[punster]

Another anomaly:

There are XX (genetic females) individuals afflicted with what is known as adrenogenital syndrome. There is some degree of masculinization of the external genitals. There are also varying degrees of masculinzation of behavior in those individuals, ranging from being somewhat tomboyish in their behavior, to being lesbians.

Yet another anomaly:

There are a number of XY (genetic males) individuals with the genetic (sex-linked and transmitted through the mothers) trait of androgen insensitivity. Though genetically male, they are phenotypically female and they identify as females. Of course they are sterile, but they are function as girls and women in society. The only reason the condition is discovered is they fail to menstruate and are given a very thorough pelvic exam and chromosomal study. It does seem most appropriate to call them women.

As to your total dismissal of animal studies, the problem is it is unethical to do similar studies on humans. So animal studies are suggested to test hypotheses. You select a laboratory animal with similar biochemistry in the particular metabolic pathway of concern. If there is a question about the adequacy of experimentation on rats, then the answer is to repeat the experiment on other species of animals.

Another point about the rat experiments. Drugs like cyproterone acetate (a synthetic progesterone and androgen blocker), and several other drugs have been shown to block the actions of testosterone and other androgens in humans. They have been used for chemical castration agents for sex offenders. There is no question about their action on humans.

[hotpotato]

I've already pointed out the intersexed as well as those with deformed XX or XY chromosomes. As I said, these are *extremely* rare and do not account for the numbers we are seeing in the TG community. And there are those intersexed who were surgically altered at birth in conflict with their chromosomes, raised as that gender, yet eventually reclaimed their gender as identified by their sex chromosomes.

As to your total dismissal of animal studies, the problem is it is unethical to do similar studies on humans.

Studies *already* exist on the effects of cyproterone acetate on humans. Cyproterone acetate is used in the treatment of prostrate cancer. No studies exist that indicate that these men are at a greater risk of gender identity disorder or are suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to wear women's bras, panties and garter belts. Cyproterone acetate is also used in birth control pills for women to reduce excessive body hair growth and does not result in an increased risk of gender confusion or lesbianism.

Chemical castration is simply decreasing or eliminating the male sex drive. It does not cause an individual to think or believe they are of another gender. There is no scientific data that supports a relation to blocking testosterone and causing a male to believe he is actually female. The flip side of that are the female body builders who inject testosterone to build body mass. They do not report an increase in lesbianism (though they do report that testosterone increases their sex drive but for the gender of preference PRE injections).

As I said, there are a lot of theories floating around out there about the origins of TG/TS that are just theories without data to support them but that doesn't seem to bother those that push those theories for their own agenda. For their own reasons, these people need to believe the hype but there are also a lot of people out there that are just as convinced that psychics can talk to dogs or dead people because they can't emotionally handle the concept of death and it must be so because they've seen it with their own eyes on TV!