Are transsexual brains different?

[ImmerGeil]

http://www.mygenes.co.nz/transsexualBrain.htm

What do you think?

[Nikka]

absolutely agreed 100%, craziest people on earth are shemales, only cares about Mercedes Benz and no sense bullshit absolutely superficial people

[Wendy Summers]

This is a debate that resurfaces regularly... without true test and control these are easily refuted regardless of the results.

[Baileyluv]

no probably greyish pink and mushy like the rest of us, duh.


Now if you want to inquire to brain chemistry, or nueral pathways. You might find sum answers, but not too many out there looking into this shit yet.

Hell they still dont even take cultures or hormone panels for kids with cystic acne, why explore the root of a problem when you can mask it.

[Bobzz]

I think an argument could be made (if it's not already been made) that depending on the age of transition, a brain that has been predominantly exposed to male hormones, including testosterone, before, through and usually well after puberty, when later exposed to feminizingly high levels of estrogen and progesterone while simultaneously reducing or eliminating testosterone can effectively scramble a brain that's been pretty much hardwired. This isn't to say that the brains of transsexuals are inherently different but from an empirical point of view, it does lead to physical and mental changes and sometimes some rather unexpected behavior patterns. Whether those behavior patterns are due solely to HRT or to the body finally catching up to where the mind has more or less always been is probably the subject of someone's PhD thesis.

[aimee riendeau]

To put it in geeky terms, this is just some info from wiki, but seems to explain it pretty well. To put it simply, there is a neurological basis to confirm what T-girls have been saying all along. Our Brains are essentially female.
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In a first-of-its-kind study, Zhou et al. (1995) found that in a region of the brain called the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTc), a region known for sex and anxiety responses, MTF transsexuals have a female-normal size while FTM transsexuals have a male-normal size. While the transsexuals studied had taken hormones, this was accounted for by including non-transsexual male and female controls which, for a variety of medical reasons, had experienced hormone reversal. The controls still retained sizes typical for their gender. No relationship to sexual orientation was found.[20]

In a followup study, Kruijver et al. (2000) looked at the number of neurons in BSTc instead of volumes. They found the same results as Zhou et al. (1995), but with even more dramatic differences. One MTF subject who had never gone on hormones was also included, and who matched up with the female neuron counts nonetheless.[21]

In 2002, a followup study by Chung, De Vries, and Swaab found that significant sexual dimorphism (variation between sexes) in BSTc did not become established until adulthood. Chung et al. theorized that either changes in fetal hormone levels produce changes in BSTc synaptic density, neuronal activity, or neurochemical content which later lead to size and neuron count changes in BSTc, or that the size of BSTc is affected by the failure to generate a gender identity consistent with one's anatomic sex.[22]

In a review of the evidence in 2006, Gooren confirms the earlier research as supporting the concept that transsexualism is a sexual differentiation disorder of the sex dimorphic brain.[23] Swaab (2004) concurs.[24]

In 2008, a new region with properties similar to that of BSTc in regards to transsexualism was found by Garcia-Falgueras and Swaab: the interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus (INAH3), part of the hypothalamic uncinate nucleus. The same method of controlling for hormone usage was used as in Zhou et al. (1995) and Kruijver et al. (2000). The differences were even more pronounced than with BSTc; control males averaged 1.9 times the volume and 2.3 times the neurons as control females, yet once again, regardless of hormone exposure, MTF transsexuals lay within the female range and the FTM transsexual within the male range.

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[iago_delgado]

If anyone really wants to get bored I can post page after page after page about ...

How your body can get wired out of gender with your brain in the first third of pregnancy

About 1,000 ways that your body and brain come out different genders when you are born.

What I haven't seen yet, though I suspect it exists, is research on people who don't 'mis-match' until puberty, but then the difference kicks in.

[tsadriana]

Hell knows how is my brain at this time of night...brains are brains..some empty ,some full with crap and some smart hahahah

[danthepoetman]

Each and every one of those studies show great promises. The problem has not been, of course, with the attention given to the question but more with the capacity to understand the brain. For very obvious reasons, it was impossible to physically investigate the cerebrum. Progress in imaging techniques have in the last 10 to 15 years allowed neurology to make giant leaps and it appears to be only the beginning. Not only are we soon to understand the biological and neurological basis of transsexualism, but also eventually the general “mechanic” of thinking. To me, this is all very exciting; at last, we have a leg to stand on, we have factual, tangible elements to point out to, rather than this massive, complex, sometimes somewhat contradictory collection of testimonies and subjective observations.

[danthepoetman]

Oh! blue, blue brain! how I understand you! Blue I am also, but don’t be like me, you’re much prettier in pink indeed…