The Biological Influence of Gender Identity

By Grace Morris '23

Transgender is a term used for people whose birth sex does not correspond with their gender identity. The term transgender woman refers to someone who identifies as a woman (male-to-female) and the term transgender man refers to someone who identifies as a man (female-to-male). Gender dysphoria is a term used to describe someone’s feeling of distress because their sex assigned at birth does not match their gender identity. Someone who experiences gender dysphoria can feel things such as a “strong desire to be rid of one’s...sex characteristics” and a strong desire to be another gender. Is there a correlation between neurology and gender identification?

In order to determine whether gender identity has a biological factor, a specific area in the brain was examined on two separate occasions (1995 and 2000) among trans and cisgender men and women. They compared the bed nucleus of BSTc which is usually twice as large and more densely populated in men than women. BSTc is something that functions in anxiety, and has been a reliable area of the brain to obtain results. The researchers made sure to examine the brains of cisgender men and women who took hormones for other medical reasons. This was to rid of the factor of transgender people who took hormones while transitioning.

The results showed that the BSTc of transgender women were more similar to the BSTc of cisgender women. The same applied to the BSTc of transgender men and cisgender men. It has also been proven that hormones do have an effect on the brain in separate research, but when examining transgender people, they found that their brains resembled their identified gender more-so than their assigned sex.

Some scientists believe that this is the result of exposure to estrogen levels during the fetus stage. For transgender men, scientists believe that they were not exposed to enough estrogen in the fetus’ environment, or the fetus had poor sensitivity. This is hard to prove, but in a study, it has been proven that the estrogen receptors were weaker among transgender men.

There is a misbelief that gender identity is a choice among many people. Choice in the sense that it is a conscientious decision. Gender dysphoria is a very real thing, and people cannot choose to suddenly stop feeling it. There needs to be a better acceptance for people who may identify as a different gender rather than outright denying it simply because they have not experienced that feeling.

Between the (Gender) Lines: the Science of Transgender Identity - http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2016/gender-lines-science-transgender-identity/

What Is Gender Dysphoria? - https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria