I Do Not Understand Gender Reassignment [I Am In Support of Transgender and Genderqueer People]

I have people in my life who have undergone reassignment. I also respect the contributions of some folks here who have either transitioned or who are transitioning.

That said, I don't get it.

I completely understand gender fluidity. I understand the notion of not willing to adhere to societal expectations for behavior and interpersonal relationships. Two of my closest friends in the world are in a committed homosexual relationship and I consider that relationship to be more idealized that my sister and brother in law who wouldn't be able to find love on a map.

That said, I don't understand the notion that gender reassignment.

Gender dysmorphia can, logically, only be based on social programming. One's DNA will designate literal sex. The desire to live a life as a gendered female or male, I suppose, is a choice. But the need to alter one's biology seems forced to me.

I wonder if we are able to have an open and honest converation about this.

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LordShadowfire · 46-50, M

I have not personally known anyone, apart from folks online, who have gender dysmorphia, but as I understand it, it's more than just social programming, as you put it. It is literally a question of brain chemistry and structure.

In the development of a (dare I use this word?) normal human, the embryo is female by default. At a certain point in its development, something is triggered, and the embryo is bombarded with hormones which will determine its physical sex. That is when it becomes either a boy or a girl.

With true gender dysmorphia, something goes wrong at this stage in the development. The brain receives one hormone, and the body receives another. So you have a female brain in a male body, or vice versa. Thus, people with gender dysmorphia literally feel like they have the wrong body.

Gender reassignment surgery is definitely not perfected, and I wouldn't recommend it, but people turn to it because they cannot deal with the sensation of being in the wrong body.

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JoeyFoxx · 56-60, M

@LordShadowfire this is the kind of partially informed commentary that frustrates me.

There was a declaration in a study about 10 ish years ago that stated that all embryos were female by default. This study was contradicted by a later study that described that natural evolution of an embryo as it because viable.

NONE of this describes how a person could possibly require biological assistance to undo what their DNA dictated from birth.