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
Perhaps it isn’t that “‘we’ are haunted by gender identity”. Perhaps it is that “there are humans who are haunted by gender identity”.
I don’t have an issue with one wanting more control over their own identity and gender (whether via rejection of conventional ideas around such, or otherwise) being a crucial part of that – but to include me, for example, as part of that human we, to be haunted by this issue is perhaps an overstatement. And certainly untrue. It is actually quite offensive – simply because via the opinion put forth here, I am being robbed of volition. Why engage in this injurious behaviour, especially while trying to persuade others to foster a non-injurious attitude of acceptance and tolerance? It makes little sense, and perhaps is evidence of a lack of awareness in the author. (and of course, no work around self awareness is ever complete – the idea itself constitutes a perennial effort to be constantly observing via self-transparency and honesty)
I am a person of color residing in America and it is crucial for any human wanting to do away with social oppression of any sort to do so manner that isn’t oppressive in turn. It would be easy for me to be angry at a white person for rampant cultural robbery, and erasure – or, at least, invalidation – of perspective that comes with said robbery, that is still ongoing not only in conservatives but even my liberal friends. But to take that stance of anger is a type of oppression. For me to adopt it, which would be incredibly easy, would be to attack my own ideas of what the world has a potential for. It is not only, therefore, injurious to other humans, but to my own self. There is a parallel here.
Cheers.
In other words, trans women ARE ALWAYS women. Seriously!
I completely understand that characterizing gender dysphoria as a “mental disorder” can be stigmatizing for the individual and expose them to harm and discrimination; however, this is because we as a society stigmatize mental disorders and deviations from the norm. I can completely accept the fact that gender dysphoria has mainly or even purely neurophysiological origins determined by genetic or prenatal causes, but so do conditions such as schizophrenia. The claim that “gender doesn’t exist or it exists on a spectrum because some people are born who do not conform with conventional gender norms” is very similar to the claim that “rationality/logic doesn’t exist or exists on a spectrum because some people are born with or are predisposed for schizophrenia”. So yes, as a society, let’s give people with gender dysphoria, and also people with mental disorders for that matter, all the understanding, love, and support they deserve, but changing the entire framework of understanding the world in order to accommodate the claim that there is nothing objective or canonical about gender or rationality can lead to a world where anyone can claim anything and there is no common, objective basis for understanding one another.
So what does all this mean? There are some trivial, logistical issues that I simply don’t consider important enough: “What will happen with men/women’s sports?”, or “What about bathrooms?” (newsflash: we don’t need gendered bathrooms/locker rooms anyway, they are just arbitrary cultural norms) etc, but there may also be some decisions that have a huge impact on people’s lives: if, during pregnancy, it is medically possible to detect that due to estrogen deficiency the fetus will not be sufficiently feminized, should we intervene to support feminization or simply accept the transgender identity? Should we immediately proceed with hormonal therapies/transition procedures for children expressing gender dysphoria, or are there some conditions that need to be fulfilled first? These are open questions, I don’t claim to hold the answers.
Interesting you mention schizophrenia in this context as in this field – just as in gender research – historically we can observe biological and socio-psychodynamic alternative explanations wax and wane in popularity, and at the moment the trend is moving in exactly the opposite direction to that surrounding gender theory. After a period with psychoanalysis, double bind theories, ‘schizophrenogenic mothers’ Ronnie Lang and the Divided Self, psychiatry turned almost unanimously to the medical model for answers, but today after around sixty mostly fruitless years of attempts to find the neuro-biological key to explaning schizophrenia in the genes and brain chemistry, the Recovery movement is slowly turning the tide once more, and at the cutting edge of the new trend you will find professors saying that schizophrenia as an illness entity is a myth, which we possibly need to discard in order to be able to better understand and help those with the condition.
So it’ll be really interesting to see in thirty years time if science is going to begin saying gender identity is a myth, and we need to discard it if we’re going to be able to help people with gender dysphoria. I think we’re still a million miles from finding a true scientific explanation for gender dysphoria and localizing a gender identity in brain structures and chemistry. That there is a significant minority of people who suffer distress and possibly depression and anxiety because of an experience that they should have been born with the opposite physical sex, seems not to be in doubt but whether the gender identity concept is an adequate model to explain the cause of this distress seems to me extremely dubious. As for the ‘solutions’ which may involve bodily mutation and coercing society generally to adopt new paradigms which often seem both extreme and counter intuitive (like accepting that biological males can compete in women’s sport), self contradictory and occasionally flagrantly offensive (persecution of lesbians who dare to openly declare they have no interest in “lesbians” with penises), I think again time will tell if these solutions really were bona fide and helpful, or if in truth they’re just going to bring a bucket of other problems with them further down the line.
Gender dysphoria has been around for milleniums whether we understood it or not
We do know alot about it now enough to know that affirmation is the only way to treat it but theres still alot to learn and not all trans people truly get gender dysphoria this is due to transitioning at a young age to the fact that they grow up in there true gi and develop gender euphoria which is the opposite of dysphoria its a possitive thing that both trans ppl living in there true gi or even cis ppl happy with there gi can experience
We may have a long ways to go but we came along way to get where we are now
All this science tells us is that there there may be physical abnormalities in the brains of some people.
this is completly incorrect your confusing sex with gender and gender there is more then 2 i know best of who i am and i am a girl i live by my gender identity not my uncomfortable unchosen biology noone ever should be forced to live by biology if they dont want to
i am a girl thats all that matters there is no room for bigotry you are not me therefore you can not tell me who i am
i am a girl end of discussion
is admission still ongoing?
I couldn’t read the entire article because of the offensive terminology (“queer”, “assigned at birth”), but I still have something to say.
It seems to me that whatever a human being is thinking, there must be a physical correlation in the brain. That isn’t news. Furthermore, the brain develops pathways that, it seems to me, must maintain the mental status quo. Beliefs in particular are ideas which the individual has adopted as his or her own, so the mental pathways that maintain a belief would be very strong. So if you have the body of a male, and you believe you are a female, the physical manifestations of that belief in the brain might indeed be measurable.
But with all the markers of gender available in the body, it doesn’t make sense to take a person’s gender from the brain. I don’t see why we can’t just say that a transgender person has “gender dysphoria” and leave it at that. We don’t need to redefine what gender is.
One thing is for certain: If we accept transgender people as actually being the sex they feel like, then that opens up a slippery slope. It would especially be unfair to real women to have transgender men moving into sports, where they would likely dominate. If “gender” is a mental thing, then why should that give transgender people the right to compete in a physical activity? You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say that a transgender woman is a real woman (because her brain is female), and then say that that gives her the right to compete in a physical activity with real women. The day will come when some transgender woman will begin to dominate her sport, winning prize money and such, and beating out the real women. When that happens, it will become obvious to everyone how unfair that is.
Disappointed in the usage of ‘transsexual’ and ‘transgender’ as interchangeable. They are not.
I cannot tell you the distress I feel as I read these comments. I don’t care if you call it an illness or a condition. I have suffered under its cruel and unrelenting hammer for the entire 60 years of my life. I have fought it. I have spent years searching for a way to make it go away. I have hoped that, as I got older, it would fade away. It hasn’t. It gets worse the longer you fight it. You talk of the harsh judgement of others. My own judgement of myself was harsher than you could imagine. You want me to cure my illness? Fine then show me how because I have tried and tried and got nowhere. Give me the damn pill I can swallow to make it all go away. You argue that transitioning is just pandering to a delusion. Fine then give me an alternative. You argue the distress is no worse than other forms of emotional pain. I don’t care! I only know my pain is crippling. I only know that it has impacted every single aspect of my entire life. You can educate yourself as much as you like but you will never understand the long term impact of chronic pain. I have endured this for every waking moment of every day of my life and now I am done. I give in. At 60 years of age I have given up fighting and I am going to transition. It will almost certainly cost me my marriage. It will most certainly isolate me. Its NOT a choice. Its succumbing to a very real unrelenting and invincible force. Do you seriously think I want to look my wife of 30 years in the eyes and explain what I have to do? As far as I am concerned anytime you meet a person who has navigated their way through gender dysphoria and survived you show them the respect they deserve because they have endured pain beyond anything you know and they have shown bravery beyond anything most people are capable of. The ones who lacked the bravery are dead. Anyone who hasn’t experienced gender dysphoria should appreciate how damn lucky they are.