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1. I've seen a lot of comments from Right Wingers claiming transgenderism isn't real or is a mental illness. Ignorance is an unnecessary affliction. In honor of #PrideMonth , here's a brief education for #GOP, #Conservatives, #MAGA and #Evangelicals.
2. If you think recognition and 'tolerance' of different gender identities is a construct of progressivism, you are wrong. In fact, (White) Western culture is behind the curve on this.
3. Anthropologists and historians are well aware of cultures throughout time recognizing non-binary gender. Early scholars often used the indigenous term berdache (two-spirit) to describe the phenomenon of a 'third gender' or 'mixed gender'.
4. Linguistics are an important part of cultural study. Language informs understanding/thought. For us, speaking about gender outside of the binary choices can feel unusual - but, that's not a cross-cultural norm. Other languages allow for supernumerary gender terms and roles.
5. There are various sociocultural reasons behind this, but, most importantly, it is the recognition that non-binary persons exist (and always have). The explanation for why lies in understanding the complexities of our sexual development.
6. So, let's break it down. We tend to think of the Y chromosome as the defining difference between men and women. It's actually only one gene found on the Y chromosome that's responsible for sexual difference. One little gene called the Testis Determining Factor (TDF).
7. But, having the TDF gene, itself, does not make someone male or female. It initiates a process of events. You may or may not realize this, but all embryos start out as female - the gonads are a small bit of tissue that can essentially go either way depending on other factors.
8. TDF does 2 things:
- Turns on the gene for the Müllerian-inhibiting hormone, which prevents the development of the female internal genitalia
- Signals a group of cells to synthesize testosterone which guides the development of male genitalia and masculinization.
- Turns on the gene for the Müllerian-inhibiting hormone, which prevents the development of the female internal genitalia
- Signals a group of cells to synthesize testosterone which guides the development of male genitalia and masculinization.
9. The two switches must be activated over a few days - turn off female pathway and turn on male pathway. Without the switches and the blast of testosterone, the embryo continues on to develop the reproductive cells - no hormones are produced until after birth.
10. But wait - testosterone also can't switch genes on and off by itself. It needs androgen receptors as an intermediary to act as a chemical trigger. Bottom line, there is a complicated sequence of events that must happen in the process of 'creating a biological male'.
11. Any variation in this process can result in androgynous, intersexed (hermaphroditic) or transgendered persons. And, honestly, who are we to even say these variations aren't by biological design?
12. 'Gender dysphoria' as a description of mental illness predates our understanding of the complexities of genetic development. Our scientific understanding is evolving, but it many ways, our cultural understanding was obtuse. It's time to catch up.
