Posted: Jan 07, 2011 1:06 am
vombatiformes wrote:Unfortunately there have been very few good experiments done on/about transgendered people, or I would point you to some studies. :/ It makes it really difficult to have a discussion about this sort of thing outside of experiences, which are pretty much useless when you get down to it.
Au contraire. I have to say your description of what it feels like to be transgendered makes infinitely more sense to me than the impression I had got before. I don't know whether I was seeing things through some kind of prejudiced filter, not seeing the things I didn't understand or something, but I was very much under the impression that for transgender people it IS about wanting to play with dolls or trucks. That's why I have such a problem with the idea. I can't see a person who has a penis and wants to play with dolls as having anything wrong with them that needs to be "fixed", no matter how hard I try - I just think "well play with dolls then".
When you describe it in terms of your feelings about your own body though, it makes more sense - particularly when one considers the research done so far into sex development in utero, the different stages of development of the brain vs the genitalia etc.