[drt1]

"She said the child's condition is the result of a birth defect that causes the body to develop as one gender, while the brain is hardwired for another."

I don't mean to be callous but this sounds like so much psycho-babble to me.

[punster]

There was a paper, published in the Science Journal in November of 1995, concerning differences in brain structure in the transgendered. Specifically, the researchers found the structure of the hypothalamus (linked to controlling sexual development and sexual behavior) resembled that of the gender to which the individual claimed to belong.

The link is NATURE, 378: 68-70 (1995)

The research was carried out be dissecting the hypothalamus of deceased transsexual individuals, and controls of 'normal' men and women. Microtrome samples of the BSTC region of the hypothalamus were stained and then microscopically compared.

The researchers noted that the BSTC region of men and women were markedly different in size. They also noted that the BSTC region of male to female transexuals were within the range that was expected for women, and statistically different from that of men, tested at the p=0.005 level. That means there was less than 1/2 percent chance the mean for transexual BSTC regions to have a mean size with in the distribuition for men.

Researchers also compared the BSTC of a man, who had been treated for prostate with androgen blockers and estrogens. The BSTC for this individual was with in the normal size range for men. This is good evidence that adult adminstration of androgen blockers or estrogens does not produce the difference in BSTC structure.

They also noted that the BSTC for lesbians and female to male transexuals was much closer to the normal range for men than for women.

This is certainly suggestive of a biological process. I will add, more research needs to be done, to test for repeatability.

[processing please hold]

I've heard and watched programs on such problems. They are real.

Some children were destroyed when their parents changed their gender before they were old enough to know whether they themselves were more girl than boy or vice-versa. I'm glad they're waiting for the child to add on a few years before undertaking such a life changing operation.

[Cold Heat]

I don't mean to be callous but this sounds like so much psycho-babble to me.

LOL! It sure is!

[Brian Allen]

<< "She said the child's condition is the result of a birth defect that causes the body to develop as one gender, while the brain is hardwired for another."


I don't mean to be callous but this sounds like so much psycho-babble to me. >>

Psycho-babble is as psycho-babble does.


And being rigorously honest and speaking the Truth is being as objective as it's possible to be.

Objectivity has no emotional component and is thus never "callous."

And nor are you!