Susan's Place Transgender Resources

My mom was an awful person and smoked when she was pregnant with me, for probably the entire 9 months (in the mid 80s.. when she should have known better)

I was wondering if anybody else who is transgender knows that their mom did as well, and thinks it might have influenced whatever part of this is a 'birth defect' in some way

correlation is not causation and all that, but still I'm curious, if only for anecdotal evidence

My mother smoked, but I don't expect that her smoking had an effect on my gender issues. The allergies, on the other hand, yes, I think her smoking might have affected me. There's some research to support that link.

Mine probably did, but I don't think it likely had a lot of influence on my gender identity. I have stronger suspicions about nuclear fallout (her dad helped on multiple test sites) and general accumulation of genetic garbage. Also a lot of my blood family are atypical in various ways, so this just seems like one more thing.

No she did not smoke herself but my dad did so she must of had some second hand smoke.

I am a human of a natural occurring birth condition.

My mother probably never smoked a cigarette. 
My wife's mom still smokes most of a pack a day.

Oh, if only my mom smoked instead of taking DES...

Mine did,it never stunted my growth or my sister.Pretty much everyone smoked in 50s Britain,both my parents did though Dad packed in when they went up to half a crown(12 and 1/2 pence).With the money he saved we got a used Ford Zephyr 6 for our next car instead of another Cortina.
I'm no scientist but I don't think there's a link with smoking and TS kids

i don't think my mom smoked with me, but she did with my older brothers. they are cis, i am not...

Everyone in my family used tobacco - both of my parents did as well as my grandparents on both sides. I never smoked; after growing up with it I found it disgusting.

I think it contributed to my allergies but I don't think it made me trans.

My mother smoked when she was pregnant with me. I was born premature and had trouble breathing when I was born, even when I recovered after a few weeks in ICU... they took me home from the hospital, I would forget to breathe and my mother would walk into the room to see me with a blue face.

I don't know if smoking has anything to do with premature births but my mum didn't smoke with my older sis and she had a full term of pregnancy with natural birth (she was a healthy baby), whereas I was born 17 weeks premature, moderate-to-severe deafness in both ears (probably from the drugs they pumped to keep me alive) and androgenisation. (most likely due to not having enough time in the womb for my genitals to finish developing). I do know that I am VERY sensitive to smoke, even if it's second hand smoke. I wouldn't be surprised if I have some form of asthma. All I know is if I smell it, I start coughing uncontrollably. I really wish my mother wouldn't smoke in the car with me but suppose that's just another reason to get my driver's license, ain't it? Haha

I don't know if the smoking is the cause of premature birth but the androgenisation did prompt me to believe I would grow up as a boy - that my body would fix itself come puberty and I would be able to pee standing up like my dad, only to find out I'm a biologically a girl.

Neither of my parents smoked, ever.

Quote from: LordKAT on September 16, 2014, 04:20:45 AM
Neither of my parents smoked, ever.

Ditto.

Smoking during pregnancy will effect many things related to the baby's development but gender identity has yet to be shown to be in the mix. It will, for example, effect:

Quote
Weight and size
On average, a pack-a-day habit during pregnancy will shave about a half-pound from a baby's birth weight. Smoking two packs a day throughout your pregnancy could make your baby a full pound or more lighter...

Body and lungs
Undersize babies tend to have underdeveloped bodies. Their lungs may not be ready to work on their own, which means they may spend their first days or weeks attached to a respirator. After they're breathing on their own...

Heart
Babies whose mother smoked in the first trimester of pregnancy are more likely to have a heart defect at birth...

Brain function
Smoking during pregnancy can have lifelong effects on your baby's brain. Children of pregnant smokers are especially likely to have learning disorders, behavioral problems, and relatively low IQs.

How smoking during pregnancy affects you and your baby (http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-smoking-during-pregnancy-affects-you-and-your-baby_1405720.bc)
By Chris Woolston

My mom was (and still is) a smoker, but I doubt she did during pregnancy. She said she did have toxemia, and that is caused by high blood pressure. What can cause that? Nicotine. She normally has lower than standard blood pressure, as do I without the use of stimulants. So, my guess is that she may have quit somewhere after finding out rather than immediately. I wasn't born prematurely, and I had no cognitive delays, but I did end up with Asperger's Syndrome and ADHD Inattentive Type. I don't see either of those as delays; just differences. Plus, along with having a misaligned body and brain I also seemed to end up mosaic XXY. So, I'm quite a mess. I would consider those things as being genetic, though, rather than a result of smoking, but I'm no doctor.

Mine didn't but my parents lived with my grandpa who was a heavy smoker. He was an oil man.

Well, of course, while it seems impossible, some of us were born back in the 40's! Yes!! Imagine that. Just being light.

In the 40's and 50's it would have been fairly difficult to find a person who didn't smoke. And so it would be difficult to find anyone not affected by second-hand smoke either. Now I don't know at all - at some point did they start putting more bad stuff into cigarettes? They may have as smoking started to lag and the tobacco companies market shrank. Regardless, I can't imagine that my mother didn't smoke through her pregnancies.

I've got plenty enough legacy from my mother so that I needn't worry about what her smoking might have done to me! Part of that legacy is that I've managed to suppress the fact I'm TG from the 40's (late 40's, mind you) until just about 2 weeks ago!

Mine did, she didn't with my older sister.  I never had any issues I'd attribute to it though, and I'd say that I doubt my being trans had any correlation; but who knows?  A LOT of people have been born to smokers and I'd think there would be a LOT more trans people if that was the case, but again, who knows...

Mine didn't.  Honestly, I don't think smoking directly has an influence on anything about being trans or not.  Trans and cisgendered people come from all kinds of backgrounds, including smoking or not.  But yeah, don't smoke when you're pregnant though, that's a horrible choice   :-\

My mom didn't smoke, but she had the flu during pregnancy. I have no idea if it could affect anything but yeah.. Idk :P

My mum is already questioning whether my transgender could have been somehow her fault, don't get me wrong she is 100% supportive and wonderful, and for that reason I would never ask her about her pregnancy with me, I don't want her feeling any guilt about me.

She certainly smoked after I was born, she probably smoked during pregnancy. She was a nurse, so it might have been different. I didn't know her long enough to ask that sort of question.

My mom's never smoked. Honestly though, so many women smoke during pregnancy, especially if you go back to like the 50s when the effects were not fully understood.  So I'd imagine if there was a connection, there'd be waaaay more trans people running about than there are.

my mom smoked when she had my brother in her stomack
she quited smoking and have never smoked since when I was in her stomack

im trans and queer and my brother is cis and straight, so I dont belive smoking can turn you trans.

My mother smoked all the way through her pregnancy with me.  It was the 1960s.  Cigarettes were good for you, honest.  If you didn't smoke, you were strange - a social misfit.

I don't think there is even the suspicion that smoking might produce transgender children, although I imagine I'm a little smaller than I might otherwise have been.  As an M2F being smaller has been a positive advantage :D

My mom didn't smoke, but she developed Diabetes while she was pregnant with me and it didn't go away after I was born.

My mother did smoke up until she knew she was pregnant with me and stopped (and never started again.) She was also given DES in the form of pre-natal vitamins which is more likely the cause of my being transgender than her smoking.

Well, if a smoking mom is related to being TG then just about everyone from the 1930's to somewhere in the 80's has a chance of being TG. The way people carry on about smoking these days it is a wonder I lived to see my 2nd birthday, much less make it this long growing to 6ft, big boned, and in relatively good health, including lungs, growing up a few miles downwind from the biggest oil refinery in NJ in the middle of oil refineries and other smokestack industries.

Yeah, I forgot that back in the day a smoking pregnant woman was not abnormal. derp. I am sure you all are right that they are not connected.

I guess my line of thinking was that a carcinogen filled womb could have contributed, at least in part, to the warping of the genes that express the various biological parts of gender in a developing fetus