The science of transgender / gender identity

There are two sexes, male and female.

Anyone intersex has one of a number of different disorders of sexual development but they are all either Male or female. There is no third sex, intersex does not mean ‘half way between the two’ not is it a separate sex.

Sex in humans is immutable. It cannot change, regardless of surgical modifications, or hormone treatment. Your sex is coded into every nucleate cell of your body from conception.

Gender is the set of expectations a society hangs upon those of each sex. As such it’s a nebulous thing with no real scientific or legal definition, because basically it’s a belief system. And you cannot codify belief. Well you can, but if you want that go and live in a theocracy - there are some charming ones to choose from.

OP, there are no studies that show characteristics form a female brain and a male brain. It's impossible. Because for every woman who has a certain set of characteristics I can show you 10 women who don't. And vice versa.

There may well be studies that show a person has a disassociation with their body. Which would account for gender dysphoria. And I don't think anyone disputes that there may be a biological or neurological reason.

But it can't show a female brain in a male body, because that's impossible.

We categorise people based on sex, and sex is a description of their reproductive function. That's all it is. A description.

Gender is described (including by trans groups everywhere) as a set of society imposed expectations.

These are imposed by society on the basis of someone's sex.

Boys and girls are then socialised differently.

It's the socialisation that causes the problem is which is why radical feminists are called gender 'critical'.

The real-life problems arise because if you decide to categorise people based on what they say, rather than what they do and what their bodies do, you put women and children in danger.

So even IF someone discovered a female brain in a male body in some kind of science-fiction feature, you still have to deal with the fact that that body is male and the socialisation is male.

If there wasn't an inherent power dynamic between men and women which damages women, it wouldn't matter. No one would care.

academic.oup.com/cercor/article/28/8/2959/4996558

Here is a recent research article. I have attached one of the figures which illustrates Barackobamas point about normal distributions very well.(academic.oup.com/view-large/figure/118682705/bhy109f01.tif)

Obviously this study doesn't include specifically identified trans groups.

lots of links above LayOfTheLand, off you pop and read those

should keep you busy for a while

come back with questions when you're done

and then, I bet you can't run to that tree before I count to ten.

This may help;

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3139168--Transwomen-are-women?pg=4#prettyPhoto

IWearPurple Tue 16-Jan-18 08:12:15
The main drivers behind the "male brains are different to female brains" are two men. Simon Baron-Cohen (e.g. www.theguardian.com/books/2003/may/17/featuresreviews.guardianreview6) and Steven Pinker (e.g. newrepublic.com/article/68044/sex-ed).

For the studies, with small samples sizes, who say they have found differences between male and female brains (post mortem), the following main problems exist:

• we're talking about samples at quite a gross scale of analysis, rather than a fine scale of analysis.
• small sample sizes tend to find differences between groups because small sample sizes mean outliers have a strong influence on results.
• p

OP there are numerous threads on these boards that will help you. May I suggest you have a look through those before asking others to give up time to do your research for you. Failing that, I'm sure Google would throw up some links for you to follow.

Fine's book has a huge bibliography of all the major studies on sex differences, layoftheland
it would provide you with all the references you seek

I'm not linking intersex and transgender together, I didn't bring it up.

That's rather disingenuous when that was in a link you posted.

I'm not linking intersex and transgender together, I didn't bring it up

the link you shared has a lovely rainbow scale showing intersex as the mid point between male and female. which is factually incorrect.

pick your references more carefully

Transgender people disprove the theory of male and female brains.

broadly, scientists agree
Have you evidence for this?
Many of us are scientists, and many of us don't agree that there are clear differences in male and female brains (apart from from the sex chromosomes contained in every cell of those brains of course).

LayOfTheLand

I recommend Cordelia Fine's 'Delusions of Gender', or the work of neurophysicist Gina Rippon.

There are very, very few sex differences in brains.
Those that are fleetingly observed by some often do not appear in other studies.
The differences that exist are frequently demonstrably the result of socialisation.
Researcher bias and study structure are often laughably poor.
Conclusions are sometimes the opposite of what the results show!

The brain is not an organ of sex.

Neurologists agree that unless you look at the chromosomal level, you cannot say with 100% certainty if a brain is male or female.

www.quora.com/Would-a-neurosurgeon-be-able-to-tell-the-difference-between-a-male-and-female-brain

Yet on the NHS Choices website under the causes of GD there is some waffle about intersex conditions which kind of lends the whole page with a pseudo-biological flavour:

"What causes gender dysphoria?
Gender development is complex and there are many possible variations that cause a mismatch between a person’s biological sex and their gender identity, making the exact cause of gender dysphoria unclear.
Occasionally, the hormones that trigger the development of biological sex may not work properly on the brain, reproductive organs and genitals, causing differences between them. This may be caused by:
additional hormones in the mother’s system – possibly as a result of taking medication
the foetus’ insensitivity to the hormones, known as androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) – when this happens, gender dysphoria may be caused by hormones not working properly in the womb
Gender dysphoria may also be the result of other rare conditions, such as:
congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) – where a high level of male hormones are produced in a female foetus. This causes the genitals to become more male in appearance and, in some cases, the baby may be thought to be biologically male when she is born.
intersex conditions – which cause babies to be born with the genitalia of both sexes (or ambiguous genitalia). Parents are recommended to wait until the child can choose their own gender identity before any surgery is carried out."

www.nhs.uk/conditions/gender-dysphoria/

I also have a vague understanding that broadly, scientists agree that there are differences in female and male brains

your vague understanding is wrong

are you implying that to be trans you need to have suffered from a disorder of sexual development?

not sure why you're lumping them together?

also, how many of the prominent trans people we see around have suffered from disorders of sexual development (a.k.a. 'intersex')?

zero

not remotely linked