Is this hereditary?

[KathyLauren]

I keep reading about people who's mom took this DES stuff when they were pregnant. That's awful. Being trans is awful and painful but it's better than missing limbs. I watched this show once about all the babies who were born missing limbs and deformed back in the 50s from them giving that stuff to pregnant women. How could that even happen? Didn't they have clinical trials back then? Didn't drugs have to be cleared by the FDA? That's so sad!
Julia

You are thinking of thalidomide, not DES.  Thalidomide is the one that made babies without limbs.  DES just made "boys" trans and girls get cancer.

Drug trials for efficacy and safety are a relatively recent innovation, resulting largely from those and similar tragedies in the past.

[BlueJaye]

I can't prove it, but I suspect its environmental. I think people are being exposed to something during development that causes changes. Prior to the age of pharmaceuticals, transgender was nearly unknown. In the last 60 years or so it has exploded, and seems to be accelerating.

[Amy85]

I can't prove it, but I suspect its environmental. I think people are being exposed to something during development that causes changes. Prior to the age of pharmaceuticals, transgender was nearly unknown. In the last 60 years or so it has exploded, and seems to be accelerating.

I think ->-bleeped-<- has been around probably as long as people have. It is just getting to the point where people are less persecuted so you hear about it more and more. I've heard that in some cultures it wasnt viewed as negatively and so you can find examples of it going way back.

[kelly_aus]

I can't prove it, but I suspect its environmental. I think people are being exposed to something during development that causes changes. Prior to the age of pharmaceuticals, transgender was nearly unknown. In the last 60 years or so it has exploded, and seems to be accelerating.

Trans people have existed throughout recorded history, we are not something new. Based on the available science, I suspect we'll eventually discover that it's just another non-terminal defect of fetal development.

[BlueJaye]

I think ->-bleeped-<- has been around probably as long as people have. It is just getting to the point where people are less persecuted so you hear about it more and more. I've heard that in some cultures it wasnt viewed as negatively and so you can find examples of it going way back.

That is why I said "nearly" unheard of. It existed, but seems like it was very rare. The question in my mind is why is there a growing population of us? I don't believe it is just a matter of cultural acceptance. We all know that Thailand is the world leader in GCS surgeries performed annually. But do you know what country is #2? Iran! Cultural acceptance of transgender people isn't exactly great there.

Maybe I just wish I didn't have to struggle with it, and want something to blame.

[BlueJaye]

Trans people have existed throughout recorded history, we are not something new. Based on the available science, I suspect we'll eventually discover that it's just another non-terminal defect of fetal development.

I agree. And to be clear, I wasn't trying to say that transgender people did not exist in past generations, only that they were extremely rare. And now we have a rapidly growing population of transgender people.

[Deb Roz]

My younger brother is Trans, he and I were often mistaken for twins growing up.  My older sister is Bi.  My mom is a Lesbian, and my Uncle on my Dad's side is gay. 

I wonder sometimes if, in a more accepting environment, there may be more queer people in my family.  I think living in the closet is an accepted reality for many people, and I think it is more true for people of older generations.  My mom, in particular, I think could actually be trans, if she were open to the idea.  But she's pretty set in her ways, and being a Mom is a huge part of her identity...

Regarding the environmental factors, well, I think both my parents did their fair share of drugs in the 60s/70s, my Dad most especially.  I've noticed there's a tendency for him to more or less believe that Psychedelics could be responsible for just about anything.  He's even mentioned he thinks they changed him 'genetically.'  Trippy, man. 

[jennie.ayana]

Yes, I know the struggle, and I sometimes wish I didn't have to deal with it. I fear for my son, who is gay. And for my daughter as well...I think she might be trans too. She still has to figure that out on her own. At the very least she falls somewhere in the lgtqb spectrum.
I think back about all the emotional, social issues I went through and still  through now.  I don't want that for them.
I wonder if it was in my genes, or the way I raised them..i just don't know.  I wish there was a smoking gun, something specific I can point to, to justify being the way we are...(in the words of my wife..'not normal')
Perhaps it's social pressure, or  perhaps it's the fact that we live in a very liberal city/state, or the way I tried to raise them..being accepting of everyone's differences,  or just genes...fact is I just don't know..and I wish I did.


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[Roll]

I agree. And to be clear, I wasn't trying to say that transgender people did not exist in past generations, only that they were extremely rare. And now we have a rapidly growing population of transgender people.

I tend to think that a lot of that might simply be in the modern day we are more prone to making a greater distinction between groups in an attempt to more accurately distinguish similar (at least on the surface) conditions. For instance, cross dressing is fairly common historically, and it is very likely that trans people simply were lumped under that header even if we make a distinction now. It's hard to say how common being transgender was, when the entire concept (or rather the inclination and ability to distinguish it) is relatively new.

Bear with me here, this is going to be a weird metaphor, but it's all I can think of. It's like what we think of as a "sandwich". If you were to time travel to any random point before the past few hundred years and ask for a sandwich, they wouldn't have the slightest clue what you were talking about (you know, assuming that they spoke modern english and you didn't instantly die to some 7th century bacteria we no longer have resistance to). But then if you were to explain what a sandwich was, the odds are they'd just nod and say "Oh yeah, we put random stuff between pieces of bread all the time". So it's not that sandwiches didn't exist, simply that they weren't labeled as such.

[Artesia]

I have 2 gay cousins on my Dad's side of the family, they are brothers.  I have 1 lesbian cousin, and 1 potential lesbian cousin on my mom's side of the family.  My wife's family, who are descendants of my grandfathers cousin, so second cousin 6 times removed, or something like that, has 3 lesbians, and 1 gay boy.  So far I am the only, mostly out, transwoman in my family.

[josie76]

Transgender people obviously existed historically. It's just in most cultures it was something to be shamed so although it's mentioned it didn't seem like it happened at such high numbers. However the most current estimate is 0.5% of the population is trans. That doesn't sound like much but that means 1 in every 200 births. Starts to seem a lot more significant now doesn't it?

I think environmental issues likely cause it to occur but modern medicine did a fine job with medications that are endocrine disrupters. Mainly DES in modern times.

There could be some genetic issues. Our development is so complex that perhaps just a slightly mutated gene can increase the likelihood. It could be a gene either on the production end of the hormones or the receiver end. Possibly one involved with the process past simply activating a hormone receiver. Biology is just so complex in its mechanisms.

[Tommie_9]

I just started reading a new book published this year, "Being Transgender: What you Should Know." It's written by a transgender Phd who has been involved in studies about the biology, history and cultural aspects of being transgender. It discusses the available biological and social evidence for transgender having genetic, biological and prenatal environmental factors. The author is Dr. Thomas (Dana) E. Bevan, if you want to find it online. I got mine from Amazon.com. It's very good, not technical and something you can share with your loved ones. I got the hardcover instead of the Kindle version, so I could easily share it. I recommend it.

[sf_erika]

I'll add another personal story to the mix. 

As far as I know, I'm the only trans person in my family.  But I have a gay parent, and that gay parent has a gay sibling.  There may be more family that identifies as LGBT, but that side of my family is pretty conservative and from a small town, so it's likely that they're closeted.

Anyway, if there is some hereditary aspect to it, I'm not sure how much the LGB in my family is related to me being T.  For purposes of genetics, would that be the same thing (or close to the same thing)?  I don't know.  But it is odd that we are so heavily LGBT compared to what average statistics would suggest. 

Erika


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[dusty97]

I tend to think that a lot of that might simply be in the modern day we are more prone to making a greater distinction between groups in an attempt to more accurately distinguish similar (at least on the surface) conditions. For instance, cross dressing is fairly common historically, and it is very likely that trans people simply were lumped under that header even if we make a distinction now. It's hard to say how common being transgender was, when the entire concept (or rather the inclination and ability to distinguish it) is relatively new.

It's like when the numbers of people were diagnosed with autism drastically increased, and people chalked it up to something in the air, when really, doctors gained a more accurate understanding of the disorder (that might not be the right word...?) and the spectrum was expanded, so of course more people would be actually diagnosed with it. When we broaden the circles that encompass one "thing" or separate an old, big circle into smaller Venn diagrams within the big one, we do, in fact, see more people with that specific "thing." So when they made the Autism circle bigger, more people were placed in it, BUT they are now also put into the smaller circles inside, so for example there's more "high functioning autistic people" then there ever were before... because they just didn't have a name or a box to go in.

That may only make sense in my head, though...

Anyway, when I came out to my mom she expressed that she had always had similar feelings, and at one point seriously questioned who she was supposed to be. Don't really know anyone else on her side, because she was an only child and the rest of her parents' family weren't really around, and its about the same situation on my dad's side- though I do have a half-sister (same father) that I suspect is at least bisexual, and I used to swear up and down that her brother is gay. He's married with kids now, but, as we all know, that could or could not mean much.

Anyway, I think there is at least some kind of combination of Nature and Nurture that has an influence, not just one of the two.