Does or has anybody wondered why they are TS?

[Lori]

I'm just curious if anybody has wondered why they are TS besides me. I suppose for me accepting what I am and who I am involves finding out why. Maybe its so (like Kate said "So we have something to point at and that is why we must do what we are doing") we have a really good excuse to justify transitioning to others for acceptance. I've read the theories out there and seems as though this one is quite convincing...

http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/85/5/2034

and here

http://www.symposion.com/ijt/ijtc0106.htm

I'm seriously considering getting an MRI to see if my hypothalamus is smaller then a genetic males.

I'm sure many here will ask "Does it matter?"

My wife asked "Does it matter? If it is does, will that change your diagnosis? If it isn't, does it change your diagnosis? You will still be TS either way". I am what I am but I would really like to know. It would seem like they have found something and it would point to a biological issue.

Honestly I believe if I found mine was smaller it would bring me peace and if it wasnt I could follow a different path and find answers there to find that peace. And being at peace with one's self is important. Therefore it would be important to me to find that peace.

Discovering either way does not mean I would choose the path of transition or choose the path of staying what I have been for 37 years either. I do not know if it would sway me either way. I think If I could find that peace of mind, It would help me to make a better decision and rest, settle down, and relax knowing  I have found that inner peace. It would help me live with the choice I made. I'd have something to blame I guess and be able to say "I know what is causing this!!"

[Kimberly]

We probably all do.

If my view of things is correct I know why I am, and by my own hand as it were no less. If I am wrong, well...

^*shrug*

No, it does not matter to me at all... It's a bit like my bondage fetish (ooh dark secret!). I don't like that I like it, nor can I totally explain why I do, but I do know that I do, so ^*shrug* Hay if I like it I like it. In the same vein, if I am, I am.

This is sort of odd really given I normally buck the system pretty hard... any system. ^*shrug* Mayhaps I am just to tired and worn out to care anymore.

There are actually a few things in my life like that... there just isn't logic to explain them to my satisfaction...


^*shrug*

Perhaps this is like trying to explain why I like mint chocolate chip ice cream.

[stephanie_craxford]

Hello Lori.

It's a good bet that there are many of us who have often wondered why they are TS.  I think along similar lines as Kimberly.  It doesn't concern me at this point in my life why I am TS.  Maybe in the future when life settles down some, but then it probably never will .  Maybe it's the fear that I may find out something I don't like, who knows.

(like Kate said "So we have something to point at and that is why we must do what we are doing") we have a really good excuse to justify transitioning to others for acceptance.

I'm afraid that I don't need any excuse, good, bad or otherwise to justify transitioning or who and what I am to gain others acceptance.  They have two choices, they either accept me for me or they don't   If they don't then so be it, their loss.

Steph

[andy]

I have wondered about this as well.  I know that some have tried to prove a biological factor but nobody to date has come up with anything concrete.  Joan Roughgarden has written an interesting book, "Evolutions Rainbow".  I suspect that there may not be a biological "marker" for TS.

[Kate]

I'm just curious if anybody has wondered why they are TS besides me.

It's crossed my mind now and then, lol...

On the flip side, if you can't prove what it IS, it's been helpful for me to prove what it ISN'T - at least in my case. That is, to make sure it's not a crossdressing fetish gone mad, an attempt to escape from maleness, a desire for female parts to play with, an excuse to wear sexy clothes, a need to express a feminine side, a self-mutilation compulsion, an envy of cultural female roles, and so on. The "True Selves" book has an interesting list of questions to test yourself against.

If you keep your eyes open, you can also see similarities - and differences - versus other people who identify as TS. Which is why I'm luvin' all these hypothetical question threads! They really help me root out my own motivations and fears.

But when you get down to asking WHY? At this point, I hate to say it, but it's becoming a matter of faith for me. Not in a religious sense, but in a trusting my heart sense. I was literally born with IT, whatever IT is, as I can't remember a time when I wasn't thinking about this. Whatever the cause, it's part of what makes me ME.

The only tiny, perhaps insignificant physical clue I've found for myself is that I have a minor case of hypospadias (pee hole located well below the center). The current theory is that this is caused by incomplete virilization while in the womb, so... might be a clue. Might not. I'm pretty much off-center in a lot of ways, lol...


Posted at: March 17, 2006, 10:21:43 AMYou might find this interesting: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/09/60minutes/main1385230.shtml

I can't stand Bailey, and they're confusing sexual orientation with gender identity a bit... but it's still interesting:

Dr. Breedlove says he can take a male rat and make it behave like a female for the rest of its life, and vice versa for a female, just by altering the hormones it's exposed to at birth. Because rats are born underdeveloped, that's roughly the same as altering a third-trimester human fetus in the womb. But first, he said, Stahl would need a crash course in rat sex.

Dr. Breedlove explained that male rats, including one he showed Stahl called "Romeo," will mount any rat that comes their way. In the mating process, the female performs something called lordosis, where she lifts her head and rump.

If Romeo goes after a male, Dr. Breedlove says the male will seem profoundly indifferent.

But Breedlove says he can change all that. He gave a female rat a single shot of the male sex hormone testosterone at birth. Now grown up, she will never perform lordosis.

But a male rat did. He was castrated at birth, depriving him of testosterone.

"So you created a gay rat?" Stahl asked.

"I wouldn't say that these are gay rats. But I will say that these are genetic male rats who are showing much more feminine behavior," he explained.

So the answer may be that it's not genes but hormones.

[Leigh]

http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/j-michael-bailey.html


http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/ ->-bleeped-<-.html

[umop ap!sdn]

I'd heard about Breedlove's rats long before the 60 Minutes segment, specifically the biological male with the lordosis response, and my first thought was wow, that rat is like me. (Now I know that it's a little more complex than that.)

I've also seen it mentioned that there's correlation between prenatal hormone levels and the ratios of finger lengths. My ratios are typical for a woman, as are those of the post transition TS women I've heard from. So as far as finding a cause, I think it's as good an explanation as any.

But then that implies that if I had developed "normally" I'd have been a man.  Not exactly the most pleasant thought, but actually it wouldn't be me sitting here. Someone else would exist in my place. 

[Kate]

I've also seen it mentioned that there's correlation between prenatal hormone levels and the ratios of finger lengths. My ratios are typical for a woman, as are those of the post transition TS women I've heard from.

That's where a woman typically has longer pointer fingers vs. ring fingers, yes? If so, I fail Mine are CLOSE, but... male. Drat.

I DO have child-bearing hips (pelvis), however, lol. There's some goofy test about sitting cross-legged as a woman would (knee on top of knee). Now see if you can easily hook your dangling foot behind your other leg. Supposedly men often can't do it because they don't have the wider pelvis.

[Dennis]

I have male finger length ratios. It wouldn't surprise me if there were a number of possible causes or contributing factors, though.

And, as others have pointed out, regardless of cause, we all deserve respect.

Dennis

[Victoria L.]

Because this world hates me and wants me to suffer.

I know that doesn't sound very logical, but... it just seems that way.

~Victoria~

[Kimberly]

Life usually has some amount of suffering in it, it seems. Very few are the lives totally filled with it.

Give it time Tori, and have a little faith that things will work out for the best.

An after that amount of time if things have not shaped up then get out your hammer and bloody well make them better!

[Dersi]

Im a girl, femalish body but... ups a penis!!?

Ok, so I have been forced to live has a male (wasnt successfull)

And im finally becoming me, the real me. ^^

That made me TS

[Northern Jane]

After being around "the TS scene" for nearly 40 years and hearing the (almost identical) story again and again hundreds of times, I have no doubt whatsoever that there IS a physiological basis - WAY TOO MANY people with exactly the same story can NOT be coincidence. In time I believe that medical science will eventually figure it out and I suspect the "key" will be found in the mother's or the fetus' DNA or in a "conflict" between the two. Considering how much of "who we are" (physically) is encoded in the DNA I am sure the "female wiring" is also there.

[umop ap!sdn]

That's where a woman typically has longer pointer fingers vs. ring fingers, yes? If so, I fail Mine are CLOSE, but... male. Drat.

It's where women typically have almost equal lengths, whereas men have a considerably shorter index finger. On one hand I have about the same length, on the other the index is longer. If yours are close, then they're probably within the female range.

(And I do believe there's some overlap, especially among gynephiles. Go figure.)

There's some goofy test about sitting cross-legged as a woman would (knee on top of knee). Now see if you can easily hook your dangling foot behind your other leg.

Dang! I can't do it. In jeans anyway; must try it without being so confined.


Posted at: 2006-March-17, 11:22:11 AMUpdate: I can do the foot hook trick, just not easily, and not in jeans. And it's more difficult on one side than the other. 

And, as others have pointed out, regardless of cause, we all deserve respect.

Agreed.

[stephanie_craxford]

There's some goofy test about sitting cross-legged as a woman would (knee on top of knee). Now see if you can easily hook your dangling foot behind your other leg.

Dang! I can't do it. In jeans anyway; must try it without being so confined.

I can

Steph

[Victoria L.]

Well, my pointer finger and the ring finger is almost equal!

Yay I feel feminine now!

[Northern Jane]

There's some goofy test about sitting cross-legged as a woman would (knee on top of knee). Now see if you can easily hook your dangling foot behind your other leg.

I can't. But neither can anyone else I know who was a figure skater when young. (Knock-out legs none the less!)

[Teri Anne]

Oh, gosh.  I failed the cross leg and hook test.  But I'm too old to transition back.  Could never make it back through those doc hoops.  Besides, once through those choppy transition seas was enough for one life.

Teri Anne

[Chaunte]

After being around "the TS scene" for nearly 40 years and hearing the (almost identical) story again and again hundreds of times, I have no doubt whatsoever that there IS a physiological basis - WAY TOO MANY people with exactly the same story can NOT be coincidence. In time I believe that medical science will eventually figure it out and I suspect the "key" will be found in the mother's or the fetus' DNA or in a "conflict" between the two. Considering how much of "who we are" (physically) is encoded in the DNA I am sure the "female wiring" is also there.

Having a physiological explaination is important to me.  It doesn't change who I am, but I like having a physical reason for my being!  It means that my ->-bleeped-<- is not some strange type of psychosis.  It makes me feel that I am not menatlly ill for being who I am.

Chaunte

[Cassandra]

I read somewhere(maybe here) that during the 50's doctors were prescribing some hormone to pregnent mothers that some researchers are now saying may be responsible for a rise in the number of transexuals in my age group, allthough how they have managed to determine a "rise" I am unsure. I figure god just made me this way for some reason and it is up to me to deal with it.

Cassie