DEAR FRIENDS- To answer the question that trans hating bigots, in their 4th grade grasp of biology, like to throw around…
Let’s consult two definitive sources!
First, the Cambridge Dictionary of the English Language.
Then, modern genetics and neurophysiology.
1. an adult female human being
2. an adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth
—Cambridge Dictionary of the English Language
Regarding genetics and neurophysiology…
-You can be a woman because you have X & Y chromosomes but your body is insensitive to androgens and you have female anatomy & gender identity.
-You can be a woman with X & Y chromosomes but your Y is missing the
SRY gene, so you have a female body and gender identity.
-You can be a woman with two X chromosomes, but one of them has an SRY gene, giving you a male body but a female brain/body map and gender identity.
-You can be a woman with XXY or XXXY chromosomes, giving you a male body but female brain/body map and gender identity.
-You can be a woman born with two X chromosomes but adrenals that don't produce enough cortisol, giving you a male body.
-You can be a woman with XY chromosomes but a mutation called CBX2 that blocks the influence of the SRY gene.
-You can be a woman with a male body because you have one of several alleles (gene variants) of the AR gene such as AR-ERB, AR-PGR, AR-COMT, or CYP17-SRD5A2) that result in an undermasculinized brain map.
-You can be a woman because you have
46,XY in some cells but 46,XX in other cells, or 47, XXY.
There. I've defined "woman" for you.
Modern science, which is how rational people resolve differences of opinion…
And NOT by referring to their holy books, written in the freakin’ Bronze Age…
And also NOT by regurgitating 4th grade biology…
Shows us that, genetically and biologically speaking, there are many types of women.
Including transgender women like me!
And that the 4th grade, “XX=Woman, XY=Man thingie is FAR TOO SIMPLISTIC to explain the reality of the matter.
Hope that clears things up!
To conclude, allow me to paraphrase Shakespeare, from “Hamlet”…
Including more kinds of perfectly valid women!
PS Research on the brains of transgender women shows that the part of the brain that determines one’s inner sense of gender identity- the instinctive feeling that “I’m like the women” or “I’m like the men”- is NEARLY IDENTICAL TO CISGENDER WOMEN AND VERY DIFFERENT THAN THAT OF CISGENDER MEN.
In short, trans women have female brains, when it comes to determining their gender identity.
This is why we see ourselves as “women on the inside”, when our outer bodies don’t match what our brains are telling us.
And as we’ve seen above, there are also genetic variations beyond simple XY = Male, XX = Female.
So in the end, doesn’t society’s response to transgender people come down to it’s capacity for rationality, compassion and empathy?
If transgender women have female brains and therefore a female gender identity…
Put yourself in their place!
Imagine that you KNOW deep down in your heart and soul that you’re a woman, because a HUGE chunk of biology- your brain and neurochemistry- tells you so.
Wouldn’t you want society to treat you as the woman you sincerely know you are?
And wouldn’t you suffer terribly if your society refused to extend respect, understanding and empathy to your very challenging situation?
And instead, constantly attacked you with the cruelty and violence that the Trump administration and its army of bigoted transphobes are?
Many societies have honored the inner identity of their transgender members, with of course no harm to those societies.
The ONLY problem today is in the stubborn, cruel refusal to credit the science behind why trans people are trans.
And to honor, with understanding and human empathy, these peoples’ biologically based sense of themselves.
The refusal to honor trans people in the U.S.A. and elsewhere, WHILE OTHER SOCIETIES HAVE ROUTINELY DONE SO, reveals the “cruel streak” in the American right wing heart and mind.
Especially when you compare the accepting response of more empathetic and compassionate Democratic/progressive voters.
Who instinctively believe that we trans folks are who we say we are.
In this light, trans people are a “litmus test” for the core values of a culture.
Will that society be based on ignorance, superstition, cruelty, conformity and exclusion?
Or science, rationality, kindness and inclusion.
Seen this way, the struggle for trans inclusion is indeed the struggle for America’s heart and soul.
May that struggle be won by the people of love!
PPS All the women in the pic below are genetically XY.
They all have one of the syndromes I described in the essay above, which led their bodies to develop as female.
Would anyone in their right mind treat these women as men?
Again, how hateful and cruel would you need to be to do that?
janainaart
yousharknotpass
theartofmadeline
dededos
