What an amazing and beautiful historic day.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
Allyson Robinson at TEDx Nightingale Bamford School
Allyson Robinson's TEDx talk appeared as a recommended video on my YouTube feed. She has many important and profound things to say in her talk, but perhaps most striking for me were her experiences with internalized trans-phobia, and how she came to love and accept herself. Self-loathing is something that I believe all trans-people deal with. It is certainly an problem I continue to struggle with to this day.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Transgender vs. "tranracial"
I am glad to see this being addressed not only by a trans-woman but a trans-woman of color, as she is uniquely qualified to comment on the topic. The comparisons being drawn between Rachel Dolezal and Caitlyn Jenner are infuriating.
It has bothered me that the arguments against this comparison have focused on the permanence vs. impermanence of the cosmetic changes we trans-women make compared to Dolezal's. Yes, Rachel Dolezal can go home and wash off all of the outward signs of being a black woman, while we could not reverse the affects of long-term estrogen treatments and various surgeries. But really that's beside the point. This focuses too much on the cosmetic aspects, and not on the fact that comparing our experiences to Rachel Dolezal is to imply that we are transgender by choice.
Through her life experiences, Rachel Dolezal developed an affinity for black culture and changed her outward presentation to more fully integrate into that culture (I won't make judgement here on the ethics of her actions). Being transgender is not a preference we develop. It is a persistent experience that pervades our fundamental sense of being from our earliest memories. We were very literally born this way.
When I was conceived I had the potential to develop as either male or female. Even with my XY chromosomes there was still a chance I could develop physically according to the female mold, given the existence of AIS and similar conditions. And as I've posted before, there is good evidence that gender dysphoria is the result of a similar mutation. There was zero chance that a random mutation could have resulted in me being born black, mentally or physically. To compare Rachel Dolezal to Caitlyn Jenner or any other transgender person is to compare apples to oranges.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Further wrinkle in the genetics debate
In my previous post, I wrote about Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome and a similar mutation connected with gender dysphoria. It was my position that such findings undermine the idea of XY chromosomes as an irrefutable indicator of maleness.
Through some random reading online about gender identity, I came across a new (or new to me) article that I feel offers even further weight to my position. A girl in Zurich was found to have XY chromosomes, and should by all right be a baby boy. But instead she is fully female, with a normal vagina, cervix and set of ovaries. The child in this has a mutation to the CBX2 gene which appears to completely shut down the genes responsible for male sexual development. This is a very different phenomenon than Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, in which the sex organs are more ambiguous, and undeveloped testes are found in place of ovaries.
This discovery further demonstrates that while it may be typical for males to show an XY chromosome, this is far from being a given. Nature doesn't work in such cut & dry binaries.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Michelle Hendley
Michelle Hendley is a transgender actress, perhaps best known for her role in the movie Boy Meets Girl (which you should seriously watch). She is young and sometimes silly as she documents life through her YouTube channel. But she is also incredibly intelligent and has important things to say in this latest installment.
I am so thrilled for Caitlyn Jenner, and was very moved by what she revealed in her interview with Diane Sawyer. The fact that we have finally come to a time and place where sufficiently safe and accept to reveal this part of her life is wonderful and I'm happy that Caitlyn can now live her authentic life.
But I think the most important thing about Caitlyn's coming-out is the greater awareness that it will bring to transgender issues. This matters because the more we are understood - he more human we become - the less inclined society will be to discriminate against us, to marginalize us, to assault us, and to murder us.
The transgender community will welcome Caitlyn with open arms. But her story is far from the norm. Perhaps the visibility that she gaining will in turn bring attention to the lives of Leelah Alcorn, Trya Hunter, Brandon Teena, Gwen Araujo, and the countless other tran- lives lost to intolerance.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Meet Casey Legler - the world's first female male model
“At the end of the day that’s what I’m in the business of. Like that’s… that’s it. If the image of me out there in the world makes it easier one more kid to think that there’s a fucking place for them, then that’s the business I’m into.” ~ Casey Legler
Meet Casey Legler - the world's first female male model
This is something I had previously posted on Facebook, but now that I have a blog for just such things, I thought I would share it here. I originally came across this right after HB583 - the anti-transgender "bathroom bill" - was announced in the Florida legislature. It occurred to me that cases like Casey Legler's really spotlight how absurd and indefensible that mindset really is. Casey is a woman, born female, identifies as female, and they forced her out of the women's locker room at swim meets based solely on her appearance. Where do you draw the line, and who gets to make these decisions?
Do chromosomes really make a man?
I follow a good number of atheist and skeptic oriented groups on social media (I consider myself an agnostic atheist). For the most part, I've come to expect a level of critical thought and maturity out of these groups. Ever since Caitlyn Jenner made her debut on the cover of Vanity Fair, the topic of her transition has popped up in a few of these communities. How this topic was relevant to those groups, I couldn't say. But it was there and for the most part the comments were positive and supportive. But I was surprised by the handful that continued to make the small minded or uninformed comments on the subject we've come to expect from more conservative parties. There was the classic, "Why would you cut off a perfectly good penis" line of thought and also a frequent sentiment of "I'll call Jenner 'her' when I see XX chromosomes."
There is a widespread attitude that XY chromosomes are an indelible indicator of maleness. Clearly that is not the case, as Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome shows us. Individuals born with complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome appear to be outwardly female, are typically raised as girls, and identify as women in all psychological and social facets. Often, they are unaware of the condition until reaching their teenage years, when their lack of menstrual cycle provides the first hints that something is amiss. These women have XY sex chromosomes, but because of a mutation in the Androgen Receptor gene, their bodies never masculinize and continue developing based on the female model.
The existence of AIS should be enough to show that physical sex and gender identity are not fully dependent upon our chromosomes. Nature simply doesn't work in such a cut & dry manner. But of course, AIS is one thing. Being transgender is something altogether different. Or is it?
A study conducted at Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research in Australia found a difference in the Androgen Receptor gene among male-to-female transgender participants. This is noteworthy, because it is a mutation in this same gene that results AIS. While the Australian study has a relatively small sample size (112 transgender participants) and so cannot be considered conclusive, it does raise intriguing questions. I can't help but speculate on the possibility that perhaps gender dysphoria results from a condition similar to AIS, lacking the overt physical indications but preventing full masculinization of the brain. Earlier studies have already found evidence that the brain structures of transgender individual more closely match those of the gender with which they identify. These studies controlled for the effects of transgender hormone replacement therapies. Considering that AIS is already observed in a wide spectrum of degrees from Mild (MAIS) to Complete (CAIS), my speculation isn't completely groundless.
While the studies are intriguing, there is need for replication in order to confirm the findings. Gender dysphoria is a very under-researched topic, so answers will be slow in coming. But it is my suspicion that in time it will come to be considered another of the intersex conditions. It is doubtful that this will do much to change society's more small-minded attitudes toward transgender individuals. But it would at least affirm our feelings of a disconnect between our physical bodies and our feelings of identity. We aren't delusional. There is a literal conflict between what our brains are telling us, and our physical reality.
There is a widespread attitude that XY chromosomes are an indelible indicator of maleness. Clearly that is not the case, as Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome shows us. Individuals born with complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome appear to be outwardly female, are typically raised as girls, and identify as women in all psychological and social facets. Often, they are unaware of the condition until reaching their teenage years, when their lack of menstrual cycle provides the first hints that something is amiss. These women have XY sex chromosomes, but because of a mutation in the Androgen Receptor gene, their bodies never masculinize and continue developing based on the female model.
The existence of AIS should be enough to show that physical sex and gender identity are not fully dependent upon our chromosomes. Nature simply doesn't work in such a cut & dry manner. But of course, AIS is one thing. Being transgender is something altogether different. Or is it?
A study conducted at Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research in Australia found a difference in the Androgen Receptor gene among male-to-female transgender participants. This is noteworthy, because it is a mutation in this same gene that results AIS. While the Australian study has a relatively small sample size (112 transgender participants) and so cannot be considered conclusive, it does raise intriguing questions. I can't help but speculate on the possibility that perhaps gender dysphoria results from a condition similar to AIS, lacking the overt physical indications but preventing full masculinization of the brain. Earlier studies have already found evidence that the brain structures of transgender individual more closely match those of the gender with which they identify. These studies controlled for the effects of transgender hormone replacement therapies. Considering that AIS is already observed in a wide spectrum of degrees from Mild (MAIS) to Complete (CAIS), my speculation isn't completely groundless.
While the studies are intriguing, there is need for replication in order to confirm the findings. Gender dysphoria is a very under-researched topic, so answers will be slow in coming. But it is my suspicion that in time it will come to be considered another of the intersex conditions. It is doubtful that this will do much to change society's more small-minded attitudes toward transgender individuals. But it would at least affirm our feelings of a disconnect between our physical bodies and our feelings of identity. We aren't delusional. There is a literal conflict between what our brains are telling us, and our physical reality.
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