LogFAQs > #958170766

bulbinking posted...

Plus there are people who do not identify as trans with these brain abnormalities. Are they in denial? Do we begin assigning gender based on brain scans instead of overall physical biology?

You could always ask them how they feel about their gender and treat them accordingly. That seems like an absurdly complex, difficult approach compared to conducting exhaustive brain scans and measurements of hormones, but there might be some merit to it.

Perhaps a slight oversimplification, but the basic gist of it remains valid: If people feel wrong forcing themselves to behave like the gender their genitals suggest they are, what other measurements matter? You can point out that you don't see a neuroanatomical basis for those feelings all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that they're there, nor does it change the fact that they're going to be happier if you respect them.

Just let trans people's doctors guide them through the process of figuring out their identity. If transitioning helps them, let them transition. If it doesn't, let their doctor figure out what will. Lay people attacking that isn't going to help anyone, and in fact is only going to result in more aggressive promotion of transitioning because people feel the need to defend against it. As time goes on, we'll develop a better understanding of where gender dysmorphia comes from and improve our ability to predict whether or not transitioning is appropriate, but neither you nor any other armchair psychologist are going to make that happen any faster by denying the disorder's validity.

In the mean time, what science does definitively show us is that trans people's suicide risk is significantly lower for each aspect of their life in which they're accepted as their target gender, so maybe just do that.

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