Japanese model confesses that she is a MAN! - Page 12

On September 03 2010 00:52 gogogadgetflow wrote:
ok.

1) During fetal development, your brain is either imprinted with testosterone (male) or not (female)
2) Men and women have physically. observably different brains: different neuron levels in certain areas, different sizes of certain areas, differences in brain function (perception, etc)
3) This is a crucial window. After this point, no hormones, psychotherapy, torture, electroshock, etc will change this wiring. It is permanently set. A person could hit their head, have total amnesia, and the would still have their sense of gender preserved.
4)Now the terms:
      Transgendered: Umbrella term. Generally used to refer to people whose gender differs from their physical sex.
      Gender involves the brain and self. Sex is basically the status of the genitals at birth.
      Transsexual: A transgendered person who has done some surgery or hormones to change their body to match their gender. Some go from a male body to a female body; they are referred to as women, or if clarification is needed, trans women. Others go from female to male. They are male, or trans male.
      Crossdresser: Someone who dresses as the opposite sex (for political, sexual, or other reasons)
      Transvestite: Someone who crossdresses for sexual pleasure. There is virtually no overlap between transvestite and transsexual.

Now that that is out of the way. Since the gender is inherently wired into the brain, and can not be changed/altered (doctors have given up trying), and gender is central to a person's identity, the reasons for a person desiring to transition (change their physical bodies to match their gender) can be understood.

As long as the physical body does not match the gender identity, there will be an identity crisis ("I'm a woman, but my body is not, and no one treats me as such"). This is on a mostly subconscious level, and can not be changed with therapy, visualization, self-affirmation, etc. The identity crisis is not fun, but short of changing the body, there is absolutely no way to end it in the case of transsexuals. Symptoms of this identity crisis can include: eating disorders, insomnia, anxiety/panic attacks, severe depression.

Pronouns are very important. 'It' is dehumanizing. Calling a trans woman 'he' or a trans man 'she' is not just an attack, it's a violation of their identity. In general, if someone looks like a woman, say 'she'. If someone looks like a man, say 'he'. If you are unsure what pronoun to use, ask (in private if possible) which pronoun to use.