(July 3, 2024 at 2:57 pm)Rev. Rye Wrote:(July 1, 2024 at 8:06 pm)Foxaèr Wrote: Psychology is considered to be science, and typically one has to see a therapist before beginning the transition.
Note: Even if you're looking for the harder sciences, here's a little factoid for you that's pretty well-researched: the brains of transwomen are actually closer to that of Cis Women than other Cis Men.
My best friend from high school is now a psychiatrist, and part of her job is doing the interviews that people have to get before they can do gender-reassignment surgery. She tells me that her role in the interview is NOT to determine what the person's gender is. She uses her extensive experience with mental and emotional disorders to determine whether the person seeking surgery is of sufficiently sound mind to make an irreversible life-altering decision.
This is NOT to say that being trans is in any way a disorder. But, sad to say, some people aren't thinking straight. For example a bi-polar person in a manic phase may make decisions which are ill-considered. Such people shouldn't be making any major decision in that state -- even buying a house or a boat. I have no idea what percentage of re-assignment patients have any troubling mental condition. Probably no more than non-trans people. But that's still enough people that a doctor interview makes sense.
As for the MRI study... It will be very interesting to watch as these are followed up on. The second paragraph of the paper you link to does let us know that a clear consensus is still missing on this subject. But this research is a start.
Traditionally, gender was thought to be determined by anatomy. Now we no longer think this.
So suppose these researchers discover some anatomical brain feature which is very strongly associated with gender. Either a physical structure in the brain or some pattern of electrical/chemical activity. Would that give the doctors a criterion by which they could falsify gender claims?
In other words, suppose someone believes themselves to be male, but they have the anatomical brain feature associated with femaleness. Would the doctor then say, "I'm sorry, you're wrong. You have the female brain feature, therefore your belief that you are male is empirically, objectively, scientifically shown to be false."? Is THIS anatomical feature determinative, whereas the other ones (e.g. chromosomes) are not?
This is what I mean when I say that truth-claims about gender seem not to be falsifiable. At the moment, if someone claims to be female, and a doctor says "No, you are not female, and I know this because _______." Is there any possible language which could go into the blank which could be objectively true?
I suspect that even the female-associated brain anatomy discussed in the research paper will not be sufficient to falsify an individual's claim about their own gender.
