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[redrobert]

Hi Guys

I have not seen a lot of discussion on the theory dealing with hormonal showers in the womb leading to gender dysphoria et all.

This is what I know: at some point in the pregnancy the genes fire the process which leads to the genitals developing. During this time the "appropriate" hormonal shower is needed. I.o.w. if your little embryo genes

Comments

[tutis]

I haven't read terribly much about this theory, but what you've written is pretty much how I understand it. When I hit female puberty everything pretty much went to shit as far as my self-esteem, self image, and ability to relate to people around me. Before that I navigated life with relative ease. I didn't start feeling comfortable in my own skin until I started T.

Essentially, I believe this theory merits more research, because it is the best explanation of why the onset of female puberty screwed me up so massively, and starting T has made everything smooth out so much. I've had many people comment on how I've "calmed down" or am more stable since starting T.

[chaa1]

same here. at puberty i started to become really shy around new people, which was really odd for me (an outspoken extrovert). now that i'm chock full of male hormones i have my jive back; and then some!

[tutis]

It is pretty amazing how everything can suddenly seem right, isn't it? I expected mental changes, but I had no idea that it would feel so drastically healthy. Good thing I allowed myself to acknowledge that I'm trans.

[pretentioustfu]

Agreed! Though for me, things went bad from when I was five on (e.g. when I acted more like a boy or androgyne than a little girl), but the onset of puberty + dedicating myself to religious fundamentalism at the time was a one-two punch that devastated everything in regard to self.

Pre-puberty, I was happy. I may have annoyed other people around me, I may have been weird, but I was happy. I wasn't depressed, wasn't anxious, wasn't constantly worried about not fitting, not being good enough, about trying to make everyone happy even when trying to make everyone happy made no one happy including me.

[pilot_light_out]

I've always believed in this theory. And i thought it more likely to be true for me because my mom has naturally high t levels so i thought that might be a reason for the T washover while i was in the womb.

While the "wrong hormonal wash" theory does sound quite reasonable and truthful, i also sometimes believe (and maybe this is just what i tell myself to feel better...) that my brain had it's hormonal T wash as a male, but my genitals just didn't get that far. I guess the question to be asked here is "what forms first, the gender of the brain (from the hormonal wash) or the genitals?"

i think about it alot. of course.

[ephraim_oakes]

i think "wrong" is determined with respect to chromosomes. And those (XX vs XY vs some other chromosomal pattern) usually determine both brain and gential sex.

personally, i think there's alot to be said for environmental factors. any surprise the trans population took a sharp increase when we started flooding our environment with hormone mimicking chemicals....

[aesmael]

Has it?

[ephraim_oakes]

it's hard to say for sure, because that was the same time that medical technology to facilitate transition started becoming available as well. so, it's all guesswork, but i'm not discounting the possibility that trans folk are the canaries in the coal mine of our toxic environment.

[psychoadept]

Do you know if it's possible to get a mixed testosterone/estrogen shower?

[hrolleif]

Anything is possible, we know so little.

[pilot_light_out]

this makes me think of what a genderqueer brain might be like.

[hrolleif]

I think the theory is interesting but unproven and has both flaws and possibilities. I also thought the idea of "mosaic" chromosomes was interesting. Having mosiac chromosomes means that some parts of your body have certain chromosome type and some parts have other type or types, like a chimera kind of. I've been reading a lot about this lately and was very surprised when I found out that fairly recently some fertile XXY mosaic females were discovered to, um, exist. It made me wonder if there was a possibility of having different chromosomes in some parts of the brain, even a very small important-to-gender-identity part, that could contribute to or cause a person to be transsexual. I wondered if anyone had tried to look at that post mortem, but was unable to find anything at all about it.

[gamehen]

There's a book out there about this very idea. It's called "Brain Sex" by Moir and Jessel.