Transsexual differences caught on brain scanAnd that is the crux of the debate. Will that be what defines a transsexual? Many trans-people worry that will be the case, no other factors will play into the diagnostic; if your brain is normal then you cannot be trans. Then there is the ethical question, if there is a biological difference, will they develop a test to check fetuses for the trait? If so, will some parents choose to have an abortion? Or a treatment given to children, here take these two pills and you will no longer have those thought of being another gender.
New Scientist
by Jessica Hamzelou
January 26, 2011
Differences in the brain's white matter that clash with a person's genetic sex may hold the key to identifying transsexual people before puberty. Doctors could use this information to make a case for delaying puberty to improve the success of a sex change later.
The article goes on to say,
They found significant differences between male and female brains in four regions of white matter – and the female-to-male transsexual people had white matter in these regions that resembled a male brain (Journal of Psychiatric Research, DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.05.006). "It's the first time it has been shown that the brains of female-to-male transsexual people are masculinised," Guillamon [lead the research at the National University of Distance Education in Madrid, Spain] says.If it is true, then for many of us our question will be answered…Why me? It will also have a big impact on the anti-discrimination laws if there is a biological cause.
In a separate study, the team used the same technique to compare white matter in 18 male-to-female transsexual people with that in 19 males and 19 females. Surprisingly, in each transsexual person's brain the structure of the white matter in the four regions was halfway between that of the males and females (Journal of Psychiatric Research, DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.11.007). "Their brains are not completely masculinised and not completely feminised, but they still feel female," says Guillamon.
I believe that this might be one of many factors that might cause transsexualism, I believe that it is a mix of biological and environmental factors. Not only prenatal, but also how a person is nurtured, that it is a blend of both. Maybe if you have the pre-natal factors and you do not have an environmental trigger, you will just grow up with a vague feeling of wrongness. For me, maybe that trigger was the first time I crossdressed and looked in the mirror, there was something that went “click”. Maybe if there was no pre-natal factors and a person crossdressed and there was no “click” it might be something that they out grow crossdressing. The third case is maybe if there were no strong pre-natal factors and a person crossdressed, there might be a weak “click” and they might go on crossdressing.
That is why I believe in a blend of nature and nurturing factors that creates a spectrum of gender identities, that there will be no smoking gun.
I'm always fascinated by new information that's discovered about our brains; they are such complex structures and there is so much more to be discovered. Like you, though when I read these studies, my mind always jumps to "okay, how is this information going to be used, or manipulated". You bring up excellent points about what this might mean down the road for testing of fetuses, and Hopefully that never happens. I wonder if it will pave the way for someone to develop a type of neurosurgery to "fix" this in people one day, especially children who's parents are bugged out by it.
ReplyDeleteBut I too think its a combination of nature and nurture. Our development is undoubtedly shaped by our life experiences as well.