Lauren Hare and Vincent Harvey from the Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research in Australia, have just published some interesting results from a genetic study of transsexuals. (Yes, I know, not transvestites, but bear with me.) The basic result was that they believe they have identified a gene which codes for androgen uptake which may be different in people who are male-to-female transsexuals. Specifically, they suggest this gene reduces the effect of testosterone on the developing brain and leads to 'undermasculinisation' as they put it. That is, males with this gene variant will develop brains which are more like female brains and this is a possible cause of their later gender identity issues.
The work ties in well with recent research that shows the brains of transsexual men and women have brain structures more typical of the opposite sex than of their own apparent sex. It also ties in with finger length studies which also suggest a hormonal influence on development. Generally, although the evidence is still weak, there is increasing support for the view that transsexuality is a natural, if rare, condition caused by hormonal influences in the womb and possibly continuing after birth.
It also ties in very nicely with what I have believed for a long time about transvestitism - that the root cause is the 'feminisation' of particular brain structures in an otherwise 'normal' male brain.
The really excellent thing about all this scientific work on the causes of transsexuality (I'm sure they'll get 'round to transvestitism eventually) is that it seems to be causing a shift in the thinking of the medical profession - away from the bizarre and inadequate psychiatric explanations to do with 'fetishes' (as in the infamous 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders' - the psychiatrist's diagnostic bible) and weird Freudian hangover notions like 'a preoedipal failure to complete individuation from the mother'. There are now groups like GIRES (the Gender Identity Research and Education Society) which are helping to promote a much more scientifically justifiable view of gender identity issues.
Spread the word, everyone.
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Sunday, 26 October 2008
Monday, 16 June 2008
New Brain Study Implications For Transvestitism
Yet more evidence that sexual orientation is biologically determined and has little to do with how people are raised comes from MRI and PET studies conducted at the Stockholm Brain Institute (abstract available) . The researchers found that brain shape and size was similar between gay men and straight women and between straight men and gay women. They also found that activity in an area of the brain called the amygdala had the same pattern.
Once more, the evidence suggests that gays are 'born that way' and that sexual orientation is not a 'lifestyle choice'.
What's this got to do with transvestites? Well, nothing really except that it provides further evidence that developments in the womb and early infancy can significantly alter brain structures which have outcomes in terms of sex-related behaviours. That something as significant as sexual orientation can be affected suggests to me that scientists should be looking more closely at how atypical brain development can lead to atypical gender presentation and gender identification preferences - i.e. transvestitism and transsexualism.
I have always argued that men like me, who cross-dress, do so because a part of our brains has been wired up the wrong way so that we feel the need to present ourselves as women. I believe that once we (the transgendered community), the psychological and psychiatric worlds, and the public in general accept this explanation, attitudes to transvestitism will begin to change. If the world (and especially the world of psychiatry) sees us not as 'perverts' or 'fetishists' but as perfectly ordinary people, coping with a small glitch in our brain's wiring, I can only think that we will be treated with more understanding and less contempt.
These studies on the neuroanatomy of gays don't help us directly but at least they establish the principle that such things are an accident of birth not the wilful embracing of a moral corruption.
Once more, the evidence suggests that gays are 'born that way' and that sexual orientation is not a 'lifestyle choice'.
What's this got to do with transvestites? Well, nothing really except that it provides further evidence that developments in the womb and early infancy can significantly alter brain structures which have outcomes in terms of sex-related behaviours. That something as significant as sexual orientation can be affected suggests to me that scientists should be looking more closely at how atypical brain development can lead to atypical gender presentation and gender identification preferences - i.e. transvestitism and transsexualism.
I have always argued that men like me, who cross-dress, do so because a part of our brains has been wired up the wrong way so that we feel the need to present ourselves as women. I believe that once we (the transgendered community), the psychological and psychiatric worlds, and the public in general accept this explanation, attitudes to transvestitism will begin to change. If the world (and especially the world of psychiatry) sees us not as 'perverts' or 'fetishists' but as perfectly ordinary people, coping with a small glitch in our brain's wiring, I can only think that we will be treated with more understanding and less contempt.
These studies on the neuroanatomy of gays don't help us directly but at least they establish the principle that such things are an accident of birth not the wilful embracing of a moral corruption.
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