02-24-2014, 01:25 AM
I believe the (or a) theory for why some males or females display a strange amount of transgendered inclinations is because of an extra strong dose of hormones while developing in the womb (not necessarily sexual, I believe a mother experiencing a lot of adrenaline can cause the baby girl she's developing to develop a more masculine brain, for example). And for those driven to cross over to another gender, their brains are actually supposed to somewhat to completely mirror the brain of the other gender.
'Course it's not the brain that always determines behavior, adapting one's thoughts and behaviors also adapts the brain so it can be one of those "chicken or egg" questions on which caused the other. As fair disclaimer I should add that most respected scientists believe it's the brain that causes it but my own observation says otherwise. For example, our brains don't "fully mature" until age 25 and yet people so measured seem to be those who live structured lives inside of artificial bubbles whereas historically someone 17 could be a respected officer in the military and I recall reading of a 14-year-old who was a voting member in a 19th century mining town who maintained and stocked his own cabin. I could list other examples but I'll just list how it was accidentally found out that instead of getting worse as brains are supposed to do in old age a guy who was receiving regular brain scans got a job as a taxi driver and his brain's ability to remember grew to allow him to remember routes, that is he had to do it to survive so his brain adapted (just as I think "brains fully mature" when they must to survive).
And in case the relevancy is lost here I brought this up because if for some reason someone were to dedicate themselves to living as another gender for whatever reason it's possible that affects their brains so that when they get studied they appear more like the opposite gender. I personally have no idea how much "gender" is biological and psychological construct, but even a psychological construct can shape the brain and thus the biology.
But that's just a possibility, another possibility is that gender is hardwired neurologically as it is biologically in the womb and once a blue moon they sometimes don't get the same hardwiring which leads to a life of someone who feels like a member of the other gender.
Complicating it are the intersex. I don't know how common they are but apparently plenty of doctors have had experience in "adjusting" the gender of someone born with obvious traits of both. Who's to say the doctor made the right call, or should be making the call at all? And if an intersex infant was born but had a penis surgically removed and then raised as a girl who feels more like a boy then maybe it shouldn't be much of a surprise.
That all said I want to say I don't think everyone who can relate too strongly to the other gender has anything quirky with their brain (at least no more than everyone else :tongue: ), I was tomboyish for a long while but believe there were social reasons for that (would be interesting to see how my brain was then, and then when I agreed to go femme, and then now where I don't worry about it), and I know a guy who loves all that Sweet Valley High, soap operas, and even Twilight (he hates himself for that, but then so do at least a few women), but the guy has many masculine hobbies & interests as well and there's no way anyone would mistake him for any sort of transgendered. Not everything about gender is biology.
'Course it's not the brain that always determines behavior, adapting one's thoughts and behaviors also adapts the brain so it can be one of those "chicken or egg" questions on which caused the other. As fair disclaimer I should add that most respected scientists believe it's the brain that causes it but my own observation says otherwise. For example, our brains don't "fully mature" until age 25 and yet people so measured seem to be those who live structured lives inside of artificial bubbles whereas historically someone 17 could be a respected officer in the military and I recall reading of a 14-year-old who was a voting member in a 19th century mining town who maintained and stocked his own cabin. I could list other examples but I'll just list how it was accidentally found out that instead of getting worse as brains are supposed to do in old age a guy who was receiving regular brain scans got a job as a taxi driver and his brain's ability to remember grew to allow him to remember routes, that is he had to do it to survive so his brain adapted (just as I think "brains fully mature" when they must to survive).
And in case the relevancy is lost here I brought this up because if for some reason someone were to dedicate themselves to living as another gender for whatever reason it's possible that affects their brains so that when they get studied they appear more like the opposite gender. I personally have no idea how much "gender" is biological and psychological construct, but even a psychological construct can shape the brain and thus the biology.
But that's just a possibility, another possibility is that gender is hardwired neurologically as it is biologically in the womb and once a blue moon they sometimes don't get the same hardwiring which leads to a life of someone who feels like a member of the other gender.
Complicating it are the intersex. I don't know how common they are but apparently plenty of doctors have had experience in "adjusting" the gender of someone born with obvious traits of both. Who's to say the doctor made the right call, or should be making the call at all? And if an intersex infant was born but had a penis surgically removed and then raised as a girl who feels more like a boy then maybe it shouldn't be much of a surprise.
That all said I want to say I don't think everyone who can relate too strongly to the other gender has anything quirky with their brain (at least no more than everyone else :tongue: ), I was tomboyish for a long while but believe there were social reasons for that (would be interesting to see how my brain was then, and then when I agreed to go femme, and then now where I don't worry about it), and I know a guy who loves all that Sweet Valley High, soap operas, and even Twilight (he hates himself for that, but then so do at least a few women), but the guy has many masculine hobbies & interests as well and there's no way anyone would mistake him for any sort of transgendered. Not everything about gender is biology.