->-bleeped-<- - transsexualism - Trans... and Genes?

[Jillieann Rose]

->-bleeped-<- - Transsexualism  and other Trans do they pass through the Genes?
I wonder and worry about this because of my children and my grandchildren.
I hope and pray that I do not pass it down to any of them.
But it could happen if it is in the genes.
One of my grandson is much like I was at his age.
Is it possible?
Has anyone study up on this?
Do any of you girls, guys, or others have close relatives who are trans too?
Thanks for any input.
Jillieann

[Janet_Girl]

As far as I know I am the only one, but that isn't saying much as I am adopted.

I have read different things about research into the gene thing, but nothing that proves one way or the other.



Blessed Be
Janet

[Fer]

->-bleeped-<- - Transsexualism  and other Trans do they pass through the Genes?
I wonder and worry about this because of my children and my grandchildren.
I hope and pray that I do not pass it down to any of them.
But it could happen if it is in the genes.
One of my grandson is much like I was at his age.
Is it possible?
Has anyone study up on this?
Do any of you girls, guys, or others have close relatives who are trans too?
Thanks for any input.
Jillieann

What makes you think that your children, if transsexualism is in fact passed genetically, are going to have the same fate as you/us?  Maybe in the future, transsexualism will be viewed as any other genetic condition & hopefully there won't be as much prejudice as there's in this day & age.

[Jillieann Rose]

Fer,
We can only hope you are right.
And that the medical community finds a much better way of helping us physically become what we are inside.
Jillieann

[Miniar]

(this is all ofcourse a hypothesis really)

I view my own "condition" as biological, and all things biological in origin that which you're born with can carry through the genes, but that doesn't mean it'll pass on into the kids "in general"..
There might be some increased chance they could have it, but that doesn't mean that they will.

It's probably a "mutation" thing that works like the green eyes.
There are green eyes in my family on my mother's side, yet neither my mum nor her mum had green eyes. They both have/had blue eyes.
And still, I have an older sister with emerald eyes. (Her dad had blue as well.)

Making it one of these things that "exist" in a family, and pop up now and then, but aren't something to expect really.

... if that makes sense?

[aubrey]

I'm gonna guess it's recessive and not dominant. The survival of our species depends on that. So the chances are there but there are better odds with a larger progeny and the mother also has it in her family. I'm the only one in my sort of large family with blond hair= i possibly have more recessives?

The theories about the more recent upsurgence of T-ism being due to environmental contamination are provocative but don't take into account that we have existed since humanity has, so a biological basis in a more connected world still makes the most sense.

There are many accounts of it seeming to run in the family so only time will tell I guess, but there are worse things in life to inheret!

[rejennyrated]

Recent genetic research (most of it only published literally in the last two years) has finally begun to contradict the traditional view that this is entirely in the mind with no physical causes.

Here are two different articles one dealing with work done on FtM and the other on MtF (which incidentally appears, in part, to be a rather specialised form of androgen insensitivity. Interesting to me because I was late diagnosed with a partial form of the more general condition.)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/2471724/Gene-variant-may-make-people-transsexual.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/3265125/Gene-could-hold-key-to-why-transsexual-men-feel-female.html

It is however rather important to bear in mind that a genetic trait like this represents a "predisposition" towards something and not a raging certainty. So there is still a nurture aspect involved although from this research it is certainly not, as previously believed, the entire story.

But to answer your question - yes I have several others in my family, in particular one in my grandparents generation who, as far as I can discover was a ->-bleeped-<- (probably repressed TS as he eventually commited suicide). Of course if you were born prior to 1900 there really wasn't any medical help available so the poor soul probably had no other options.

Sadly, as yet this recent research evidence hasn't fully reached the thinking of likes of those compiling the DSM which probably means that for another ten years the fiction that this is all psychological will be allowed to continue unchallenged.

In my opinion, as I have said many times, being Trans in any form, is not a disorder (and hence does not belong in DSM). It is simply a varient state of being which sometimes requires medical intervention when it is causing distress.

[Jillieann Rose]

Rejennyrated, thanks for the links to the articles.
They are very interesting. I hope that this research will get around and help to change the thinking of the medical field and  the public in general.
I know my family thinks that I'm mentally messed-up.
I had a Great Uncle that sounded and acted like a women and leave with a male friend for as long as I could remember.

I do hope it is recessive Mija and Miniar and it doesn't show up for a few more generations. Not until the world is ready to accept and help us instead of fearing and calling us crazy or worse.
Jillieann

[Margaret Ann]

What rejennyrated said about a "predisposition" is very important I believe. That means  that you (we) have this thing in our minds that pulls us toward certain behavior that makes us feel good when we do it. It's not overpowering and it doesn't take over our bodies or brains - but its always there even from the very start it seems. It is a part of us that never leaves. Predispositions don't have to be powerful to have a profound effect on us. They act patiently over time and little by little they become expressed in our identity in many ways. 

If we can't be who we are - if we are prevented from that somehow over time - it makes us feel good and gives a warm feeling of security when we overcome that. In our case it's when imagine ourselves as a girl or when we dress as female or when we live our lives as female or for some of us when we have SRS or wear nail polish or whatever. Since it's so constant even though it waxes and wanes I believe it is tied into a part of the brain associated with instinctive identity which operates at the basic emotional level. Instinctive means it is passed in genes somehow.

It's a gentle tugging that gets stronger when we deny it. Since it never goes away as we establish sexual identity at puberty we spend a lot of time thinking about it and we develop cognitive beliefs about our identity, about who we are - and those add another dimension of strong emotional forces to the identity equation.

And so, if we survive to become functional adults we eventually choose to identify as one socially recognized trans-form or another depending on which one seems to best fit how we cognitively interpret those constant feelings in us. In many cases its a social decision - we go for the definition that seems to offer us the safest and most acceptable home for what most of society still sees as pretty strange. We choose the definition that gives us the most acceptance from those we respect and love - and whose love we need.

And believe me that's a huge improvement. Sixty years ago we were all just "queers" and crazy and if we were found out people thought we deserved to be in jail or a mental institution - sometimes even family and spouses. Now we have all these trans-words to pick from and laws preventing our exploitation and abuse.

Who would'a guessed that would happen back in 1946 when I would dress in my mothers clothes when no-one was home so I could feel like "me" for a little while and look in the mirror and see what "I" really looked like - when I was 4 years old? Not me.

And some segments of society these days even think of us as human. Hopefully your family loves you. But even if they don't I do because I know a lot about what you've been through and I think that's pretty admirable that you could go through all that and still be the decent loving person you are. You are pretty special, girl.

[LordKAT]

predisposition- some will get it, some won't. It is just more likely that you will.

[gennee]

I'm the only one as far as I know. I'm sure there were transgender people in my lineage. I will be a grandparent very soon. The mother's cousin is a crossdresser and gay. So you never know I may have a kindred spirit in the future.

Jillieann, I'm reading a book that may be of help to you.
Evolution's Rainbow-Joan Roughgarden.

Gennee

[Jillieann Rose]

Thanks Gennee.