Tuesday, January 22, 2019

How is it that some people are transgender?

The origins of being transgender have been studied for decades. A University of Ottawa journal article “A Review of Transgender Health in Canada”(1) cites a conservative estimate of the number of transgender individuals in Canada to be approximately 100,000. Research into the origins of being transgender has discovered that it has a biological basis involving brain structure and genetics.

From a Harvard University website (2) by Katherine Wu: “…Transgender people appear to be born with brains more similar to the gender with which they identify, rather than the one to which they were assigned.” The website provides a detailed summary of the research with diagrams as well as some definitions of transgender language. 

Below are two links to TEDx videos by parents of transgender children.

The first video (16 min.) is by a mother about her transgender daughter and includes a piece by her teenage daughter after her transition.
“Transgender: a mother’s story” by Susie Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZiVPh12RQY

The second (21 min.) is by a self-described “old, conservative, Catholic, ex-military” father about his 21-year-old son.
 “Proud to call you my transgender son” by Skip Pardee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW8Plf_IXGs





(1)Travis William Davidson, MSc, “A Review of Transgender Health in Canada”. University of Ottawa Journal of Medicine. 2: (Nov. 2015), 40-45.
A Review of Transgender Health in Canada - ottawa.scholarsportal.info

(2)Katherine Wu, “Between the (Gender) Lines: The Science of Gender Identity,” Blog, Special Edition: Dear Mister/Madam President. Harvard University,
October 25, 2016.
http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2016/gender-lines-science-transgender-identity/


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