Just a little curious as to whether the cause of being transgender really matters. The fact is that I am and for me the only reason to really know why would be some hypothetical cure that some scientist would come up with. I suppose life would be better to conform or would it be better.

Personally, I really want to know.  But I don't want a cure at all.  I just want to understand my own brain/hormones/soul.  (in the health nut hippie kind of way)

yea for Hippies

I've been in therapy off and on for a while.

Somewhere along the way, I gave up trying to find the cause of this and just accepted it as part of who I am.

I expect to go to my grave never understanding why I am the way I am.

As long as I can be happy with who I am and have people who love me, that's perfectly all right with me.

For me, the cause is really just a point of curiosity, and a convenient hook for the narrative to explain that this wasn't a choice I made, and I was born this way.  I do know that Mom took DES, and based on skeletal changes (feet, the 2D:4D ratio in my hands, etc) I show signs of having been exposed to high estrogen levels near the start of the second trimester.  When I explain what I am, I often start the detailed part of the explanation with this prenatal information.

The cause has no affect on my treatment, or on what I must to to continue to improve myself.  It really doesn't matter for me.  It does help others understand how I could get here.

On a scale of 1 to 10, probably about a 0.5! I am just me.

I feel the same as Michelle, while I *am* curious; what counts is how to end up...NOT DEAD.   It may also be true that understanding the cause could contribute improvements in treatment, so that would be good as well. 

There also seems to be a lot of variety in the expression of this thing, some are greatly effected by how others perceive and acknowledge them, but don't seem to have much of a problem with sexuality in general; while I seem to have more of a problem with how T is horribly bad for my mind, and E is just plain ole nice; but my only concern about the bathroom thing is that whatever law the bigots make is clear and easy to follow, and I may never even tell my parents that I have a female name.     What causes the difference?    Why is dysphoria so chaotic in its distribution?   How many suicides could be prevented if the markers were discernable to an outside observer?

Is the cause important in terms of accepting myself?  Not so much.  Is the cause important in terms of understanding human diversity?  It may well be.  Besides, gender is a fascinating area of science.

My personal belief is that its an innate gene sequencing at the core of our gender where many variables come into play for the evolution of our species .

Not important to me at all.  I know that I was born this way, and that is all I need to know.  Having said that, I am pretty sure that I am who I am due to good ole DES.  But if I'm wrong, it makes no difference.  It is only important to me to know that it was not a choice.

Quote from: stephaniec on October 02, 2016, 08:56:44 PM
Just a little curious as to whether the cause of being transgender really matters. The fact is that I am and for me the only reason to really know why would be some hypothetical cure that some scientist would come up with. I suppose life would be better to conform or would it be better.

The reason why was important , but could not care less now.

you are who you are and being happy is more important than figuring out why you are in a certain way.

I have been asked by a few people "do you know what caused this."  (really close friends only)  So I would say, I'm a little curious but others are more so.

There was in interesting episode of "Through the Wormhole" with Morgan Freeman about the brain and are there more than two sexes.  It is very interesting.  48+ minutes long, but it actually attempts to explain that being Trans* is not abnormal in nature.

Here is a link to the full episode:

Any cure humans could come up with would likely create far bigger problems.
Humans are good at creating new problems. The cure would probably get banned under the logic that the 'evil' transgender people could use it to turn their children into little versions of ourselves to continue our legacy.

To me it's not very important, however I am a very curious person so yes, I would find it interesting to know.
I guess knowing why could lead to a "cure" but I think I would pass on that. Transitioning is my cure so I will stay just the way I am!

Actually, it seems to me that understanding the "cause" of transsexuality could be very important.  Perhaps not so much at the level of individual personalities, but rather at the much more intriguing level of nature and the evolution of all life on this planet.  Nature is no slouch; she will always seek and discover new ways to restore balance on every level... environmental balance, balance between the various forms of life, energetic balance.  I feel a very strong knowing that you and me and all those that are like us are nature's answer to some need, a need that we have yet to identify.  The sooner that we identify why we are as we are, the more likely we are to be active, conscious participants in our purpose for existing.

Make no mistake; gender variant people, as a collective phenomenon within the human dynamic, have a very important function within that dynamic.  We are no random occurrence.  If we appear, on the surface, to be a random occurrence, that perception only speaks to the limitation of our capacity to understand natural forces that govern the delicate balance of life on this planet, just as those forces keep the planets perfectly balanced in their dance around the sun.

I don't need to know why I won the lottery...I'm just spending the money! 

Hugs, Devlyn

Aside from Svengali mind control or CIA plot, I cannot see how "Knowing" why once you realize you are trans will make any difference what so ever. To date, any/all of the best hypothesis don't even hint at it being reversible.

Can I assign blame else where to feel better? Mostly it falls on mom's shoulders with all that gestational possibilities, partly tied into environmental or drugs, ie: DES. I tend not to dig into why's if there is no "and then what?"

It's not very important, but I'd really like to know. Hopefully if it ever comes to light, then maybe the bigotry towards us will be qualmed one day, but then again there are downsides such as the medical field using that to "cure" us. 

To me, it's very important as it adds legitimacy to the way I feel rather than the guilt that I am in some way perverted.

In the future when ->-bleeped-<- is universally accepted in the mainstream, this sort of thing won't matter but, for now, it would be a comfort to be able to say with 100% certainty that my feelings are down to something my mother took during pregnancy which is what I suspect.

Amanda

I've worried over this for decades and in therapy for years. Not at all in the medical cure sense.

I have felt inauthentic ever since I decided I wasn't transexual and wouldn't pursue transition. I continue to be unable to separate my negative feelings about most things masculine, stemming from how things were growing up from biological causes. My psychiatrist and I have talked about this perhaps ad nauseum and I still say I feel feminine in my brain. What I don't think I'll ever know is whether that's engendered by the searingly negative memories i associate with masculine behaviors or a structure difference acquired in-utero.

Estrogen hrt pretty well mooted the point, simply I feel so much better in my own head than before. I try to let go of the question of how I got this way every day. If my relationship with my mum wasn't so horribly toxic I'd ask her about DES but ultimately it wouldn't matter.

Now it comes to rolling the dice a third time on surgery. It just occurred to me that while the prior repairs, to a torn PCL and fractured collarbone were to correct traumas, GCS will address traumas that I've lived with longer and in pain that's been chronic and mind numbing.