Women have a higher pain tolerance.

[GnomeKid]

And other such myths of the sexes.  [Although mythbusters did that one and it came out as proven that women do have higher pain tolerances than men which is what initially got me thinking...]

I kind of just thought it might be a fun thing to philosophize over:
What do you think that means for us trans folks [not specifically the pain tolerance question]

Do gender myths of our birth sex or our actual gender apply to us?
After transition do you think it switches?
Are there any other sex [or gender] specific myths that you've heard?
Are there any trans specific myths that you know of?
any other thoughts?

[LordKAT]

If it is proven true, how can it be a myth?

As to the rest, the real myths, well wouldn't be true if they are a myth.

Now to the real question, some things are thought to be gender specific and aren't, other thoughts are gender specific. Some of them deal with measurable physical aspects and will probably stick to your original self while others will follow your transition. You would have to be more specific in which idea you are talking about.

[GnomeKid]

If it is proven true, how can it be a myth?

As to the rest, the real myths, well wouldn't be true if they are a myth.

Now to the real question, some things are thought to be gender specific and aren't, other thoughts are gender specific. Some of them deal with measurable physical aspects and will probably stick to your original self while others will follow your transition. You would have to be more specific in which idea you are talking about.

Myth may not have been the word I was looking for then.  I suppose common conceptions, or lore, of the sexes would be a better choice, or something to that effect.

[VeryGnawty]

Do gender myths of our birth sex or our actual gender apply to us?

That depends.  Social/behavioral myths are gender related, but some myths are related to physiology.  For example, the idea that women have a higher pain tolerance is a physical issue.  Females tend to have a higher pain tolerance.  Sometimes this is negated by the fact that they also tend to feel pain more intensely.  But this is believed to be a difference in the nervous system, not the brain.  If you were born male, you should respond to pain like a man (even if you don't consider yourself to be, in fact, a man)

After transition do you think it switches?

That depends on what is changed by the hormones, and what is not.  I don't know of any research on hormones and pain tolerance.

[xAndrewx]

I guess one I've always heard is women are more emotional/cry more often than guys. I have to say that one was true in my case. Before T I cried like a baby sometimes for no real reason and I know many other women who do the same but since starting T it's really hard for me to cry.

[VeryGnawty]

I guess one I've always heard is women are more emotional/cry more often than guys.

This seems to be true, for the most part, at least in terms of crying.  But I don't really like the word "emotional" as it is very vague.  Men don't really have less emotions than women, they just either have different emotions or they respond to them differently.  For example, my friend is extremely emotional.  It's just that his response to emotions is to punch something, rather than cry about it.

Frankly, my response is to punch something as well.  But I predict that I'll cry more once I get my hormones sorted out.

[spacial]

I'm sorry, but I don't accept this at all.

I'm sure mythbusters say they proved it, but they could hardly do anything else.

Pain is subjective. I know, when I've had tooth ache, for example, that I can control the pain better, by focusing upon it. It's still there, but under some control. Pain exists to tell us something is wrong. Not to remind us who suffers more.

There's a series of adverts on British TV at the moment for a large chain of chemists. In between features on womens' vitimins, womens' foot spas, cosmetics and such, there is a scene where two women, both obviously suffering from heavy colds, talk about how their husbands are at home, suffering so badly from colds. The message, that women have to suffer while the men put their feet up.

The point is, these adverts are aimed at women, to get women to spend their money on their stores. Basically say, you suffer so much, come and spend your money here and feel better.

Sorry, it's all crap. If you like to think in messages, those adverts are saying women deserve to suffer. They don't.

There are other adverts that claim that women are so much more sensitive so they deserve to wear nicer, more gentle clothing. (Come to this store, with your money, and buy it). So, depending upon who is trying to get your money, the messages are different.

[VeryGnawty]

I'm sure mythbusters say they proved it, but they could hardly do anything else.

For the record, mythbusters are great when it comes to physics but terrible when it comes to biology.  They seriously botched the Goldfinger myth, for example.  The only one who seems to know much about biology is maybe Grant, but it seems like Adam and Jamie are usually the ones who tackle the biology myths.

The body is very complicated.  Given that mythbusters have a limited amount of time and resources, they are already testing a minimum number of variables as it is.  A mythbusters test is hardly conclusive evidence of anything.

[spacial]

Well thank you VG. I have to confess, that sort of program is one of the reasons I don't watch much TV. By the sound of it, I made the right choice. 

[VeryGnawty]

I have to confess, that sort of program is one of the reasons I don't watch much TV.

Are you kidding me?  That's like, the best show on television.

But you have to remember that the hosts don't know everything.  They've completely botched several myths because they didn't know enough about the physics involved to properly test them.  They've also had to re-test quite a few myths when some of the fans informed them that they didn't properly test the myths.

Stuff like "women have a higher pain tolerance" is actually very difficult to test, as there is typically more variation within a gender than between genders.  For example, there was both a man and a woman on Mythbusters who lasted the full duration on the pain test.  But there were both many men and women who only lasted a short duration on the pain test.

Statistics tells us that women have a higher pain tolerance than men.  But it doesn't tell us whether or not any particular women will have a higher pain tolerance than any particular man.

[JS]

Statistics tells us that women have a higher pain tolerance than men.

Perhaps. We don't know what (if any) statistical analysis they used on the data. Without that, it's impossible to quantify the statistical chance of it being true except >50%.

[spacial]

I really hope you continue to enjoy it VG.

But pain is subjective. Like almost all subjective issues, it can't really be defined.

It's purpose, however, is universal, to tell us something is wrong. Now we know that the brain can release chemicals which dull pain in some situations. Childbirth for example. (I said dull, not eliminate). Also, I have been told by young men who like to get into fights, that, they don't feel pain while fighting, only afterwards. (But I didn't find that sufficient motivation to try it. Squeek!).