In 2016, a controversial bill was signed in Georgia, banning transgender individuals from using restrooms designated for the sex with which they identify. In the wake of this legislation, Between the (Gender) Lines: The Science of Transgender Identity explored what was known at the time about transgender identity, discussing scientific evidence for its biological bases, as well as the social and psychological ramifications of binary gender classifications. Regrettably, both the text and the figures in this article were being abused by those seeking to support their own beliefs. As such, we decided to remove this article in 2021 to prevent its further misappropriation by individuals and groups seeking to oversimplify this complex subject and promote views that lack a scientific basis.
We still believe in the value of rigorous scientific research about transgender identity and encourage you to read the published, peer-reviewed studies that we cited in the original article if you are interested in learning more about this topic (linked below):
- Transsexuality among twins: Identity concordance, transition, rearing, and orientation
- A sex difference in the human brain and its relation to transsexuality
- Male-to-female transsexuals have female neuron numbers in a limbic nucleus
- A sex difference in the hypothalamic uncinate nucleus: relationship to gender identity
- Changing your sex changes your brain: influence of testosterone and estrogen on adult human brain structure
- Regional gray matter variation in male-to-female transsexualism
- White matter microstructure in female to male transsexuals before cross-sex hormone treatment: A diffusion tensor imaging study
- The (CA)n polymorphism of ERβ gene is associated with FtM Transsexualism
- Should transvestic fetishism be classified in DSM 5? Recommendations from the WPATH consensus process for revision of the diagnosis of transvestic fetishism
We also encourage you to explore additional resources on this topic:
- For a SITN blog article discussing sex determination, check out “I’m XY and I Know It”: Sex determination systems 101
- For a quantitative view of transgenderism in the US, take a look at this analysis from Times Union
- For a review of discrimination against transgender persons, see this report from the National Center for Transgender Equality
- For a more complete discussion on queer acronyms, see this description from BBC news
- For an in-depth look at how disagreements over restroom usage has shaped policy, check out this Politico article
Sincerely,
The SITN editorial team
It’s interesting evidence on the cis/trans argument. I think that gender is worried about far too much and we should just come up with a neutral term which everyone uses. I do not understand the issue with changing rooms/toilets, why not just make them all non-gender specific, and solve all the issues – perhaps toilets and urinals separate as these are used in physically different ways and urinals in a public arena, are a much faster way to toilet?
I think there is an issue in society with making the roles/attributes/dress of males/females so diametric as to make people feel a need, when they don’t associate with those ideals, to find a way to re-categorise themselves.
My only issue is in sports; I do not think that transgender females should be allowed to compete in sports against cisgender females due to the biological advantage of having previously been a man (natural baseline muscle mass). This is in line with taking drugs which provide an enhanced physical prowess, making the competition unfair.
My personal experience has been that most transgender people appear to have underlying mental health issues (anxiety, depression etc), however I do not understand why this means they have to suffer stigmatisation. I believe that it is healthier mentally, to learn how to live in the skin you are in, I do not believe that means you have to stick to gender specific roles/dress etc.
If people always attempt to respond to everyone on an individual basis, not as a group or label, and be kind, then stigmatism wouldn’t be an issue.
Sierra Hubbard is one woman who breaks the stereotype, and she says, “It’s frustrating. It’s not fair to say most girls who play video games are casual gamers. Casual gamers are people, men or women, who just don’t play many video games.”
thank you very much
This is very comical. The comments are hilarious 🤣😂😆
If your brain features physical characteristics of the opposite sex, you aren’t trans, you are intersex. The article fails miserably to address such a simple fact, that you can’t use intersex people to validate theories about trans people, and the whole elaboration of the article is based in a fake premise.
Thank you, thank you so much for pointing that out.
So how do you determine if your brain “features physical characteristics of the opposite sex”? Have brains been opened and examined, and pray tell, what proven, objective experimental criteria have been used? NO! Of course not. You are simply groping in the dark – very disingenuous.
But please read this – only experiment of its type done: “We comprehensively mapped human sex-differential genetic architecture across 53 tissues.” Here physical tissue was examined. Check the results. https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12915-017-0352-z
I can understand your thinking and like many other researchers, Daphna Joel put forward the same theory in 2011 in their published paper ‘Male or Female? Brains are Intersex’. However, intersex is a congenital difference in anatomical sex. That is, physical differences in reproductive parts (for example the testicles, penis, vulva, clitoris, ovaries etc.) and in secondary sexual characteristics (for example muscle mass, breast development, stature, etc.) Intersex can also include chromosomal and hormonal which are invisible to the eye. Therefore, although brain differences may account for transsexualism, being intersex isn’t brain sex alone it is differences in anatomy i.e. are either male and female at the same time, or not quite male or female, or neither male or female.
No, you do not get to make broad, unsubstantiated statements, like, “either male and female…not quite male or female…or neither male of female.” Sometimes, and sadly so, there are deleterious mutations (various contributing factors) in people’s bodies, but still the person remains either male or female. Or, for example, because “males and females have identical genetic information across most of their genomes,” genes involved in lactation are also carried by males, but they DO NOT EXPRESS THIS TRAIT. Are all males therefore intersex? NO, none are, even those with pronounced breasts. You see, in your brain, and through your own thinking, you may willfully express yourself as intersex, but that’s where it ends. Of course, the sad condition of hermaphroditism is excepted.
Quote: No, you do not get to make broad, unsubstantiated statements, like, “either male and female…not quite male or female…or neither male of female.” Unquote.
Milton Diamond stated, “Those with these male-female combinations of characteristics prefer to be known as intersexed or persons with intersex conditions. Basically this refers to the fact that their bodies contain features that are usually seen separately in both men and women. These persons might, for instance have gonads consisting of one ovary and one testis or gonads that are combined ovatestes.” Further in their readily available public education pamphlet the American Psychological Association states, “External genitals that cannot be easily classified as male or female …”. This known variance is also cited by the Transgender, Non-Binary, Intersex Support and Activism Club at Bellevue College who have on an information page, “The term intersex describes human beings who have naturally occurring differences of sex anatomy and whose biological sex cannot be classified as clearly male or female. An intersex person may have the biological attributes of both sexes or lack some of the biological attributes considered necessary to be defined as one or the other sex.”
Since the statement has been substantiated and you have now widened your knowledge, you should be able to change your language to be less negative towards LGBTI+ people and more inclusive. To save you trouble finding supporting references I give you permission to refer back to this comment in this article.
American Psychological Association (APA), printed 2006. Answers to Your Questions About Individuals With Intersex Conditions. found online 14 April 2020, https://www.newpaltz.edu/media/lgbtq/intersex_conditions_pamphlet.pdf
Milton Diamond, 15 May 2010. Intersexuality. found online 14 April 2020, http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/biblio/articles/2010to2014/2010-intersexuality.html
Transgender, Non-Binary, Intersex Support & Activism Club, n.d. What is Intersex? found online 14 April 2020, https://studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu/transactivism/intersex/what-is-intersex
I fully agree with your lesson on the conditions of biological intersexuality (what was termed, hermaphrodism; now become stigmatized). But it’s not about these extremely limited physical anomalies, but about normal males or females who choose to transition their gender, and “become” what they are not. Your testimony, “I transitioned from by birth gender, male, to live as my correct gender, female,” is the issue. And if the choice is made for you, as some claim, and you then just choose to execute it, then does it hold, that the decision to be a paedophile was not done voluntarily – it simply is? And so for any deviance from what God created, male and female, some excuse or explanation can be found if that’s the path you choose. We live in a fallen world, when everyone does what is right in their own eyes. My intention is not to demean you.
@Syd Warren – What you’re failing to consider is that there are two hormone surges during pregnancy. The first one governs genitalia and leads to intersex conditions related to reproductive organs. The second one happens during brain development. From what I’ve read, scientists are coming to understand that being Transgender is an intersex condition of the brain rather than the reproductive organs. So when we say that we’ve transitioned to our true bodies, we mean it in the same way that intersex people where the doctors made the wrong choice mean it.
Transgenders suffer from “gender dysphoria” which is absolutely a mental disorder.
NO, we aren’t changing our pronouns so you can have your safe space
NO, cisgenders shouldn’t die because we don’t want to be tricked and then raped by you Transgendereds
NO, you don’t belong in the bathroom of your choice so you can diddle our children.
Have a good one!
I wasn’t going to respond to your dribble; however, some unsuspecting child might stubble across this site, read your reply, believe the dribble you just posted, and grow up to be just like you. In responding I’m going to answer your statements 2,3 and 4 before answering the first of your statements.
2. “NO, we aren’t changing our pronouns so you can have your safe space”
Transgender people are not asking you to change your pronouns. You can keep your pronouns of he, him, his or she, her, hers or they, them, theirs. As a female my pronouns are she, her and hers. As a transgender person all I’m requesting is for you use my pronouns correctly i.e. she, her and hers. Now that is not that hard is it!
3. “NO, cisgenders shouldn’t die because we don’t want to be tricked and then raped by you Transgendereds”
OK. First, we are not Transgendereds. We are transgender people, or trans people if you like. Now let’s set the facts straight:
a) It is not cisgender people who die at the hands of trans people rather it is trans people who die at the hands of cisgender people. Don’t believe me? Here this is a link to Transgender Day of Remembrance blogs.deakin.edu.au/deakinlife/2018/11/20/tuesday-20-november-is-transgender-day-of-remembrance/.
That’s right so many trans people are killed each year for simply being transgender, and many more suicide to escape the discrimination, harassment and violence perpetrated against trans people that August 20 in each calendar year has been set aside as a worldwide day of remembrance.
b) Transgender people do not transition to rape cisgender people. Again, let’s look at the real facts. Multiple studies have found that trans people shockingly high levels of sexual abuse and assault. Indeed, the rate is so high that the following report cites that one in two transgender individuals are sexually abused or assaulted at some point in their lives – that’s means 50% of trans people are subjected to sexual abuse or sexual assault. http://www.ovc.gov/pubs/forge/sexual_numbers.html
4. “NO, you don’t belong in the bathroom of your choice so you can diddle our children.”
Let’s tackle the accusation that transgender people are paedophiles first. This is a myth that originated from the long-debunked studies of Dr Ray Milton Blanchard an American Canadian sexologist, who was best known for his research studies on transsexualism, paedophilia and sexual orientation. However, the report by Keo-Meier, Colton & Labuski, Christine titled ‘The Demographics of the Transgender Population’ states the opposite in that, “… trans identity does not correlate with any particular primary object(s) of desire. Rather, a trans identity reflects the gender that a person feels, lives, and wishes to express, including all of its non-sexual aspects.” //www.researchgate.net/publication/286423757_The_Demographics_of_the_Transgender_Population
Now let’s look at the bathroom myth. Trans people generally prefer using the bathroom or locker room that matches their gender identity, not the one that corresponds with the gender they were assigned at birth. However anti-transgender groups and individuals argue that this could expose others to sexual voyeurism and assault in bathrooms or locker rooms.
The reality is there’s no evidence to support this claim. In the US, there’s not a single reported instance of this kind of voyeurism occurring in any State that has legal protections for trans people. Pink News reported that after losing the Massachusetts referendum on transgender rights protections, the anti-trans group MassResistance posted that described the ‘bathroom safety’ argument as “… technically true, but was largely contrived.” http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/12/07/anti-trans-group-bathroom-predator-myth/
1. Transgenders suffer from “gender dysphoria” which is absolutely a mental disorder.
Gender dysphoria is the distress felt by people whose sense of being male or female differs from the gender they are assigned at birth based on their sex. Not all transgender people suffer from gender dysphoria and that distinction is important. As for gender dysphoria being a mental illness, I look forward to you referencing this a factual as it is not listed as such in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM.
Finally, your last statement and link which I assume is intended to introduce yourself as Dr Aadarsh Yadav, is totally irrelevant to this post and the discussions contained within.
Excellent distillation of the facts. Your reply should be tacked to any paper published on the subject.
While not specifically mentioned in the source material I think it bears mentioning that the science of logistics is another that does not enjoy the ambiguity of philosophical ponderings and must address issues in more defined terms. Resources like lavatory space and societal issues such as law cannot function in a ‘fluid’ fashion and has been built and allocated on the ability to categorize. Up until just recently all life on earth has managed reasonably well using binary gender classifications where warranted with no objection from the assexual. Given the limited aspect of resources classified differences must be either finite or non existent. While differences in skin pigmentation have little impact beyond those affixed by society, those between genetically male and female are much more persistent
The singular proof you need to know that this paper is bunk, is that absolutely no one uses an MRI to diagnose transgenderism… they use psychology. YEARS of psychology.
If there was a real causal relationship between brain structures (rather than a weak correlation that is wrong most of the time) and gender wouldn’t it make sense to spare transgenders the YEARS of therapy and just let them transition?
After all, you don’t give psychology to a patient with brain cancer as a method of treating it… you put her into surgery so you can remove a tumor (which is a brain structure) that can be detected by an MRI. NO ONE does this for transgenderism… think about it.
a male person who has spent not one solitary second existing in this world with a female body who feels entitled to “identify” as a woman cannot possible understand women as full human beings.
Who feels entitled to identify as a woman? I don’t feel entitled to identify as a woman , the fact is I am a woman. And what is a woman anyway? And for that matter what is a full human being?
oh man, male TERFs are my favorite
I never realized how little I understood of women as full human beings until I turned myself into a guy.
chew on that while patting yourself on the back for understanding women as full human beings, John.