How Hormone Therapy Changes the Brain

[All-Rounder]

The Temporoparietal Junction is involved in the processing of someone else's belief, intention, or desire, attention, spacial and name recognition, theory of mind.

'Karolinska Institute neuroscientist Ivanka Savic found that the brains of transgender men taking testosterone showed several changes, including increases in connectivity between the temporoparietal junction (involved in own-body perception) and other brain areas'

'In another study published last year, of 18 transgender men and 17 transgender women who’d undergone at least two years of hormone therapy, and 57 cisgender controls of both sexes, Müller and colleagues found indications that such hormone treatments might even affect regions the brain that are not commonly considered to be among those sensitive to sex steroids—specifically, the fusiform gyrus, involved in the recognition of faces and bodies, and the cerebellum, known in part for its role in motor control'

Temporoparietal junction - Wikipedia

Are the Brains of Transgender People Different from Those of Cisgender People?

 

[Ursus Chainus]

The Temporoparietal Junction is involved in the processing of someone else's belief, intention, or desire, attention, spacial and name recognition, theory of mind.

'Karolinska Institute neuroscientist Ivanka Savic found that the brains of transgender men taking testosterone showed several changes, including increases in connectivity between the temporoparietal junction (involved in own-body perception) and other brain areas'

'In another study published last year, of 18 transgender men and 17 transgender women who’d undergone at least two years of hormone therapy, and 57 cisgender controls of both sexes, Müller and colleagues found indications that such hormone treatments might even affect regions the brain that are not commonly considered to be among those sensitive to sex steroids—specifically, the fusiform gyrus, involved in the recognition of faces and bodies, and the cerebellum, known in part for its role in motor control'

Temporoparietal junction - Wikipedia

Are the Brains of Transgender People Different from Those of Cisgender People?

Very interesting! My oldest is trans boy. I am particularly "agender" in a way... I am just not a "cultural male" because of the ol' autism. My son says I am gender queer... but really I am just me like he is just him. When he came out to me, it was not difficult for me to change the pronouns and start calling him son and using his chosen name. His mother freaked out.

I explained to my family that it is no different than a birth defect in which he was just born in the "wrong" body. That explanation is not quite accurate. He just is who he is and deserves kindness, love and understanding like anyone else. I feel a close kinship with those in the trans community because I have a difference that is not seen by others and am judged for just being myself.

Personally I feel that these things are actually functional whether it is a gender difference, a cognitive difference or both! NTs (both Neurotypical and Non-Trans) really struggle with these differences. When I have told ones that I know... they act like I should be mourning the loss of a daughter... how nuts is that? (You can't have nuts without an N and a T ). I told them that I did not lose a daughter but gained a son (just another bit of twisted NT logic about their daughter getting married put on its head). Watching my child go through gender dysphoria because these stupid attitudes exist was NOT fun. He made it though! He is a very strong person

 

[Au Naturel]

Very interesting! My oldest is trans boy. I am particularly "agender" in a way... I am just not a "cultural male" because of the ol' autism. My son says I am gender queer... but really I am just me like he is just him. When he came out to me, it was not difficult for me to change the pronouns and start calling him son and using his chosen name. His mother freaked out.

I explained to my family that it is no different than a birth defect in which he was just born in the "wrong" body. That explanation is not quite accurate. He just is who he is and deserves kindness, love and understanding like anyone else. I feel a close kinship with those in the trans community because I have a difference that is not seen by others and am judged for just being myself.

Personally I feel that these things are actually functional whether it is a gender difference, a cognitive difference or both! NTs (both Neurotypical and Non-Trans) really struggle with these differences. When I have told ones that I know... they act like I should be mourning the loss of a daughter... how nuts is that? (You can't have nuts without an N and a T ). I told them that I did not lose a daughter but gained a son (just another bit of twisted NT logic about their daughter getting married put on its head). Watching my child go through gender dysphoria because these stupid attitudes exist was NOT fun. He made it though! He is a very strong person

Not a defect. Just a trait that makes life more difficult.

 

[Ursus Chainus]

I do agree with this. I do not believe that differences or traits are defects. The world of "NTs" is about making differences disorders (Being gay was a disorder until fairly recently). If people like us were fully accepted and understood... we would be "acceptably different" and life would be a lot easier for us. How do you explain that to people who see being trans as a stage a child is going through or some way of just trying to be different to get attention?

I chose this explanation because people in my family were fighting against him having testosterone therapy as a teen. We won by using this idea... that we are "fixing a birth defect". He is much happier having male characteristics like a beard and that has helped him with his dysphoria. It was a compromise that both he and I were willing to make in order to make his life better.

I have also had to explain to people at work that I have a "disorder" when I view it simply as a functional difference. Life is all about functional differences. Human culture is pretty stupid in this.

So what makes life more difficult for us? That we are different or that others do not accept our differences and do not try to understand them? I blame intolerance, ignorance and general bigotry in culture for my difficulties... not that I am a defective individual. The same goes for my son.

 

[Thinx]

It's not like gender is a real thing, the vast majority of gender norms are culturally produced, what we wear, how we look, how we speak, how we act are policed by the gender norms for the gender we have been allocated. I say I am nonbinary but legally I have to fit in to one of 2 categories, with all the vast aculturated baggage of each.

Imagine any other supposed characteristic carrying so much cultural weight, or being narrowed down to 2 alternatives. But how the world clings to binary gender, and allocates roles on the basis of it!

It's hard to be different against all this tide of culturally created nonsense. We all cope with it in different ways, according also to where we perceive ourselves to be in relation to the muddled and murky norms and requirements of gender.

 

[All-Rounder]

Very interesting! My oldest is trans boy. I am particularly "agender" in a way... I am just not a "cultural male" because of the ol' autism. My son says I am gender queer... but really I am just me like he is just him. When he came out to me, it was not difficult for me to change the pronouns and start calling him son and using his chosen name. His mother freaked out.

I explained to my family that it is no different than a birth defect in which he was just born in the "wrong" body. That explanation is not quite accurate. He just is who he is and deserves kindness, love and understanding like anyone else. I feel a close kinship with those in the trans community because I have a difference that is not seen by others and am judged for just being myself.

Personally I feel that these things are actually functional whether it is a gender difference, a cognitive difference or both! NTs (both Neurotypical and Non-Trans) really struggle with these differences. When I have told ones that I know... they act like I should be mourning the loss of a daughter... how nuts is that? (You can't have nuts without an N and a T ). I told them that I did not lose a daughter but gained a son (just another bit of twisted NT logic about their daughter getting married put on its head). Watching my child go through gender dysphoria because these stupid attitudes exist was NOT fun. He made it though! He is a very strong person

Glad to hear that you worked hard and finally helped your son. I know how dysphoria can affect a person constantly, it's all the time almost. That stuff drives you crazy.

Did disphoria completely disappear or is still present sometimes?

 

[Alexej]

I have a difference that is not seen by others and am judged for just being myself.

Well said there Bear

 

[Alexej]

But how the world clings to binary gender, and allocates roles on the basis of it!

In my day to day life I am reading more about non duality. I love the echo of that in this part of the post!

 

[Rat]

It's not like gender is a real thing, the vast majority of gender norms are culturally produced, what we wear, how we look, how we speak, how we act are policed by the gender norms for the gender we have been allocated. I say I am nonbinary but legally I have to fit in to one of 2 categories, with all the vast aculturated baggage of each.

Imagine any other supposed characteristic carrying so much cultural weight, or being narrowed down to 2 alternatives. But how the world clings to binary gender, and allocates roles on the basis of it!

It's hard to be different against all this tide of culturally created nonsense. We all cope with it in different ways, according also to where we perceive ourselves to be in relation to the muddled and murky norms and requirements of gender.

While a lot of gender roles are crap that doesn't really mean gender itself is the same. There are noticeable trends in men's and women's brain structure and gray/white matter and such. The way I understand it is that while there isn't really a "male and female brain" in a strict sense there are most certainly trends within them.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

Do you think this could relate in some way to gender being an almost alien concept to me? I'm also pansexual, making me genderblind, adding to confusion about gender.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

It's not like gender is a real thing, the vast majority of gender norms are culturally produced, what we wear, how we look, how we speak, how we act are policed by the gender norms for the gender we have been allocated. I say I am nonbinary but legally I have to fit in to one of 2 categories, with all the vast aculturated baggage of each.

Imagine any other supposed characteristic carrying so much cultural weight, or being narrowed down to 2 alternatives. But how the world clings to binary gender, and allocates roles on the basis of it!

It's hard to be different against all this tide of culturally created nonsense. We all cope with it in different ways, according also to where we perceive ourselves to be in relation to the muddled and murky norms and requirements of gender.

If gender norms were never created in any way, then I think the world would be much better off.

 

[Rat]

Do you think this could relate in some way to gender being an almost alien concept to me? I'm also pansexual, making me genderblind, adding to confusion about gender.

I think autistic people in general (cis and trans) tend to have an odd relationship with gender when compared to NT people. I think we tend to be more prone to having a more "gender neutral" personality than NT people [probably a mix of biology since our brains are wired differently + autistic people tend to be effected by social norms less than NTs so we probably don't alter our personalities really to be more socially acceptable].

 

[Thinx]

Research has come up with very little in terms of significant differences between 'male' and 'female' brains, and I would think that's not very surprising given that so much of what is attributed to gender is, well, just stories we tell, myths and legends. We have a very simplistic idea that we can divide everyone into two categories via ideas of gender, and then know how to speak to and about them ever after.

We do seem to understand that there are varied brains, even though we are at an early stage of understanding that , so for example we talk about neurotypical people and neurodiverse people, although arguably we could just say there's neurodiversity. We understand that individuals differ within categories, too. Everything is a spectrum or varies.

 

[All-Rounder]

Do you think this could relate in some way to gender being an almost alien concept to me? I'm also pansexual, making me genderblind, adding to confusion about gender.

I don't think that hormones really change a gender, they do make differences, and maybe they create confusion because they affect brain in some ways [self image] but gender or agender is somewhere there, it can take a while to make sense of it and some feelings are unique. So I think it doesn't matter that you're in a different body with a lot of different hormones than your true gender, because people still know and are dysphoric.

As for autism being related to gender, we have an easier time being different and find out we may have some differences and probably enjoy them/accept them easier. We are flexible with the unusual [especially when it's our own], we have an open mind so its no wonder we can appreciate different things. We have this purity and non-costricted way of living, we don't judge based on superficial things. And surprisingly this helps us be more logical sometimes.

 

[Au Naturel]

I think it is clear that genetic sex has a close relationship to gender identity. The world clings to "binary gender" because that accurately describes most of the world. Most people do not feel dysphoria between their physical gender and their psychological gender.

Like most traits, gender identity is distributed in a bell curve and the tails of a curve always have problems being accepted by that big lump in the middle.

 

[Thinx]

I think it is clear that genetic sex has a close relationship to gender identity. The world clings to "binary gender" because that accurately describes most of the world. Most people do not feel dysphoria between their physical gender and their psychological gender.

Like most traits, gender identity is distributed in a bell curve and the tails of a curve always have problems being accepted by that big lump in the middle.

'Gender identity' isnt based solely or much on what you are calling 'genetic sex'. There's a massive amount of culturally produced baggage in there too, even if one were to subscribe to the idea that 'genetic sex' is easy to define, which it actually isn't. How do we 'become' 'girls' or 'boys'? How do we learn how to be a gender in our culture?

Gender is a major cultural production, and we are heavily influenced to subscribe to it, from our first moments, wrapped in our pink or blue blankets. Isn't she sweet? Isn't he strong? He's kicking goals already! She's cuddling dolly, isn't that cute? And on and on from there. Gender is taught and learnt through deeply held cultural beliefs and messages.

 

[Au Naturel]

'Gender identity' isnt based solely or much on what you are calling 'genetic sex'. There's a massive amount of culturally produced baggage in there too, even if one were to subscribe to the idea that 'genetic sex' is easy to define, which it actually isn't. How do we 'become' 'girls' or 'boys'? How do we learn how to be a gender in our culture?

Gender is a major cultural production, and we are heavily influenced to subscribe to it, from our first moments, wrapped in our pink or blue blankets. Isn't she sweet? Isn't he strong? He's kicking goals already! She's cuddling dolly, isn't that cute? And on and on from there. Gender is taught and learnt through deeply held cultural beliefs and messages.

Respectfully disagree with you here. The brain is an interesting combination of learned behavior and innate tendencies. If psychological gender were entirely learned, there would be no issue. We'd all be cis-het because - until very recently - that was all that was taught. And if someone accidentally learned the wrong thing, they could be reeducated to what was culturally accepted. Neither statements work - the best you get is a kind of masking - so there is something deeper than learning going on here.

Obviously, something causes a trans person to feel in a way that is in conflict with everything they have been taught and everything they see around them. I don't think playing with dolls or being treated differently have much to do with it. To swim against the current of the world for your entire life and despite powerful forces to the contrary can only be a drive hard-wired into one.

Rather like being an Aspie. I didn't get this way because of cultural demands. I am this way because something internal to me persisted despite the cultural demands. I can no more learn to be an NT than a gay person can convert to being straight.

"Male" is just shorthand for having a Y chromosome and all the biological implications a Y brings. There has been a lot of cultural baggage applied to being male - and female - and that is what needs to be discarded. Once the baggage has been discarded we may get to the point where innate male and female psychology are seen to exist on many sets of overlapping bell curves with median values that are not very far apart.

Humanity has been very lazy about discarding that baggage and sorting out those biological implications of how having or not having a Y actually affects us. (Not having an X is dead, so that isn't an issue.) That's bad science - and there's no shortage of that in the world. It has been dominated by using males as the medical standard for treatment while females have substantially different biologies. One could substitute different words for "male" and "female" but that's just playing with nomenclature and doesn't change the underlying biological reality.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

Respectfully disagree with you here. The brain is an interesting combination of learned behavior and innate tendencies. If psychological gender were entirely learned, there would be no issue. We'd all be cis-het because - until very recently - that was all that was taught. And if someone accidentally learned the wrong thing, they could be reeducated to what was culturally accepted. Neither statements work - the best you get is a kind of masking - so there is something deeper than learning going on here.

Obviously, something causes a trans person to feel in a way that is in conflict with everything they have been taught and everything they see around them. I don't think playing with dolls or being treated differently have much to do with it. To swim against the current of the world for your entire life and despite powerful forces to the contrary can only be a drive hard-wired into one.

Rather like being an Aspie. I didn't get this way because of cultural demands. I am this way because something internal to me persisted despite the cultural demands. I can no more learn to be an NT than a gay person can convert to being straight.

"Male" is just shorthand for having a Y chromosome and all the biological implications a Y brings. There has been a lot of cultural baggage applied to being male - and female - and that is what needs to be discarded. Once the baggage has been discarded we may get to the point where innate male and female psychology are seen to exist on many sets of overlapping bell curves with median values that are not very far apart.

Humanity has been very lazy about discarding that baggage and sorting out those biological implications of how having or not having a Y actually affects us. (Not having an X is dead, so that isn't an issue.) That's bad science - and there's no shortage of that in the world. It has been dominated by using males as the medical standard for treatment while females have substantially different biologies. One could substitute different words for "male" and "female" but that's just playing with nomenclature and doesn't change the underlying biological reality.

Dude, it isn't as deep as you think it goes. Gender is a social construct that practically anybody can interpret however they wish. In the medical and scientific fields, the terms "male" and "female" refer exclusively to biological sex, with intersex being the term used when there is defects in a person's sex chromosomes. While you may be correct in some parts of what you are saying, it seems that you are trying to swim deeper when there isn't actually anything beyond the shallows.

 

[Ursus Chainus]

Glad to hear that you worked hard and finally helped your son. I know how dysphoria can affect a person constantly, it's all the time almost. That stuff drives you crazy.

Did disphoria completely disappear or is still present sometimes?

He is dealing with PTSD at this point because of the dysphoria and his mother's reaction. I am still very angry at her six years later. She took the door off of his room as some sort of punishment for avoiding her. Trans teens have the highest suicide rate of any group AND feel a need for extreme privacy because of their body issues. He ended up in a children's psychiatric ward

He pulled through and is counseling trans teens as an adult... I am quite proud of him. He is doing great and working through his PTSD

 

[Ursus Chainus]

Dude, it isn't as deep as you think it goes. Gender is a social construct that practically anybody can interpret however they wish. In the medical and scientific fields, the terms "male" and "female" refer exclusively to biological sex, with intersex being the term used when there is defects in a person's sex chromosomes. While you may be correct in some parts of what you are saying, it seems that you are trying to swim deeper when there isn't actually anything beyond the shallows.

Yep... Gender is a mess.

Culture is what messes us up whether it be gender, sexuality, race or cognition (being ASD like us).