TopShelf TG Fiction in the BigCloset!
The UK magazine "New Scientist" has a report of an Austrian study that suggests a genetic contribution to FTM transexuality
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14424-transsexuality-g...
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Comments
Biological explanations...
...are fraught, and one notices that the percentage differences seem rather slight, given the sample size, but I'm glad that someone had the good sense to realise that at least some cretins will start thinking "cure" as soon as any sort of spurious "cause" is identified.
Cheers,
Puddin'
-
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Our Attitudes Create Our Lives
Each of us makes his own weather, determines the color of the skies in the emotional universe which he inhabits. - Fulton J. Sheen
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Maybe asking such cretin if
Maybe asking such cretin if they consider locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen to be a viable strategy?
Mostly I think they're a bit too dense to understand the "correlation is not causality" mantra.
Xaltatun
I wouldn't say slight
Statistically, those are significant differences in modality. You're right about some people thinking influences are causes and that causes imply possible cures, though.
Anyway, the researchers aren't interested in cures; they're looking for knowledge. The cure noise comes in commentary by people whose real expertise is in making noise.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
How can you cure a non-disease?
There are no cures to GID/GV/Transsexual syndrome, 'cos it ain't a disease, it's a variation on the norm. If that was accepted, then maybe we would be. 'Treatment' is about dealing with 'symptoms' arising from individual perceptions and interactions with social and societal/ cultural factors. In short assisting the individual to feel good about themselves and better integration in their society. In my case that involved changing my body and my legal status - so now I'm 'cured', I'm not transsexual, I'm female, says so on my birth certificate!
Angharad
Angharad
True, but so?
The factoids, if any, of any detectable genetic, endocrinal, or structural "difference" gives cover for those who fervently believe that any deviation from "God's Plan," by which they quaintly refer to their own prejudice abd bigotry in regard to homosexuals, transgendered persons, and pretty much anyone they don't much care for, are by definition "disease" and thus ought to be "cured."
This is what allows parents and others in authority -- in some countries -- to blithely send their children off to "aversion therapy," which is a euphemism for torture and pseudo-scientific meddling with the brain, which has a "success" rate of around one half of one percent and an induced depression and suicide rate closer to one in two, with more than ten percent going on to "successful" suicide. So twenty times as many are killed by "reparative" therapies as are "cured," but what the heck it's better than going to Hell, and the "deviants" are going to Hell in any case.
And lest we forget, the Nazi Aktion T4 programme first targeted the disabled, then homosexuals and deviants, for death quite some time before the list of those who "didn't deserve to live" was extended more broadly.
When it comes to serious bigotry and hatred, religion helps but is not completely necessary.
Cheers,
Puddin'
-----------------------
Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds;
enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. education and
free discussion are the antidotes of both.â€
--- Thomas Jefferson, slaveholder and Man of
the Enlightenment, which goes to show that
bigotry is both pervasive and persuasive,
as long as one isn't a member of the particular
class being currently oppressed and murdered.
-
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
reason for TS and its possible cure
Some people speak of curing TS because the source maybe known and fear being cured.
Well I would say we should first look what curing means in that case.
As this study too suggests transsexuality is probably caused by combination of factors:
genetic predisposition
which causes or strengthens a hormonal abnormality (higher or lower values)
which causes the brain to be more or less strong masculinized then the sex gens would dictate.
The problem is the viewpoint of transsexuals (from inside) in comparistion to the viewpoint of doctors and others (from outside).
Usually we look from the outside. If we consider the human body a normal machine then we have to say that according to the blue prints (the gens) there is an error in the manufacturing of the CPU (brain). So to fix the machine one would usually just exchange the CPU (brain) and all is fine. From a normal outside view this IS THE ONLY correct way to deal with it if we like it or not. I know most TS strongly disagree with me on this point but please read on before you judge.
However we are not soulless machines. We have feelings and most important we have self awareness. While this outside view maybe intrinsically correct we as transsexuals still view ourselves from within. From this inner viewpoint our brain is us! We are our brains! The rest is just their to support the brain. So we see our bodies as what is wrong despite that it is the brain that does not confirm with the blue prints.
Our self preservation drive does not end with preserving our life. We try as much as we can to preserve ourselves. Our innermost being. Thats why mental deceases are so horrible to people who are aware of the changes. This also means that NO transsexual would want their brains changed to match their bodies even if that would align things since it would change our innermost being. It would in a way be worse than death. And thats why this discussion is so emotionally heated.
If all doctors would accept that fact they would understand thats this kind of cure is OUT OF THE QUESTION no matter if it can be realized or not!
So then what good is knowing what causes the problem in the first case?
What if we could identify certain genes before the gender differentiation of the brain happens, that would likely cause transsexualism? We could then possible make sure the brain receives the hormone levels it should to stay female or become male. (we all start with a female brain) If this could be achieved there would be no transsexuals to cure anymore. Since at the time no gender identity, probably no identity at all, has been formed it would also not hurt the child.
Even if that is not possible, being aware that the child could be transsexual would make it possible to help the child better with the options we already have. If we could prove based on genes that a 10 year old is transsexual than no puberty blocker would be needed. The child could have SRS right away and receive the proper HRT. We would not have to jump all those hoops with psychiatrists but could like intersexuals point to the intrinsic evidence.
We could also show we are not just crazy or attention seekers which should help people accept us more readily.
Or do you propose that we should cherish being transsexual and that even the kind of "cure" I outlined should not be tried?
Personally I would now give nearly anything to have been born a normal girl. I would probably not even want to go back in time now to change things if I could. However if I had been treated in the womb and had been born a normal boy I would have far less problems in my life and way less pain as well. If I had never grown up with a female identity I would have been much happier as a boy I'm sure.
So I say please continue this research but also be aware of the difference between this inner and outside view of the issue. WE are no machines and do not like being treated like one.
Holly
Friendship is like glass,
once broken it can be mented,
but there will always be a crack.