Transgender Discussion (Potential Trigger Warning)

Maligorn

Right. When it's all said and done, operating on the genitalia or endocrine systems of the patient is much more safe than trying to fix the way their brain was wired, though both are expensive and traumatic ordeals. The pragmatist in me is most pleased.

I chuckled at the hetero-homo rainbow spectrum comment. In a good way. I've seen similar reasoning before,

but hearing it from you guys (Lusternians) makes me a lot more comfortable with it.

Aerotan

So essentially, medical science, double blind studies, and peer review psychiatric and psychological journals: Meh.

A bunch of friends on the interwebs: Ah, arright. :P

Everiine

That's not surprising at all, actually. People can read all sorts of papers and studies on every topic under the sun. But what really matters, what really influences people, is that personal contact. Even in an e-environment, like a forum, chatroom, or game, that connection between people, one-on-one, makes so much more of a difference than anything else.

Selenity

It's easy to discount the value of subjective experience across the field, but when it comes to understanding things, people typically value what they themselves have seen and experienced. And that isn't bad. It's not a good idea to put blind faith into anything, and you shouldn't devalue experiences that people have, especially your own.

That being said, just this month a report was put out by the Medical University of Vienna that said their research showed that the networks of the brain reflect gender identity. Here's a link for those who want to read it.

Ventidius

I... Am hesitant really to say much about transgender and all this because ive rarely interacted with them and find it hard to see their point of view. . However, i will say how good it is, to me, efforts are made and there are successes. Now when i am involved in training courses there is always a mention of tg being counted under the discrimination act. Thats in England, mind, but it is great, so there is a future if any tg are worried about it. People care.| Will prejudice go away? No, it never will, but the law on your side is a big plus.| I wonder what peoples opinions are, out of curiosity, concerning what should happen if a genderfluid person commits a crime and they go to jail. When deciding on male or female prison, should it be the gender they identify with, or the one they were born with? Something i hink is rarely discussed in these topics.

Aerotan

As unfortunate as this is, part of the purpose of prisons is to strip the individuality from the inmates as much as possible. You are, after all, trying to destroy the person they were in order to 'reform' them into something socially acceptable. I think in this case it's going to default to either the legal gender (usually the birth gender) or the biological sex (see previous) that ends up determining with which population a transgendered person is incarcerated.

Enyalida

You go through whichever prison system matches your legal gender marker, regardless of what you might prefer.

Simimi

Just to add something I have been thinking about regarding @Maligorn's comments on Nature V Nurture.

I am male, 6'2" (188cms) and 225lbs (102kgs.) 

 During the last trimester a male baby is in the womb, the cranial area is flooded with testosterone and the other male hormones during the final growth phase which cements what is thought to be the "male brain" as it were, as all babies start female. I was born horrifically premature at 3.5 months early. This event never happened to me. Post birth I was in an incubator for a year and had some 15 surgeries to secure my little life. after a year I weighed but 1lb 11oz.

Growing up my younger sister and I played with the same toys. I had my own barbies because that was what I liked. I played with dolls, and played "house" and all the other make-believe games young people play. It wasn't that I wasn't given the opportunity to play with trucks and guns, I just didn't like any of those toys. I was still playing dress-up with my sister even into 15 or so it seems like.

My whole life I was just allowed to do whatever. I've worn skirts as far as I can remember, because they are comfortable. Ditto my favorite hot pink Nike's from the ladies section (pink is my favorite color) because I have little feets (size 9-9.5 in mens US.) It was never about gender for me it was just who I became, I never even thought about it. Sure I saw other males -not- wearing skirts, but it never crossed my mind that I -couldn't- do so. 

Puberty hits and I hulked up like you wouldn't believe. I went from 5" something and 120 lbs to 6'1" and 200 lbs in what seemed like over a summer. I got a truly massive beard and tons of body hair. I never stopped to think about how weird I must have looked at 18 with a 4 inch goatee and a plaid skirt with a leather jacket. Well, until looking back now.

But then... something else happened. I started crying, a lot. Wow, everything upset me. I went in to get my hormone levels tested and they were insanely incorrect. The doctor suggested, that due to my not developing completely in the womb, I maintained the female endocrine system, and I started producing tons and tons of female sex hormones. Thankfully now there is a treatment for this and I am given a shot every so often to keep my hormones stable, but there is a constant war inside between both sides.

So then I went from this monster dude, to a monster dude with an insanely nice bottom, small bust, and hips you would kill to get your hands around, with all the emotional concerns we normally associate with teenage females. At that point I had no parents and was already on my own in the world. Imagine a girl from the bottom down but a mountain man on top. It is insane. Even today at 28, I still think I look really interesting compared to other people when naked.

So I tend to lean towards environment in that, even before I knew there were biological problems, I was raised by all women (taught to potty sitting down even) and I do believe that affected my growth as a human being. I wouldn't trade a free youth for anything, though. I see individuals on reddit, for example, struggling with problems I never had to worry about. If I want to wear a bow in my hair to feel cute that day I do it, or I put one in my beard. No one says anything to the huge guy with a bow and pink shoes after all.

Still with all this I wouldn't call myself trans or anything like that, because I feel it takes away from their community. My wife says I am "Gender-non-binary" because somedays I feel more "man" and other days more "woman" but I thought everyone felt that way. I didn't learn it wasn't something everyone felt until maybe.... 7 months ago? I actually think it was @Selenity I was talking to about it even. 

Sorry I am rambling, I am not sure what this was meant to add exactly, but I felt like an example of environment would be helpful to your understanding of how trans* individuals come into being.