From my research, through finding a gem informed commentator, Professor Robert Sapolsky, I somewhat luckily stumbled upon what could be a solution to the trans youth medical intervention debates. Sapolsky is an esteemed neuro-biologist hailing from Stanford University. He has published some compassionate and scientifically rigorous findings, that direly need to be popularised for an informed essential crafting of a workable ethic regarding gender affirmation care.
At an outset, it is incumbent foregrounding to note that there is an extant dichotomy of transgenderism, which is good and productive to think with:-
- Brain-based transgenderism; and
- Socialised transgenderism
Both of the above are worthy and legitimate forms transgenderism. Quoting from Sapolsky’s seminal book – of which I am a proud owner as it occupies an esteemed and cherished place among books in my bookshelves – Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst on brain based transgenderism:-
“Remarkably, studies have examined brains of transgender individuals, concentrating on brain regions that, on the average, differ in size between men and women. And consistently, regardless of the desired direction of the sex change and, in fact, regardless of whether the person had undergone a sex change yet, the dimorphic brain regions in transgender individuals resembled the sex of the person they had always felt themselves to be, not their “actual” sex. In other words, it’s not the case that transgender individuals think they’re a different gender than they actually are. It’s more like they got stuck with the bodies of a different sex from who they actually are.”
Sapolsky, R 2018, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, Vintage, London, p.215n.
This brain region of swapping dimorphism in (brain-based) transgenderism has been identified as the the “bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (‘BNST’). Please see Sapolsky’s integral and eye-opening video lecture presentation below:
It follows then, that a qualification for puberty blockers and/or gender affirmation surgery/surgeries should only be applicable upon a finding of this swapping of dimorphic size of the BNST in an individual. Is this not the enlightened middle-way between anti and pro puberty blockers and gender affirmation measures regarding trans youths? Is brain-based transgenderism detectable in scan/s? This I do not know (yet)!
Why aren’t politicians making claims on this matter, citing his integral and groundbreaking works? It’s both alarming and depressing we are not finding rationality, not severing through the unsubstantiated extremist anti or pro polarised positions, on particularly trans youths.
For another fantastic and interesting online conference/chat regarding transgender neurobiology is given below:
For the sheer complexity of variables around gender, and its resulting spectrums, please see the informative video featuring inquiring scholars and activists dialectically exploring this often misunderstood and overly simplified topic, with Sapolsky himself, in an accessible, non-elitist reachable dialogue design:
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