Nimbikarana
Literotica Guru
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- Mar 27, 2005
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Gender bending in the genes
By Grant McArthur
Herald Sun newspaper, Melbourne
MELBOURNE scientists have broken new ground in supporting the case that genetics more than individual choice play a key role in determining our sense of gender.
A transsexual gene, believed to be responsible for people feeling they were born the wrong sex, has been discovered by the Melbourne team.
The breakthrough supports the view that there is a biological basis to the gender confusion faced by transsexuals, rather than the social stigma attached with theories that gender reassignment is a lifestyle choice.
In the largest genetic study of its kind, 112 male-to-female transsexuals took part in a study involving several Melbourne research bodies and the University of California, Los Angeles.
After studying the DNA of the male-to-female transsexuals, genetic experts from Prince Henry's Institute at the Monash Medical Centre found they were more likely to have a longer version of a gene known to modify the action of sex hormone testosterone.
The genetic abnormality on the androgen receptor gene is believed to lower testosterone action during fetal development, and "under-masculinise" the person's brain, leading them to feel like a female trapped in a male body.
Lead researcher Associate Prof Vincent Harley, head of molecular genetics at Prince Henry's, said the findings dismissed decades of debate that physiological factors such as childhood trauma were responsible for people's belief they should be the opposite sex.
"There is a social stigma that transsexualism is simply a lifestyle choice. However, our findings support a biological basis of how gender identity develops," he said.
Other recent studies have indicated family history and genetics are involved in gender identity, a view supported by Monash Gender Dysphoria Clinic director Dr Trudy Kennedy.
"People who come to our clinic describe how they knew they were different at a very early age; just three or four years old when they were at kindergarten," Dr Kennedy said.
"This is something that people are born with, and it's certainly not a lifestyle choice, as some have suggested."
Publishing their results today in the Biological Psychiatry journal, the researchers call for expanded genetic studies to investigate a wider range of genes, which may also play a part in gender identity.
"It is possible that a decrease in testosterone levels in the brain during development might result in incomplete masculinisation of the brain in male-to-female transsexuals, resulting in a more feminised brain and a female gender identity," they wrote.
Julie Peters, a transgender person, said she knew from as young as three that she did not fit into being a boy.
"I have always had the personality of a girl. I suppose is the way I perceive it, and even from a very young age, three or four, I was really mad at people for making me a boy," she said.
"I personally think it (gender) is a combination of both (nature and nurture). You are born with a predisposition to have a certain personality, and then depending on the culture you are brought up in your personal situation.
The study research was jointly funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the US National Institutes of Health.
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Disclaimer: I know Dr. Kennedy.
By Grant McArthur
Herald Sun newspaper, Melbourne
MELBOURNE scientists have broken new ground in supporting the case that genetics more than individual choice play a key role in determining our sense of gender.
A transsexual gene, believed to be responsible for people feeling they were born the wrong sex, has been discovered by the Melbourne team.
The breakthrough supports the view that there is a biological basis to the gender confusion faced by transsexuals, rather than the social stigma attached with theories that gender reassignment is a lifestyle choice.
In the largest genetic study of its kind, 112 male-to-female transsexuals took part in a study involving several Melbourne research bodies and the University of California, Los Angeles.
After studying the DNA of the male-to-female transsexuals, genetic experts from Prince Henry's Institute at the Monash Medical Centre found they were more likely to have a longer version of a gene known to modify the action of sex hormone testosterone.
The genetic abnormality on the androgen receptor gene is believed to lower testosterone action during fetal development, and "under-masculinise" the person's brain, leading them to feel like a female trapped in a male body.
Lead researcher Associate Prof Vincent Harley, head of molecular genetics at Prince Henry's, said the findings dismissed decades of debate that physiological factors such as childhood trauma were responsible for people's belief they should be the opposite sex.
"There is a social stigma that transsexualism is simply a lifestyle choice. However, our findings support a biological basis of how gender identity develops," he said.
Other recent studies have indicated family history and genetics are involved in gender identity, a view supported by Monash Gender Dysphoria Clinic director Dr Trudy Kennedy.
"People who come to our clinic describe how they knew they were different at a very early age; just three or four years old when they were at kindergarten," Dr Kennedy said.
"This is something that people are born with, and it's certainly not a lifestyle choice, as some have suggested."
Publishing their results today in the Biological Psychiatry journal, the researchers call for expanded genetic studies to investigate a wider range of genes, which may also play a part in gender identity.
"It is possible that a decrease in testosterone levels in the brain during development might result in incomplete masculinisation of the brain in male-to-female transsexuals, resulting in a more feminised brain and a female gender identity," they wrote.
Julie Peters, a transgender person, said she knew from as young as three that she did not fit into being a boy.
"I have always had the personality of a girl. I suppose is the way I perceive it, and even from a very young age, three or four, I was really mad at people for making me a boy," she said.
"I personally think it (gender) is a combination of both (nature and nurture). You are born with a predisposition to have a certain personality, and then depending on the culture you are brought up in your personal situation.
The study research was jointly funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the US National Institutes of Health.
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Disclaimer: I know Dr. Kennedy.
