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
The idiots are those people pretending to be what they are not, then using pronouns to justify their stupidity.
You constantly use pronouns without even relizing you are, next time you think about trans or non binary people or anyone in the LGBTQA community “remaking grammar with their pronoun nonsense” try and have a conversation without using, i, you, me, she, her, they, them, he, him ect. I will promise you, that youll sound like an idiot
I enjoyed the article and followed up on a few of the references, but I was a bit let down by what I found. In the section on estrogen receptor sensitivity, you refer to two articles. The first links to a paper on genetic polymorphism in ERβ, rather than a direct measurement of sensitivity. The second article explicitly states, “molecular findings presented no evidence of an association between the sex hormone-related genes and MtF transsexualism,” which seems to contradict your claim that there is supporting evidence for the hypothesis. Do you have more concrete data on this?
The article is published under the Harvard University name, yet it lacks in-text citations! For instance, a claim such as, “Several studies confirmed previous findings, showing once more that transgender people appear to be born with brains more similar to the gender with which they identify, rather than the one to which they were assigned” needs to be backed up with a few references.