Transgender people probably face some of the worst stigmas in the United States. For one, they make up 0.2 to 0.3% of the population. Their voices and concerns are shut out. Another, probably the biggest, stigma is that people tend to label them as freaks or sinful because they don't act like their biological sex. I'm not here to talk about those things; we talk about them often. What I do want to discuss is the research about their brains.
A scientist in Barcelona astonished me with his group's findings, and with a very interesting quote. Yes, they did find that transwoman and transmen have brains similar to their declared sex, but this was apparently too simple to say. In the words of the scientist apart of the study, it is because these people have transgender brains.
That resonated with me, and this was done back in 2013. Why is there not growing research in this field? When I heard that, I recalled the animals I learned about who were intersexed or changed their genders, like clown fish. When the clown fish dominant female dies, sometimes a male will go through an incredible change sexually and becomes the new dominant breeder. It seemed to me that the study was saying that human brains have a similar function, just not our genitals.
The brain itself is malleable, which leaves room for some doubt of the biological evidence of transgender people. Part seems to be due from the environment, but I think that the brain is not only malleable but adaptable. I mean adaptable in the sense that their brains saw fit that changing the gender of these individuals might benefit them in some way. Or maybe it was strange decision of nature to give humans part of that ability. Who could know, unless we give these studies the importance they deserve. Transgender people go through so much already. They aren't monsters, but a good number of people see them that way. They are human. They don't suddenly wake up one day and decide, oh, I'm going to be a guy today and then a woman tomorrow. It is engraved on their brains. Which brings me to the pressing concern of why I want to push for more research for transgender individuals: people don't take it seriously.
Early in the movement, and now, transgender activists made the claim that gender is based on societal duties and constraints, that it is a feeling. Now, that may be the best way for them to describe it now because of the little study into their minds, but gender is more than those things. It's very much biological. It is in the brain. Sex is the outward, the genitals, the breasts, pectorals; it also relates to the hormones. However, the way men and women think, in my opinion, is what gender is and gave rise to gender roles. People were trying to figure out what to expect from the opposite sex.
So what's the problem with gender being a choice or a feeling? Well, for one it makes transgender people lose credibility in what they know is true. Anybody can say, well, I identify as a woman, or a man or both, and it could be a bold face lie. Secondly, it makes gender seem trivial when it isn't. It is part of who we are.
In fact, there is a transwoman who claims to identify as a six-year-old right now with friends she calls her adoptive parents. Identity does not work this way. She stopped being six the year she turned seven. You don't just pick and choose gender or identity like clothes from a store. It is embedded in you, and yes the environment plays a role, but can we please be serious for our fellow transgender neighbors?
