HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR GENDER ACCORDING TO SCIENCE

HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR GENDER ACCORDING TO SCIENCE

How would you describe yourself in a few words?

I’m a cis-man and I like fun shirts.

Our gender plays a big role in how we define ourselves and others, but it’s not something

science fully understands.

And, funnily enough, There is no one answer to why someone feels like they are a certain gender, and there is no fixed definition for sex. Therefore, it would be unfair and impractical for individuals to have to prove their gender identity. Instead, we should focus on reducing the stigma and discrimination against transgender people.we don’t really know why I like fun shirts, either, but no one

questions that so let’s just move on.

A lot of us may never really think twice about defining ourselves as a man or a woman, but

there are many who do think about it.

A lot.

In reality a lot of biological, sociological, and psychological factors went into the definitions

of “man” or “woman,” or neither.

For example, when babies are born at a hospital, they’re assigned a sex based on primary

sex characteristics like genitalia.

Someone literally looks at the baby and makes a decision.

They’re mainly going by visual inspection.

And though hormones like testosterone play a big role in developing the primary sex organs

you have at birth.

Sexual differentiation continues beyond birth, with a lot of outwardly visible changes (and

awkwardness) peaking at puberty.

And these processes rely on a whole host of hormones, receptors, and other factors that

come from at LEAST 70 different genes on different chromosomes.

So really, biological sex is not black or white because there are so many variables

going into it that are not necessarily correlated with one another.

Which is why there’s good evidence to say there are more than 2 biological sexes.

For example testosterone is important for developing the internal genitalia, but it

needs to be converted by an enzyme for the external genitalia to be made.

So someone could have testosterone, plus all the effects that leads to during development

through puberty, and be “male” in a lot of ways internally...

...but because they’re missing one enzyme, things might look a little different on the

outside.

The thing is, most people don’t know their genetics or what’s inside their abdomen

… so how come we so confidently proclaim -- well anything!

When I say I’m a woman, I’m actually referring to my gender identity.

This might be related to or influenced by primary or secondary sex characteristics,

but knowing our gender identity comes from our brains.

The fascinating thing is we don’t really know a ton about what influences this identity...

just like how I might say: I am a confident or anxious person, but don’t really know

what EXACTLY in MY brain makes me like that.

There are a few regions in the brain that are different between sexes, including the

interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus - and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis,

which is part of the limbic system.

In men, these areas are both larger and have more neurons in them.

And studies to date, albeit small, show the sizes of these areas correlate with the gender

identities of transgender men and women.

Other studies have found differences in white matter microstructures between men and women.

Transgender men who have not yet received hormone treatments had patterns more similar

to those sharing their gender identity, not what they were assigned at birth.

In other words, the sex they were assigned at birth didn’t accurately predict their

white matter patterns.

While there are so many different areas of the brain that seem different between men

and women, some researchers argue there are more similarities than differences and there

isn’t really a typical “male” or “female” brain.

But given that, ALL of us have incomplete information on our true biological sex, and

that we don’t fully understand the neuroscience behind gender

-- or honestly a lot of complex things like why we like fun shirts --

...it doesn’t make sense to burden individuals with proving how they feel.

Because scientifically, NONE of us can explain why we feel like a man, woman *indicate to

each other*

And as none of us can say that, by making a minority of people TRY to provide a burden

of proof, we’re causing a LOT of health problems.

For example, the suicide ATTEMPT rate among transgender people ranges from 32-50% in a

number of different countries, whereas the overall population average in the US is estimated

around point-zero-four to one-point-one percent%.

Both of these numbers are too high, but the stats for transgender people particularly

so, especially when recent studies show these numbers decrease when transgender people are

socially accepted.

While there are, of course, a lot more scientific questions to ask, we could save hundreds of

thousands of lives by removing social stigma.

We know science will catch up eventually, but in the meantime…

we should all recognize this is more complicated than man, woman, trans or non-binary.

And as is the norm in science, the more we learn, the more nuanced it gets.

And that diversity in people and ideas is what makes the world so cool.

If you want to learn more about what your DNA says about your sexuality -- different

than identity -- click here.

Thank you for watching, I am sure you’ll have a comment on this video, so make sure

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