Scientific Studies on Gender Identity

[HumbleTangerine]

Okay! In my ongoing struggle to introduce my mom and her new partner to modern ideas and values, I've finally reached the topic of transsexuality and gender identities. This development was probably inevitable, since these people believe men and women are born with a set of different, pretty much stationary characteristics that ought to be encouraged. Girly behaviour in boys should be stopped as soon as possible and vice versa.

We argued calmly for maybe an hour and eventually I found a study that briefly explained the differences between sex and gender, the existence of transsexuality etc. It was written by the largest group of psychologists and scientists in the world: APA and my mom and her boyfriend had to reluctantly accept that there is a strong scientific and psychological basis to treat sex and gender as different things and to accept people who fail to or choose not to conform to gender stereotypes.

On their way to enlightenment, mom and her boyfriend stumbled upon another issue; what about people who don't identify with either gender? Or people who identify with seperate genders at separate times, both genders etc? Surely all of this is just a struggle for attention carried out by teens who wish to be different from the masses?

While I argued against the afore-mentioned accusation, I failed to find any in-depth, explainatory essay or study from a well-respected source. This got me thinking - do you guys know of anything like this? I imagine it could be quite useful when debating prejudices or just poorly informed people. There are many people in my class, for example, who are reasonable and intelligent but yet hesitant to accept the legitimacy of people who are transsexual, genderless etc. I feel like some thorough scientific/psychological evidence would be a really good step in the right direction of changing their opinions. Thanks!

[Uneunsae]

What I would like to say is THANK YOU for your willingness to educate others on this topic. Being third-gender and intersex, I have spent the majority of my life standing up for who I am. To be quite honest, I'm worn thin from all the insults, judgments, accusations and the like. I don't want my gender or body parts to be the center of discussion, I'm tired of people thinking they can ask about what's in my pants as if it's any of their business. I DON'T want to talk about it all the time. It seems like the majority of people who just accept me and don't bring it up are people who are from cultures who have sometime or another had a concept of third gender.

On the topic of people "just wanting to be different" - those people exist in every group. But they don't negate all the other genuine people out there.

[Cuddly]

Go H.T.!!

What really explained transsexuality to me and made me understand it, was reading or watching the true stories of transsexuals and/or their parents. It was cemented by a particular part of a story, of a boy trying to cut off his dick at a very very young age, because (s)he genuinly didn't believe it belonged on his/her body.
There's nothing attention-seeking-teenager about a 5 year old attempting to dismember himself/herself early random saturday morning.

[HumbleTangerine]

What I would like to say is THANK YOU for your willingness to educate others on this topic. Being third-gender and intersex, I have spent the majority of my life standing up for who I am. To be quite honest, I'm worn thin from all the insults, judgments, accusations and the like. I don't want my gender or body parts to be the center of discussion, I'm tired of people thinking they can ask about what's in my pants as if it's any of their business. I DON'T want to talk about it all the time. It seems like the majority of people who just accept me and don't bring it up are people who are from cultures who have sometime or another had a concept of third gender.

On the topic of people "just wanting to be different" - those people exist in every group. But they don't negate all the other genuine people out there.

I agree. To a lot of people, acceptance comes somewhat naturally, but others need more persuasion. What I really need here is something with a more scientific backing. To explain the concept of genderlessness and other stuff!

[Uneunsae]

There is an AMAZING video on the website of the American Medical Association (I think it was AMA anyway...) that explains the in-utero hormone shifts that influence our sexuality, gender, genitals, and gender expression. There are 3 crucial periods where the levels of testosterone play their part. I have been looking through my bookmarks as well as Google and can't find it right now, but if I do, I'll gladly post it here as it's the BEST presentation on LGBT biology I've ever seen. It's an hour long.

[Mark]

See I find this hard personally to understand. Its not anything bad or me being against it - its just the sympathising I really find I can't seem to sympathise and relate to people going through this. As much as I have read, seen on TV or videos online or even spoken to people personally I just can't seem to truly understand the issue. I think this may be the same for a lot of people. I am an open minded person and I completely 100% have nothing against people with gender identity issues I just don't understand it.

It frustrates me because I want to understand and gain some perspective of the whole struggle - just so when I do speak to people about it I don't sound like I'm being sarcastic or just not interested. I do think its partly because growing up theres hardly anything around on issues like these. I don't think I even fully understood the term until late teens, and by then you almost completely have a mind frame which is hard to adapt and gain more knowledge.

Now I sound like I'm rambling - just I know there are a few topics like this and I don't tend to reply I just wanted to explain the reasoning behind - its not because I don't agree, or I think its wrong or anything silly like that.. Its just a topic I struggle to empathise on. I believe people should be who they truly are and not worry about the outcome, but I just wish things like transgender was explained more to the young. Who knows these days it might be? Again in school being gay wasn't really discussed - but to my knowledge it is now!

[HumbleTangerine]

See I find this hard personally to understand. Its not anything bad or me being against it - its just the sympathising I really find I can't seem to sympathise and relate to people going through this. As much as I have read, seen on TV or videos online or even spoken to people personally I just can't seem to truly understand the issue. I think this may be the same for a lot of people. I am an open minded person and I completely 100% have nothing against people with gender identity issues I just don't understand it.

It frustrates me because I want to understand and gain some perspective of the whole struggle - just so when I do speak to people about it I don't sound like I'm being sarcastic or just not interested. I do think its partly because growing up theres hardly anything around on issues like these. I don't think I even fully understood the term until late teens, and by then you almost completely have a mind frame which is hard to adapt and gain more knowledge.

Now I sound like I'm rambling - just I know there are a few topics like this and I don't tend to reply I just wanted to explain the reasoning behind - its not because I don't agree, or I think its wrong or anything silly like that.. Its just a topic I struggle to empathise on. I believe people should be who they truly are and not worry about the outcome, but I just wish things like transgender was explained more to the young. Who knows these days it might be? Again in school being gay wasn't really discussed - but to my knowledge it is now!

Well, obviously it's hard for cis people to personally relate to transgendered people. I can't really relate to the feeling of gender dysphoria because my gender and sex are the same. Being able to relate isn't necessarily important, it's way more significant to understand.

[Mark]

Well, obviously it's hard for cis people to personally relate to transgendered people. I can't really relate to the feeling of gender dysphoria because my gender and sex are the same. Being able to relate isn't necessarily important, it's way more significant to understand.

To understand something/someone you need to gain insight into the subject/person. To gain insight you need to be able to understand your emotions and thoughts otherwise it will become a headache. Being able to relate helps me to emotionally connect to a subject and gain a much more in-depth view of a topic.

You could state arguments and give a load of links to different studies, but at the end of the day they are just words on paper - if I have no emotional connection I won't take any of it in, and quite frankly get bored of it. Perceptual barriers seem to be the main issue around discussions on forums especially if you already have a personal view on the person discussing the topic. However, If I find a way to relate to a subject then I can understand it in greater depth than just reading about it or being informed.

For example I can relate to the fact that transgender just want to be themselves and feel comfortable - as thats how I felt when in the closet with my sexuality - I'm fully aware it isn't the same but the basis is.. Being scared to be yourself because of the judgement of others, or because you don't understand the feelings you have to name one of issues. However actually not wanting to have the body I do or the gender I am I struggle to understand because I cannot relate to it at all. Once again I'd like to state I have nothing against it and its something I wish I could understand on a greater level - but I just can't.

[Uneunsae]

Well, I feel similarly - I can't relate to being male or female. That might sound really strange to you, but it's no different than how you feel; I've always been third gender and I don't know what it's like to be you.

I can understand what it's like to be transgender, though, despite not being a man or woman. I constantly have society in my face saying that I should be "male" or "female". Growing up, my mother tried to pressure me into one gender and tbh it traumatized me in so many ways.

Think of it this way - what if tomorrow morning, you woke up in a woman's body. Your brain hasn't changed, so you are exactly the same person you are today. When you go into the bathroom and look in the mirror, you expect to see a man, but you see a woman instead. When you go to work, everyone is calling you "miss" and treating you like a woman. Right now, maybe you can rationalize it but in reality, your brain would be protesting, and doing so VERY loudly. "Why is everyone calling me a she! I'm not a girl! Why is my body this way? Oh my god!" etc, etc and you'd want to hide from the humiliation you feel. It's like being a foreigner in your own body. Some guys can sexualize it and say, "Oh, that would be so hot!" No, no it wouldn't! Maybe in some fantasy, but not in reality. Because you're not a girl! But for a transgender person, they are stuck with that body they don't belong in and it's so unsettling. Gender is something so fundamental - and yes, it's very hard to explain except to say that your brain just knows who you are and your body, for in-utero reasons, doesn't match.

It's like when people try to shove me into one gender or another. My brain cannot deal with that; I'm not one or the other! I don't even think like men or women (yes, men and women have different ways of thinking, and I'm not talking about stereotypes here, but real scientific differences...) How we are treated by others and the roles we take on within our communities has so much to do with gender as well. Some things are constructs built by society, such as whether or not women can work outside the home, but other things are very sub-conscious results of evolution, such as society tending to "protect" women and children. That was a benefit to our species and kind of hard wired into us. But, in the past when I explored and tried being "a woman" or "a man", it was so unnerving, I can't even begin to describe it. I just knew in the pit of my stomach that it wasn't right.

Third-gender people in many cultures have typically been healers, counselors, artists, mystics, and a liason between men and women. Which is no surprise that I've naturally filled those roles in all my relationships and am studying medicine. I had a natural predisposition to these things before I understood my sex/gender identity.

[Aike]

I have not personally had the time to read her books yet, so I'm a little bit hesitant to recommend her, but based on some interviews and articles I've read, I'd say Julia Serano is a pretty good source on the science of gender. She is a rare case of a politically conscious feminist with an actual understanding of biology (and by "actual" I do not mean the simplistic and reactionary WELL THEN HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN HORMONES?!-type of questioning. The biology of gender is much more complicated than that and certainly doesn't divide the population sharply into two groups with certain typical characteristics, not to mention social roles). "Whipping Girl" seems like a good book to start with.

As for reports about "biological differences between men and women", she recently posted a nice brief guide on her blog on how to interpret such findings:

a quick guide to media reports about brain studies

When someone in the media says:

Researchers at [fill-in-the-blank university/institution] have found that group X's brains are better at [fill-in-the-blank specific task] than group Y's.

This is what they really mean:

In the study, group X's results formed a bell curve. And group Y's results also formed a bell curve. And those bell curves largely overlapped - in other words, the groups were more similar than different. However, if you ignore those bell curves and simply look at the average result for each group, then those average numbers differ somewhat. And that is *so much* easier & more fascinating to report, so that is all we're going to tell you about the study!

That is pretty much everything you need to know about media and pop science reporting on brain studies...