I'm skeptical of the argument that "trans people are real because their brains are gendered differently", when gender is largely social and performative. It's basically fighting the people who say...
I'm skeptical of the argument that "trans people are real because their brains are gendered differently", when gender is largely social and performative. It's basically fighting the people who say gender is biologically innate on their own ground (unlikely to work, imo), and it opens the door to the argument that someone isn't really trans because a brain scan (science!) said their brain was cis. All that does is replace the transphobe's 'cornerstone of science' with another one!
Good news, sex based dimorphism of the brain has been pretty thoroughly debunked (outside of size, which is unsurprising given sex based dimorphism of body size) plenty of times by science. Here's...
Good news, sex based dimorphism of the brain has been pretty thoroughly debunked (outside of size, which is unsurprising given sex based dimorphism of body size) plenty of times by science. Here's a recent extremely thorough meta-synthesis on the topic.
Oh, wow that is indeed thorough, and actually a pretty engaging read compared to the expectation concerning a scientific article. I am convinced. The part at the end of the video of the video...
Oh, wow that is indeed thorough, and actually a pretty engaging read compared to the expectation concerning a scientific article. I am convinced. The part at the end of the video of the video where they say "it only took us 6 hours of research to own the transphobes" did not sit too well with me, but I figured the claims made were fine.
It's a weird space, because there's still an idea that there is sexual dimorphism and the reality is you can conduct studies and find statistical significance. The problem is that when you...
I figured the claims made were fine.
It's a weird space, because there's still an idea that there is sexual dimorphism and the reality is you can conduct studies and find statistical significance. The problem is that when you actually control for the appropriate variables and synthesize the data you are able to pick apart the correlation noise that happens because we live in a gendered society.
This same kind of framing has been done to compare transgender brains to non-transgender brains and the youtube video is correct that studies that also reached statistical significance were able to show that trans male brains are often more closely related to brains of the male sex and trans female brains are often more closely related to brains of the female sex. So they aren't incorrect, it's just that the entire framework for the study is incorrect and the real science doesn't support the premise in the first place - they just happen to be unable to remove the ever-present noise of living in a society.
With that being said, I think you're going to convince a random person who's skeptical quicker with the idea that the brains are similar since that's what often gets taught in school, and your idea will technically be supported by science - those studies do reach statistical significance. Convincing them first that there is no sexual dimorphism is a harder sell, and then it's difficult to explain why trans brains happen to be similar to brains of the gender they identify as, because this social resonance is an important part of the puzzle for some. However, I don't think a transphobe is looking for any of this and pretty much any direct contradiction of their narrative will simply result in them being both defensive and dismissive. If your goal is to win over a transphobe, the key is to listen to their concerns and fears - what's causing them to latch onto a negative narrative and not allow for alternative opinion? What are they protecting themselves from - what is the perceived threat to their body, their way of life, or their way of thinking? Questioning them about their concerns in a tactful manner and helping them to question the basis of those concerns is more likely to lead them down a path which allows a different opinion than they currently hold.
I'm trans and found immense relief from dysphoria after starting hormones. The way I think about it, is that my brain knew what the blueprint of my body I'd my chemical makeup was supposed to be...
I'm trans and found immense relief from dysphoria after starting hormones. The way I think about it, is that my brain knew what the blueprint of my body I'd my chemical makeup was supposed to be like and my body didn't match this so hormones corrected it.
Prior to being on hormones I had an overwhelming feeling of discomfort and a nagging almost painful feeling in my body that made me feel "off".
Hormones have fixed that for me. I have this theory that gender dysphoria and body dysmorphophobia are a similar vein - it's just for trans people it's fixed by a variety of things (hormones, surgery, or living as preferred gender). Even if society said you can be a girl without hormones I'd still choose hormones because I feel physically and emotionally better.
A neat introductory video describing the inner bodily workings of being transgender, alongside debunking some of the most common right-wing talking points. One thing he says is that trans women...
A neat introductory video describing the inner bodily workings of being transgender, alongside debunking some of the most common right-wing talking points. One thing he says is that trans women and men have their brains be like their preferred gender/sex. (As in, trans men's brains are men's brains regardless of their genitals.) I wonder if that means one could theoretically assign someone as trans at some age based on that. Of course this couldn't be a universal check without a welfare state the likes of which has never been seen in history, but it does seem interesting regardless.
I'm skeptical of the argument that "trans people are real because their brains are gendered differently", when gender is largely social and performative. It's basically fighting the people who say gender is biologically innate on their own ground (unlikely to work, imo), and it opens the door to the argument that someone isn't really trans because a brain scan (science!) said their brain was cis. All that does is replace the transphobe's 'cornerstone of science' with another one!
Good news, sex based dimorphism of the brain has been pretty thoroughly debunked (outside of size, which is unsurprising given sex based dimorphism of body size) plenty of times by science. Here's a recent extremely thorough meta-synthesis on the topic.
Oh, wow that is indeed thorough, and actually a pretty engaging read compared to the expectation concerning a scientific article. I am convinced. The part at the end of the video of the video where they say "it only took us 6 hours of research to own the transphobes" did not sit too well with me, but I figured the claims made were fine.
It's a weird space, because there's still an idea that there is sexual dimorphism and the reality is you can conduct studies and find statistical significance. The problem is that when you actually control for the appropriate variables and synthesize the data you are able to pick apart the correlation noise that happens because we live in a gendered society.
This same kind of framing has been done to compare transgender brains to non-transgender brains and the youtube video is correct that studies that also reached statistical significance were able to show that trans male brains are often more closely related to brains of the male sex and trans female brains are often more closely related to brains of the female sex. So they aren't incorrect, it's just that the entire framework for the study is incorrect and the real science doesn't support the premise in the first place - they just happen to be unable to remove the ever-present noise of living in a society.
With that being said, I think you're going to convince a random person who's skeptical quicker with the idea that the brains are similar since that's what often gets taught in school, and your idea will technically be supported by science - those studies do reach statistical significance. Convincing them first that there is no sexual dimorphism is a harder sell, and then it's difficult to explain why trans brains happen to be similar to brains of the gender they identify as, because this social resonance is an important part of the puzzle for some. However, I don't think a transphobe is looking for any of this and pretty much any direct contradiction of their narrative will simply result in them being both defensive and dismissive. If your goal is to win over a transphobe, the key is to listen to their concerns and fears - what's causing them to latch onto a negative narrative and not allow for alternative opinion? What are they protecting themselves from - what is the perceived threat to their body, their way of life, or their way of thinking? Questioning them about their concerns in a tactful manner and helping them to question the basis of those concerns is more likely to lead them down a path which allows a different opinion than they currently hold.
I'm trans and found immense relief from dysphoria after starting hormones. The way I think about it, is that my brain knew what the blueprint of my body I'd my chemical makeup was supposed to be like and my body didn't match this so hormones corrected it.
Prior to being on hormones I had an overwhelming feeling of discomfort and a nagging almost painful feeling in my body that made me feel "off".
Hormones have fixed that for me. I have this theory that gender dysphoria and body dysmorphophobia are a similar vein - it's just for trans people it's fixed by a variety of things (hormones, surgery, or living as preferred gender). Even if society said you can be a girl without hormones I'd still choose hormones because I feel physically and emotionally better.
A neat introductory video describing the inner bodily workings of being transgender, alongside debunking some of the most common right-wing talking points. One thing he says is that trans women and men have their brains be like their preferred gender/sex. (As in, trans men's brains are men's brains regardless of their genitals.) I wonder if that means one could theoretically assign someone as trans at some age based on that. Of course this couldn't be a universal check without a welfare state the likes of which has never been seen in history, but it does seem interesting regardless.