Is There Something Unique about the Transgender Brain?
Imaging studies and other research suggest that there is a biological basis for transgender identity
Some children insist, from the moment they can speak, that they are not the gender indicated by their biological sex. So where does this knowledge reside? And is it possible to discern a genetic or anatomical basis for transgender identity? Exploration of these questions is relatively new, but there is a bit of evidence for a genetic basis. Identical twins are somewhat more likely than fraternal twins to both be trans.
Male and female brains are, on average, slightly different in structure, although there is tremendous individual variability. Several studies have looked for signs that transgender people have brains more similar to their experienced gender. Spanish investigators—led by psychobiologist Antonio Guillamon of the National Distance Education University in Madrid and neuropsychologist Carme Junqu Plaja of the University of Barcelona—used MRI to examine the brains of 24 female-to-males and 18 male-to-females—both before and after treatment with cross-sex hormones. Their results, published in 2013, showed that even before treatment the brain structures of the trans people were more similar in some respects to the brains of their experienced gender than those of their natal gender. For example, the female-to-male subjects had relatively thin subcortical areas (these areas tend to be thinner in men than in women). Male-to-female subjects tended to have thinner cortical regions in the right hemisphere, which is characteristic of a female brain. (Such differences became more pronounced after treatment.)
“Trans people have brains that are different from males and females, a unique kind of brain,” Guillamon says. “It is simplistic to say that a female-to-male transgender person is a female trapped in a male body. It's not because they have a male brain but a transsexual brain.” Of course, behavior and experience shape brain anatomy, so it is impossible to say if these subtle differences are inborn.
Other investigators have looked at sex differences through brain functioning. In a study published in 2014, psychologist Sarah M. Burke of VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam and biologist Julie Bakker of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience used functional MRI to examine how 39 prepubertal and 41 adolescent boys and girls with gender dysphoria responded to androstadienone, an odorous steroid with pheromonelike properties that is known to cause a different response in the hypothalamus of men versus women. They found that the adolescent boys and girls with gender dysphoria responded much like peers of their experienced gender. The results were less clear with the prepubertal children.
This kind of study is important, says Baudewijntje Kreukels, an expert on gender dysphoria at VU University Medical Center, “because sex differences in responding to odors cannot be influenced by training or environment.” The same can be said of another 2014 experiment by Burke and her colleagues. They measured the responses of boys and girls with gender dysphoria to echolike sounds produced by the inner ear in response to a clicking noise. Boys with gender dysphoria responded more like typical females, who have a stronger response to these sounds. But girls with gender dysphoria also responded like typical females.
Overall the weight of these studies and others points strongly toward a biological basis for gender dysphoria. But given the variety of transgender people and the variation in the brains of men and women generally, it will be a long time, if ever, before a doctor can do a brain scan on a child and say, “Yes, this child is trans.”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-there-something-unique-about-the-transgender-brain/
“Trans people have brains that are different from males and females, a unique kind of brain,” Guillamon says. “It is simplistic to say that a female-to-male transgender person is a female trapped in a male body. It's not because they have a male brain but a transsexual brain.”
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Does the second sentence read right to you (all)? It seems twisted (errored in some way) to me. What say you?
Yes, and I explain why I said that::
It is now known, that the female Brain changes at least 3 - 5 Times, Premenstrual, menstrual, Pregnancy, and after child birth and then one has the menopause, now some studies have shown that many Males have a " compassionate changes " that is that their " Views " change as to suit their beloved Partner " and that indeed makes great deal of sense.
So for any one to say that their " personality " is fixed,, is genetically erroneous.
If I may expand on the above::
See Parasitic Invasion, and one will learn that invasive parasites in many cases " take control " of the Hosts Brain, so that would indicate, that is WE feed our bodies with something that chemically alters us, that in effect will cause some " Brain changes "
This would seem bizarre, but it is truly amazing:
A Wasp can Bite a Cockroach cause its FRONT legs to become immobile and yet its brain will works the bag legs, as the Wasp Leeds it in its nest, only to be eaten alive, with the life giving organs left for last!
I could follow you up to this point, but this last one lost me.
E.A Ok If I may just to simplify::
What I said earlier " we are what we eat " is easily understood, as that any chemistry in OUR Body will indeed have effect to the Brain...
Now, look up " Gut bacterial and Brain Control " that is an interesting study that shows why some people say " I do not eat much but I gain weight " and here is a synopsis as to why::
The Gut Bacteria has " specific needs " so they send chemical messages to the brain, when they are short of those..The Brain then induces the " Hunger " chemical that will induce one to have a meal.. BUT here is where the Problems STARTS, when we are not in concert with our GUT Bacteria, when we do NOT eat locally and in Season, then we will not " feed " the Bacteria, so while our Stomach is full, and the body starts storing what the Gut does not WANT we still have the Brain sending the " I am Hungry " messages,,
Now " Back to the Farm " the part that was not fully comprehended... Nature, makes perfect use of that " Body - Brain Communication system, As the example I posted, where a Wasp, can paralyse the FRONT legs of a Cockroach by a Bite, but not the Back!
And the Wasp Mite, knows " instinctively " to eat the INNARDS of its HOST without " Killing it " until it no longer has a need for it.... " Reality is Stranger then Fiction " :-)
Any Questions?
There is no such thing as a transgender brain. Our brains are gendered and someone who is transgendered w has the wrong gender brain for the gender of their body. A male to female trans has the brain of a female but the body os a mal. The gender of the brain cannot be changed so medical science changes the body as much as possible to align with the gender of the person's brain.
The current medical treatment is far from perfect but it is much better than doing nothing.
To respond to both you and calbab, we know that in general the human brain responds in utero and postnatally to certain sex hormones at different phases of development but how that happens for any specific fetal brain is unique, presumably due in part to the complexities of fetal development and the uterine environment. Thus the problem with identifying sex-differentiated skills like image rotation (even before considering socialization and skill acquisition). So while one can make general statements about these differences you can't make those claims a priori about a specific individual, and it's why one identical twin can be cisgender and the other transgender.
So regarding the Spanish investigator's comment about a "transsexual brain" I took the comment to mean that on average they observed some cross-sex differentiation in some areas but not others, which is what several other fMRI studies of transgender folks have found. The main limitation of these studies to date has been the very small sample size.
Please elaborate. (-:
I need to learn more about this subject. At this stage of my understanding, I support transgenderism from a moral stance of innocent people, citizens, who are without personal or group malice, being locked out of society. That is wrong and we as a society have to come out of the backwoods of our thinking, talk, and thus, "evolve upward."
I agree with this statement. Studying gender identity disorder is difficult because of the very small population.
I probably didn't phrase that clearly and since I'm suffering from some pretty serious jet lag I doubt I'll do any better today but here goes: male and female brains are far more alike than they are different, and to the extent that sex differentiation exists it does so only for certain traits......but only on average, not for any given brain.
I got more out of it this time! Thank you!
I see your point!
This is to 2 epistte . (-:
So according to what I posted earlier, The Brain is placid and can change not only with age, but also with the Hormonal balance that we " manufacture" in our body, hence the old truism " you are what you eat " and I am sure most know how the " eating changes in some drastically during pregnancies "
I am listening and considering all points of view right now. I need to to know more. (-:
My step daughter is on a transgender path. In fact, she is coming out to her brother tonight at dinner. He is a straight, Catholic guy but he won’t be bothered by the news, as it has been very clear for some time now that she is not 100% she. Her other brother is came out as gay a few years ago, and is now married to his husband. My own biological daughters are both straight. The business of homosexuality and transgender are not an issue at all with anyone in our entire extended family, spanning four generations and all ages. It’s just strange to see all the drama and indignation on this forum to these things that any cohesive, moral family doesn’t need to be concerned over.
The interesting thing for me is watching myself as a born-again, celibate, Christian (liberal), male member of the LGBT community coming out on the issues of the day. After five years plus on social media I am just beginning to accept my role, my frame of reference, as someone who can defend the citizen-outcasts from attacks by religious conservatives and the Constitution.
It is a big deal for me to leak that I am celibate and Christian, because as a member of the LGBT community it can be a loaded word. It can also be descriptive in helping people understand who I truly am, in spite of its word political baggage, nevertheless.
Anyway, now that I have shared something more about myself for the first time. I move back into the stream of this discussion.
Why are you celibate?
That is a great question. It matches my spiritual self and that is a long personal odyssey > The quick and dirty answer is I am saving the details for a book > The easy answer is it works for me.
I was curious if it had anything to do with guilt.
Sadly, I think that most people would be a little confused about the notion of being gay and celibate. After all, it is the private sexual activity itself that tends to be the focus of homophobes. The normal sexually active person probably spends 99.5% of their time not engaging in sexual activity, but to a homophobe you are defined by that 0.5%.
Well, the transgendered spend all their time living it! And, their critics spend an indefinite amount of time trying to keep a lid on them!
Maybe because we are trying to understand it? When I don't understand something it sits there bothering me because I do like to understand things. So I talk and ask to try to understand.
With that said, I do wish someone could explain gender fluid to me so that I could understand it because I don't. I mean, I grew up straight liking girls. Nobody trained or groomed me, a burning bush didn't pop up and tell me what to do, I just started to like them. It seemed natural to me. And yes I'm a guy.
So logically the reverse can be true, someone can grow up just liking their own sex. To me no big deal.
Transgender I explain to myself is just the body as it was developing before birth made a mistake and created the body with the wrong sex. Again, I can accept this and understand this explanation. It may be simplistic but I'm not trying to write a book or teach, it's just how I explain it to myself.
But the gender fluid thing I just don't understand. Do they identify as one sex today and a different sex tomorrow? Or is it the partner they are turned on by? (and back in my day we just called sleeping with everybody just horny...) We've expanded the world far beyond this old boy's ability to explain to himself and what I read just doesn't make sense. I wish it would because I hate not understanding..
No, not guilt. I am learning so much about myself and the exploration of spiritual power. I only mentioned that specific aspect because discerning readers will pick up on a 'conflict' in what I say I am and who I say I am. So I want to square it away beginning now. (-:
Thank you for asking. No, no guilt. I am okay exploring this indefinite aspect of my existence. I know that should I wish, I could make "whoopie" again, nevertheless.
Your are in the right 'joint'! Let's have that discussion. I am not transgendered, and I hope I am using the right parlance. And, everybody excuse me if I mess up the lingo. I mean well. I am in 'discovery mode' and full "open."
Snuffy, I have posted a video about this gender "fluidity" question below. Please see it. Also, I have one more in mind about the genital side of the issue. We need to explore, we all do, together.
The Bible says, in all your getting get understanding. I will add: On both sides of any issue get understanding.
The trans population might be as high as 2% but many are afraid to be public because of the fear of retribution and loss of a job.
We are forced to discuss the situation because there are so many intolerant people who want to attack and discriminate against others because of a condition that they do not understand. If those people would leave others alone and live and let live we could move on.
I wasn't aware that you were so supportive of trans people. I had remembered you to be much more conservative but apparently, I was wrong.
I am LGBTQ, epistte. And, I am a liberal-Christian believer. I am both things simultaneously! What I am definitely not is a "far-right conservative". We never dived beneath the surface yelling before. Maybe we can now?!
Somone people are androgynous when it comes to their gender identity. Depending on their moods they can appear to be both male or female. David Bowie was a master at this. Rachel Maddow can appear to be outwardly masculine and feminine at the same time. Bowie was bisexual and Rachel is a lesbian.
I am a woman but I work in engineering and design, but I am VERY heterosexual, so I understand being gender fluid.
Both sexual orientation and gender identity aren't binary and seem to exist along a spectrum.
E.A ok, are you willing to discuss this from an Evolutionary , Medical and Chemistry point of view.
This Transfers " Fluidity " from being " Flexible " to what makes it what it may well be.
Congratulations on having such an intelligent and supportive family.
If your daughter is taking questions from the rabble I'd be interested in learning about the experience of gender dysphoria (if she even has that) from a subjective perspective. It must be a very weird and disconcerting experience regardless of whether the stress is from how one gets treated by others or from how one feels about their body or their gender expression.
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I agree 100%, and I'll note that your daughter is very lucky to have you and be raised in such a family. That means her prospects are very good.
One of my daughters is gay and she was raised in a family and a community where it was a total non-issue, and thus didn't really have a "coming out" experience since everyone always kind of knew she was gay. She got married last February.
In contrast I've got a 95 year old uncle who still can't admit that he's gay even though he lived with a guy for 40 years. Society in general is a much better place than when he was raised, but we still see incredibly ignorant and bigoted views expressed every day in this forum.
Powerful. Plainly spoken. Potent.
As has been pointed out many times, the most powerful sex organ in the human is the brain.
I must have heard that at some point over the years, but right now it is as if I am hearing it for the first time!
Everything is up for discussion on this topic! Moreover, any transgendered commenter can "correct the record" accordingly! Even differ in opinion with the statements of other transgendered people!
If there are any trans folks here I'd love to learn about any experience with gender dysphoria they might have had. It must be very unsettling.