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Individual wrote:I know the title seems broad but I will narrow down my questions more specifically. First, is there any biological indicator that a person is trans?
Individual wrote:Some places suggest that it is completely subjective and that its up to the individual to report their feelings, while others say there is a difference in brain structure where their brain resembles that of the opposite sex, a difference in hormone levels, or even possibly genetic differences.
Individual wrote:Some even go as far as saying that just by looking at certain parts of a person's body it can be told that they are more built like the opposite sex.
Individual wrote:When it comes to brain differences, there seem to some conflict between researchers who say male and female brain structures are different while there are camps of gender equality activists who accuse them of "neurosexism". I would like to know more about the biological differences between male and female brains.
Individual wrote:I would also like to know more about the leading theories on what causes transexuality. Some sources say there is a hormone disruption during fetal development, while others say more environmental factors play into it. Because it seems there is a variety of times in people's lives when they speak of these kind of feelings, from early childhood, to much later in life. Any research conducted on the quality of life of those post-transition would also be helpful/interesting.
Individual wrote:I have developed an interest in this because after what feels like a long while of questioning my identity I've concluded that my mind doesnt feel like it matches with my body and appearence. I've felt a strong need to cross dress and alter my body. I am wanting to research this more because I want to find out if people like myself are just being ridiculous or if this phenomena has any solid research to it.
Individual wrote:The people I try to talk about this with in person seem to consider it "unscientific" and because of this won't take me seriously. I kindly request that any replies try to stay on topic are polite, since this subject is personal to me.
Thank you if you can help
Individual wrote:I have developed an interest in this because after what feels like a long while of questioning my identity I've concluded that my mind doesnt feel like it matches with my body and appearence. I've felt a strong need to cross dress and alter my body. I am wanting to research this more because I want to find out if people like myself are just being ridiculous or if this phenomena has any solid research to it. The people I try to talk about this with in person seem to consider it "unscientific" and because of this won't take me seriously. I kindly request that any replies try to stay on topic are polite, since this subject is personal to me.
Individual wrote:I have developed an interest in this because after what feels like a long while of questioning my identity I've concluded that my mind doesnt feel like it matches with my body and appearence. I've felt a strong need to cross dress and alter my body. I am wanting to research this more because I want to find out if people like myself are just being ridiculous or if this phenomena has any solid research to it. The people I try to talk about this with in person seem to consider it "unscientific" and because of this won't take me seriously. I kindly request that any replies try to stay on topic are polite, since this subject is personal to me.
Calilasseia wrote:I haven't actually perused any scientific literature devoted to this subject, but what I have perused on the subject of sexual development in a wide range of organisms, tells me that the categories "male" and "female" are frequently woefully insufficient to encapsulate the reality. Indeed, this is the case in insects, let alone humans, and I've recently posted this post covering the wonderful phenomenon that is bilateral gyandromorphs in insects (though these occur in other organismal clades as well).
Nicko wrote:FThat said, the only real concern for me is the proven fact that post-transition regret in transsexuals is virtually non-existent.
Beatsong wrote:Calilasseia wrote:I haven't actually perused any scientific literature devoted to this subject, but what I have perused on the subject of sexual development in a wide range of organisms, tells me that the categories "male" and "female" are frequently woefully insufficient to encapsulate the reality. Indeed, this is the case in insects, let alone humans, and I've recently posted this post covering the wonderful phenomenon that is bilateral gyandromorphs in insects (though these occur in other organismal clades as well).
Yes.
What's extraordinary is not that transgendered people don't experience "normal" gender identity, but that so many cisgendered people manage to be brainwashed into thinking they do.
Calilasseia wrote:
As far as I'm aware, it's rare, but sadly not non-existent. There are a small number (and I emphasise here a small number - possibly as low as single figures) of individuals who have undergone MTF transition surgery, then decided to opt for the reverse procedure. I can think of just one instance currently residing (albeit rather dimly) in my memory.
O'Brien's idea of a gender spectrum may sound far-fetched to many, but there is scientific research that backs up his position. Cambridge University psychology professor Melissa Hines says there are not two distinct sexes, male and female.
There are many dimensions of gender and an individual person can be in a different position in terms of how masculine or feminine they are”
Professor Dinesh Bhugra, of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, offers a different view - suggesting that while people may feel not entirely male, or female, the reality is that they are born one or the other.
"The distinction has to be made between gender and sex. Gender is very much a social construct, sex is biological.
"My guess would be that social notions of gender dictate how we behave."
tnt666 wrote:Fascinating how much side-stepping and coddling I see in these responses.
tnt666 wrote:It is one thing to agree that people need medical intervention in order to help people live. It is another to say that "the body is mistaken" when in fact it is the brain that is mistaken.
tnt666 wrote:The simply reality is there is no scientific-biological foundation for transgender ideas.
tnt666 wrote:Homo sapiens are a sexually reproducing mammal.
tnt666 wrote:99.9% of Homo sapiens within modern civilisation are born with a reproductive system that is function.
Prevalence
Prevalence of infertility varies depending on the definition, i.e. on the time span involved in the failure to conceive.
Some estimates suggest that worldwide "between three and seven per cent of all couples or women have an unresolved problem of infertility. Many more couples, however, experience involuntary childlessness for at least one year: estimates range from 12% to 28%." [10]
Fertility problems affect one in seven couples in the UK. Most couples (about 84 out of every 100) who have regular sexual intercourse (that is, every two to three days) and who do not use contraception get pregnant within a year. About 92 out of 100 couples who are trying to get pregnant do so within two years.[11]
Women become less fertile as they get older. For women aged 35, about 94 out of every 100 who have regular unprotected sexual intercourse get pregnant after three years of trying. For women aged 38, however, only 77 out of every 100 do so. The effect of age upon men's fertility is less clear.[11]
In people going forward for IVF in the UK, roughly half of fertility problems with a diagnosed cause are due to problems with the man, and about half due to problems with the woman. However, about one in five cases of infertility has no clear diagnosed cause.[12]
In Britain, male factor infertility accounts for 25% of infertile couples, while 25% remain unexplained. 50% are female causes with 25% being due to anovulation and 25% tubal problems/other.[13]
In Sweden, approximately 10% of couples wanting children are infertile.[14] In approximately one third of these cases the man is the factor, in one third the woman is the factor, and in the remaining third the infertility is a product of factors on both parts.
tnt666 wrote: However only 99% are recognised as normal at birth, because of the rare occurrence of intersexes individuals, who's genitals are ambiguous (in between) or whose chromosomes don't coincide with their genitals.
tnt666 wrote: All determinations of biological male/female are based on the reproductive system and chromosomes.
"Sex" refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.
Some examples of sex characteristics :
Women menstruate while men do not
Men have testicles while women do not
Women have developed breasts that are usually capable of lactating, while men have not
Men generally have more massive bones than women
tnt666 wrote: Before puberty, children are mostly unisexual, boys pee and masturbate differently, but all other differences in boy/girl prepub behaviours are attributable to nurture not nature.
tnt666 wrote:The brain is not a sexual organ,
tnt666 wrote:and the vast majority of studies claiming male/female brains have been denounced and debunked,
tnt666 wrote: with the same integrity that we debunk vaccines causing atheism. The fields of evolutionary psychology, fMRIs used for behaviour studies (morality MRIs), are generally part of no biological consensus, or peer respect.
tnt666 wrote:But beyond the science, the present judicial trend in Western society is that anyone can say they "feel" like the other sex (in the same way that people say they "feel" better after CAM. Feelings are not evidence.
tnt666 wrote:In so self declaring, these people expect to gain immediate access, without questioning (lest we be not PC) to the spaces and activities of the other sex... toilets, change rooms, showers, sports, affirmative action.
tnt666 wrote:Some of the trans activists even go so far as to say there there should be not need to get surgery in order to pass for the other sex... we should all just take their word on it... (CAM anyone?)
tnt666 wrote:Even beyond that, there is a yet newer trend that children be released from going through puberty (lest they find it difficult) through hormonal intervention.
tnt666 wrote:Yes, in Canada and the USA, pre-teens are being drugged by profit seeking doctors in order to prevent puberty.
tnt666 wrote:Now for anyone who has studied sports science on the endocrine systems of children, one knows that preventing puberty has very real consequences for growth completion. Gymnasts and osteoporosis is a prime example.
tnt666 wrote:We have heard so many stories from the intersex population about the harms of messing with genitals as children, and now the trans activists are pushing for exactly that.
tnt666 wrote:Many in the sceptic community confound the political rights of homosexuals and those of trans people (whatever definition people want to use here, because in fact there is absolutely no legal definition in any North American lawbook, it is a moving to a complete self-diagnosis (CAM anyone?).
tnt666 wrote: But they are in entirely different scientific domains.
tnt666 wrote:Homosexuals just want to legally sleep with each other and have the same rights as contractually serial monogamists.
tnt666 wrote:On the other trans activism is about completely denying biological science.
tnt666 wrote:It's akin to creationism vs evolution.
tnt666 wrote:Some trans want their situation to be declassified from medicine, yet want free medical treatment, want pap-smears done on inverted peni, want their drug lifestyle to paid for while in prison.
tnt666 wrote:There is one other point which an answer here failed at: On speaking out reversals and depression and happiness. Studies demonstrate that suicide rates increase after surgical/chemical transition.
tnt666 wrote:So though the alive trans people answering the question may say "feel" better, but they actually commit suicide more.
tnt666 wrote:Using "feelings" as an indicator of medical intervention success is pretty darned weak.
tnt666 wrote:Like homoeopathy users "feeling" better after their sugar pill.
tnt666 wrote:The reality is, that when a person invests so much time and money to such a massive and invasive and deadly surgery, they are going to mentally cling to the idea that they made the right decision.
tnt666 wrote:This is a strategy used extensively by marketing firms. Marketers are not only responsible for creating intent to buy, but are equally in the market of preserving the victory feeling of the purchase, product loyalty.
tnt666 wrote:On this issue, it looks like a great many sceptics have not kept us with the fundamental science.
tnt666 wrote:Psychology is only peripherally scientific...
tnt666 wrote:They're excellent at perceiving mental illness and changing the names of those illness every 2-5 years, but they are desperately incompetent at relating of that to science/biology.
tnt666 wrote:Finally, to treat a mental dysfunction with physical surgery (50s lobotomies on depressed people ring any bells?),
tnt666 wrote:to mutilate one's perfectly healthy body parts in the name of mental distress, is a foundational contradiction to the Hippocratic Oath of do no harm.
tnt666 wrote:Whatever mutilations people wish upon their bodies should be made during adult life,
Scarlett wrote:Did it ever occur to our lovely n00b that transgender people commit suicide more than the average person because of bigotry. They appear to be a fair target for bigotry in some circles in the same way homosexuals were in the past.
And, in some places unisex toilets are provided. Oh the shock and horror that a woman may need to pee in a cubicle next door to a man!!
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