The terms 'biological' or 'genetic' regarding TS

[Inanna]

In discussions and stories covering TG/TS people, I often hear the terms like "biologically male/female" or "male/female genetically" or "was born a man/woman". 

While I'm not really bothered by these terms, I do feel they're slightly inaccurate (if I may note, I'm a biology teacher).  Unless this is an acquired condition at some point after our birth, then the cause is biological.  Pretty much all the research I've seen indicates a biological origin while in the womb.  The last I checked, neurology is a sub-field of biology.

So how can a trans woman be biologically male, when a significant part of her biology is female?  In fact, I would consider our neurological components to be the only thing that really makes us who we are, with the rest of the body mainly supporting the mind and carrying out its commands.  Consider, we view medical death as the point when the brain dies.

Now from a genetic standpoint, XY and XX chromosomes are only considered male and female because that's what they usually create.  A person can't be genotypically male while phenotypically female, because the person's sex is their phenotype.  And my own phenotype at birth was a mixture of male and female.  After transition, the phenotypical male stuff is gone, leaving the rest phenotypically female.  Or vice versa for others.

I prefer to use terms like "assigned male/female" or just leaving it at "an intersex condition" even though the medical community is lagging a bit on recognizing it as such.

At the end of the day, it's just terminology so I'm not worried about it as long as I can tell someone's trying to be respectful and understanding.

[M.Grimm]

I agree. It's why I even get kind of meh about using the term cis- unless it's really required for clarity in a discussion, since it refers to "biologically male/female". I prefer to just say 'male assigned at birth' and 'female assigned at birth" (maab and faab respectively). I think that's the most accurate way to describe things without branding anyone in any particular way, other than how they were labeled at their birth.

[Nygeel]

Do you mean saying "intersex condition" instead of transsexual or referring to XY females/XX males?

[Inanna]

Do you mean saying "intersex condition" instead of transsexual or referring to XY females/XX males?

The latter; the term transsexual is fine.  Transition does involve changing aspects of biological sex, though not the most important aspect (the mind) which doesn't need changing since it's already that sex.

[Northern Jane]

I very much agree with your thinking Inanna. I have spent my whole life in the sciences and I know there must be a biological basis for transsexualism, particularly in what used to be referred to as "Type VI Transsexual" (a term now in disfavour).

In my own case there was every indication from earliest childhood that I had been miss-gendered and no amount of punishment or berating could change that. My personality, disposition, and development (psychological, social, etc.) was typically feminine, contrary to any attempts at "conditioning" - a direct contradiction to "the Nurture Theory". My own "gender identity" seems to have been innate long before I had any understanding of what it meant and it resisted pretty brutal attempts to change it. It seems to have been obvious to many adults long before it became apparent to me. Attempts to force me to change only resulted in confusion and distress on my part. By my teens I was living part of my life en femme, which I found easy and natural, but trying to pass myself off as male was hollow and ineffective. "Transition" at age 24 was the easiest thing I have ever done, integration was a snap, and in the 37 years since have been just totally normal!

Although I recognize the biological nature of transsexualism, most people do not. Within medical circles, a person's sex is still defined by their chromosomes and their gonads and within Intersex circles there is little acceptance of transsexualism as a valid Intersex condition. Some of the more recent clinical findings will eventually support the "Nature Theory" but as yet such findings (like brain function) are being downplayed because of their "political incorrectness". Harry Benjamin himself referred to Type VI Transsexualism as a "complete psycho-sexual inversion" back in the 1960's.

P.S. I also use the term Transsexual or Type VI rather than the modern terminology because it refers to a specific type of case that I can identify with.

[Nygeel]

The latter; the term transsexual is fine.  Transition does involve changing aspects of biological sex, though not the most important aspect (the mind) which doesn't need changing since it's already that sex.

You just used the phrase that you considered problematic.

[Apricot]

I hold a similar argument. I never liked the term biological ##### when used to describe someone born with the correct secondary gender characteristics. If you have a female brain and body, that makes you every bit of a biological woman as anyone else, and vice versa for men. The angle about the brain - you're right, I never thought of it that way.