes as people of my generation (born early 90s) start having children. That's not to say that all of us are enlightened progressive beings, but I think the general standards for male and female have changed a lot, and people's expectations are different.

The thing about feminism is, though, that in my experience is that it kind of erases the transman experience - a lot of things i would do as a trans man are things hailed as achievements as a female: it's feminism and things like the rational dress movement that put women in trousers, for one example; radical feminism was tied in with lesbian activism (and probably ftms that were recorded by history as butch lesbians the same way that transwomen are often misplaced as drag queens and 'transvestites'), and hating your body or your roles in society often reads just as 'angry feminist' rather than as transgender person. I think that's another reason I didn't realise until late on: society was telling me it was a normal part of the "female" experience to be dissatisfied with everything your body does. Which is lead me to mistrust my feelings about my own gender.

[Gladys-phylis]

  I know I always wanted to join in with the opposite sex socially (less the dolls vs trucks dichotomy and more whatever the boys were doing even if it was just standing around) but was never confident enough to ask and always assumed I would be rejected or unable to keep up (because of society's low expectations of "female" bodies). I didn't have the confidence for the fight to be accepted and so stayed with a small group of 'tomboy'-ish girls because it was easier.

I can certainly identify with this statement (only that I wanted to stand with the girls). But, I was too scared and willing to just take the path of least resistance.

--Danielle


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[Brandii]

I share background with several of you who have posted-especially what Eva Marie said. I always knew something was different about me. But being raised in a strict Christian family (my dad was tough and I would be tough too) I was not allowed to have dolls or pretty clothes after I got to be around 4 years of age. I did not find out until I was much older that transitioning was even possible. I think it is entirely possible that when I was developing my brain went thru a different set of chemicals than my other tissues, and it is female while the rest of my body is male.