Ths 1s A BoekKlLET ABoLT TRANSGENDER IDENTITIES AS ToLD BY IN SCHool, mosr OF US ARE TAUGHT A VERY BASIC UNDERSTAMDIVG oF SEX AND GENDER. THIS |S AN oKRY GENERALIZATION, Bor AS BiOLoGISTS wwe TELL You, IT IS WoEFULLY INCOMPLETE. SO, SCENCE FANS... Ler's GET SCENT ric! CV Vitolo- Haddad University o& Wisconsin ~ ModisonBeroRe we JumP IN, THERE Ace A FEW TERMS Wort DEFINING, IN PARTICULAR, | USE. "GENDER" DIFFERENTLY THAN SOME READERS ARE USED TO. SOME FOLKS THINK ABOUT "SEX" any “GENDER” AS SEPARATE. THEIR REASONING GoES LIKE THIS! SEX DESCUIBES ANATOMY - REPRODUCT\VE_ ORGAAIS, CHROMOSOMES, AND SECONDARY SEX CHARACTERISTICS: EXAMPLES OF SEYES NCLUDE MALE, FEMALE, awd INTERSEX (NEITHER MALE Nok FEMALE), GENDER DESCRIBES SELF- IDENT IFICATION WITHIN SOCIAL ROLES- IT'S & COGNITIVE PROCESS EXAMPLES OF GENDERS WCLUDE MAN, Woman, MID NONBINARY (NETHER MAN NoR Wome). ) USE “GENDER to mean THE SET oF LABELS ONE USES To DESCRIBE THEMSEWES- ANATOMICALLY AND COGNITIVELY.deres Why SEX, AS 1 WILL EXPLAIN, 15 EVERY Bor AS ABSTRACT AS GENDER, AND ARBITRARY DWISIONS BETWEEN SEX AND GENDER CREATE A STRANGE SEPARATION BETWEEN Bovy AND MIND. THIS PostTS TRANS PEOPLE AS MISMATCHED, ILL, OR DEVIANT, WHEN NOT ALL FEEL “TRAPPED IN THE WRONG Bopy.” OTHER TEANSGENDER TEOPLE DO, AND PURSUE MEDICAL INTERVENTION, GWEN WHAT BIOLOAISTS KNOW ABOUT SEX, BoTH OF THESE MAKE & LOT oF SENSE. AND BESIDES, THIS SITUATION CRN FEEL INVALIDATING! BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH MALE AND FEMALE MENT GENDERS, THEY ARE GENDERED wordS. \ gendered (ody): Relating +0 one particular gender.OF CooRSE, WORDS LIKE “UTERUS” AND “PROSTATE CONTEXTS, BUT THOSE. DEFINE A PERSON'S AND THAT IS BETWEEN A DOCTOR AND PATIENT, ARE STILL: USEFUL iN MEDICAL ORGANS ALONE — Don'T SEX (MORE ON THAT Soon!) A CONVERSATION Wirt MANY WAYS TO NAVIGATE THOSE DiScussiows. BuT THAT'S A RABBIT HOE WE "a ovee CkN Some DaWN ANOTHER TIME, FoR mY porPoseS HERE, LL USE "SEX" AND "GENDER" Some WHAT FLULy BECAUSE THEY ARE Both ExPressiohS oF ONE'S PERSONAL IDENTITY. Sol wiTHooT FuRTHER ADo:\F THERE |S ONE THING MOST COMMONLY MISUNDERSTOOD ABOUT SEX AND GENDER, 1T IS TRAT SCIENTISTS RAVE Ae way TO "Memsure” OR WoRSE, "PROVE" SOMEOQVE'S SEX eon reproductwe organs ! o ree vw } Hormones; Ans x \s ... But in reality, there is no clear line between the sexes. Nat even clase. yrernal genitalsWE TYPICALLY ASSIGN SEX TO INFANTS BY OBSERVATION, BUT THIS IS Done FoR EASE, NoT ACCURACY. THERE IS SIMPLY WO SINGLE CHARACTERISTIC THAT DETERMINES ~ GENDER, AND WITH 350,000 BABIES BoRW EACH DAY, EASE IS KEY. BvT FoR SoME BABIES, TH\s SYSTEM DoES. A LOT oF WARM, FOR EXAMPLE? INTERSEX BABIES HAVE AmBIGVOLS GENITALIA, AND MAY HAVE ELEMENTS oF MULTIPLE OR NO REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. THEY ARE SUBJECTED TO DANAEROUS, PURELY COSMETIC SURGERIES TO ALTER THE APPEARANCE OF THEIQ@ GENITALS, OFTEN WITHOUT TRULY INFORMED CONSENT FROM PARENTS TRANSGENDER PEOPLE ARE ASSIGNED THE CORRECT SEX AT BIRTH, WAICH WovlLDNT BE As BIG OF A DEAL IF THEY Din NoT Face Hume LEGAL HURDLES AND DISCRIMINATION IN ATTEMPTING To CoRRECT THE ERROR. Much oF THIS HARM 1S THE ResulT oF RUDAMENTARY OR INACCURATE UNDERSTANDINGS oF SEX.A COMPREHENSIVE, SCIENTIFIC VIEW RECOGNRES THaY GENDER and SEX HAVE SUBJECTWE FLEMENTS, MANY oF WHICH WE DONT FULLY UNDERSTAND To BloLoGists, THEN, KUMAN GENDER IS A BEAUTIFULLY COMPLEX THING, DETERMINED By A OMRBINATION OF THESE FACTORS:WELL START WITH... GENOTYPE: an indwidual’s genetic makeup, inhereted during reproduction IN BiolLoGY 101 WE LERRN THE BasicS REPRODUCTION, USING THE most CommoNn GENOTYPES AND GENITALS AS AN EXAMPLE THIS IS NOT WNTENDED AS AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST- JusT A DESCRIPTION OF THE MOST COMMON SCEN RRO.IN FAcT, EVEN IF WE TAKE THE MosT COMMON SET OF PARENTS, THINGS GET YOUp ComPL\CATED, wry Quickly, BECKUSE THESE —pARENTS CAN WAVE ANY OF | THESE oFFS?RING: xo Yo XY XX sony ¥XX XYY- XXXY XXX BXKX AND THS \S Nor SomE RARE ANOMALY- THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH ESTIMATES 20-40 BABIES ARE Bern WN THE Ss. with XXY, XXXY, XXVY, oR XXX EvERY pay!OKRY, So THERE IS MORE GENETIC yARIANCE THAN You REALIZED. STILL, THAT MEANS CHROMOSOMES DETERMINE SEX, RIGHT? EVERYONE with XX WILL, STILL HAVE & UTERUS AND VAGINA, AND EVERYONE wire XY wit Have A Peis AND Testicces! EVERY X AND Y CHROMOSOME IS UNIQUE, AND THAT GENETIC DWERSITY MEANS THERE IS MORE OVERLAP BETWEEN THE GENOTYPES THAN You'd THINK. TO UNDERSTAND Tis, LET's ExPLoRE HOW DNA TRANSLATES INTO THE Bodies WE COME To INHABIT, caGENOTYPE. TRANSLATES INTO PHENOT ¥YPE. PHENOTYDE: THE SET oF OBSERVABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN INDIVIDUAL. RESULTING FROM TiKE INTERACTION OF ITS GENGTYPE WITH THE ENVIRONMENT AND ANY GENOTYPE GN PRODUCE ANY PHENOTYPE -For example... THIS EMBRYO HAS AN XX GENOTYPE. THE Most STATISTICALLY LIKELY PHENOTYPE 'S A VAGIWA/ UTERUS But Some X CiRomMosomeS HAVE EVOLVED DIFFERENTLY, WHict REQUIRES A Quick PRIMER ON HUMAN REPRODUCTION TO EXPLAIN: y THE X CHROMOSOME CONTAINS 400-900 GENES, WHILE THE Y CHROMOSOME, Witch WIS, x ONCE A SIMILAR SIRE, Now CONTAINS A MERE So-Jo. SoME EVOLUTIONARY BloloaisTS PREDICT THE Y CHRomosoME WiLL (ONTINVE TO DETERIORATE, AND EVENTUALLY i@ DSAPPERR, gC An 2g BuoT A 2Ol2 STUDY ARGUED - . IT's HERE To stay! need vepH gee 1K on KamanTHE CELLS IN OUR BoDdY TYPICALLY CONTAIN 2% CORES OF EAC CHROMOSOME - ONE FLOM EACH PARENT. PARENT CEUS DWIDE INTO SPERM AND EGGS, LiKE THIS: x o> a 4 Typical female Two eggs - | Cell- 2 copies Copy each o> 9, c y Tupical male Two sperm- | Cel- 2 copes Copy each THOSE COMBINE NTO THE GENOTYPE OF THE EMBRYO New £1 - ), , l- eatsSO, RETURNING TO ovum XX EMBRYO... SOMETIMES, CHROMOSOMES THAT ARE NexT TO Eat OTHER SWAP GENES. X copieS 2 copies loopy | copy AS A YESLLT A BABY WITH Two X CHROMOSOMES COULD HAVE Some op AL OF THE GENES ON A TyPcAL Y CHROMOSOME S, D AN flSIMILARLY, A BABY WiT# A Y Cieomosome may DEVELOP SIMILAR TO THE AVERAGE XX GENOTYPE yor poy e594 Sperm embr yo AND EVEN IF THEY HAVE “TYP\CAL" VERS\ONS OF BOTH CKROMOSOMES, INTOLERANCE TO CERTAIN ~— HORMONES WILL CAUSE AN XY EMBRO TO DEVELOP A LTERUS AND VAGINA ONCE YOU START FACTORING JN THREE AND FouR CHROMOSOME GENOTYPES (LIKE YOK OR Y YY), THE POSSIBILITIES ARE EWDLEss!GS S Ss & Se That & why a Oe eo s ay gerolype Can produce any phenotype! Non THAT WE'VE COVERED SomME oF THE WAYS GENOTYPE DOESN'T PROVIDE A SCIENTIFICALLY RIGOROUS DEFINITION FoR SEX, LET's COVER WHY PHENOTYPE CAN BE Just ws VAST, MURKY, AND COMPL\ CATED.IF BUMANS ONLY HAD 2 sExES, WE CovlD PROBABLY DETERMINE SEX BY PHENOTYPE. EVEN "IRREGULAR" (BX LESS COMMON) GENITALS Wovlb, most LIKELY BE \DEATIFIABLE AS ONE OR THE OTHER. WELL, WHAT ~~ does IT Look LIKE? THIS DOESN'T WORK BECAUSE HUMAN SEX ORGANS DEVELOP ALONG & AS WE oFTEN ASSUME. AS A&A RESULT, AS MANY AS PEORLE HAVE BODIES THaT Don't FIT \Wio & 2 SEX BINARY Limersex Society of Ameria, LoleNEARLY EVERY EMBRYO STARTS WITH THE SAME PRE-GEMTAL MOUND OF CELLS. HE PRESENCE OR ARSENCE oF CERTAIN HORMONES CAUSE THE (EUS TO DIFFERENTIATE INTO A PENIS OR VAGINA UNDIFFERENTIATED —— jutro Aber cle genital fold \ genital swelling VAGINAL << glans clitoris urethra Vaginal ‘Shef+- abu opening mays, ScrohuW\ \aovuen scotal new minusIN OTHER WORDS, DESPITE LooKING OUTWARDLY DISTINCT, THE PENIS AND VAGINA ARE VERY SIMILAR ORGANS— THEY = ARE JusT SHAPED DIFFERENTLY. SOME FOLKS DEVELOP ALONG A DIFFERENT PATH, OR sToP AT VARIOUS STAGES IN THE PROCESS. AND EXTERNAL GENITALS DON'T NECESSARILY PREDICT. TERIAL GENITALS FoR EXAMPLE - SomE WITH XY OR XXY AND PARTIAL ANDROGEN (A HORMONE) INSENSITIVITY HAVE A UTERUS, ONE OVARY, A SCROTUM, f& PENIS, AWD ONE TESTICLE (These FOLKS May NEED A VAGINAL OPENING CREATED SURGICALLY To ALLOW — MENSTRUATION. ) The point is, nothing about gender is guarunteed by, biology,TRERE's ANOTHER IMPORTANT ORGAN FOR DETERMINING GENDER lL» THE BRAIN! THIS \S WHERE THE LACK OF STARLE SEXES REALLY BECOMES APPARENT! THERE IS Quite A BT WE grill Don'T UNDERSTAND ABOUT THE BRAIN, BUT WE do KNoW iT 1S INVOLVED IN GENDER. THIS NEXT / BIT IS A UNTLE TECHNICAL, BUT WE GoT THIS:A ot) STUDY’ PUBLISHED IN THE PROCEEDINGS oF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY oF SCIENCE EXAMINETS THE BRAINS OF 1,000 PERLE AGED 3-22. THOUGH THERE WERE NO DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BRAINS OF CHILDREN, AROUND AGE 14, WOMEN BEGIN DEVELOPING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN HEMISPHERES OF THE BRAIM, SUGGESTING LoGic AND INTUITION WORKING TOGETHER, WHEREAS MEN DEVELOPED (CoNNECTIONS WITHIN THE SAME SIDE, SUGGESTING THOSE AREAS FUNCTION — SEPARATELY. BECAUSE THIS HAPPENS IN ADOLESCENCE, T's UNCLEAR IF IT 19 LEARWED oR IWNATE Sagatnetinar, Madhura, et ale "Sex dierences in the Sirehucal comectome of the. human bran" Wroceahings of she Nehenal Atahemy of Soence ia (Zoi¥)> ta9-908HOWEVER, A 2015) STUDY PUBLISHED IN THE SAME JOURWAL SROWED THAT THOSE sTRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES DIDN'T ESTABLISH A GENERALIZABLE FEMALE/ MALE BRAIN. SCANS OF BRAIN VOLUME FouwD only 6% OF BRAINS CouLD BE SEPARATED INTO MALE/FEMALE. Female brains Male brains @2a2@ 9694 ©O2OQ 6098 @ HIGH VOLUME O28O 0964 |e, 22a E808 Trje via PNAS JHE RESEARCHERS THEN MEASURED BeaiN CONNECTIVITY (S\M\LAR To THE 2013 STUDY) AND GREY mMaTTER IN THE OUTER LAYER OF THE BRAIN. Key FINDING: OF 4.960 PARTICIPANTS, ONLY 0.170 WERE CLEARLY MALE/FEMALE, WHILE 7O%o HAD ELEMENTS OF BOTH.THS STUDY CONCLUDED... “Although there are sex/gender differences in brain structure, brains do not fall into two classes, one typical of males and the other typical of females.” AND... “Each brain is a unique mosaic of features, some of which may be more common in females compared with males, others may be more common in males compared with females, and still others may be common in both females and males."EVEN THOUGH THERE I$ SUBSTANTIAL VARIANCE, AMONG INDIVIDUAL BRAINS, THERE ARE SOME FASCINATING FiwoweS AT THE LEVEL OF AVERAGES AND = AGGREGATE DATA A XO\l STUDY, PUBLISHED IN THE JouRNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, ANALYZED THE BRAINS OF TRANSGENDER PEOPLE BEFORE AND AFTER HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY (HRT). KEY FINDING: BoTH BEFORE AND AFTER HRT, THE BRAINS OF TRANSGENDER = PEOPLE «= HAD SIMILAR, STRUCTURES TO THOSE CORRELATED WITH THEIR GENDER IDENTITY, USING THE EARLIER EXMMPLE OF TWO BRAINS ON OPPOSITE EXTREMES:THOUGH THERE 1S NO CONCLUS\VE WAY To KNow \F THIS 1S INNATE, LEARNED, OR ENVIRONMENTAL, THERE ARE Some CLUES. A 2014 EXPERIMENT’ PUBLISHED IN FRONTIERS OF ENDOCRINOLOGY ANALYZED TRANSGENDER CHILDREN'S RESPONSE TO ANDROSTADIENONE, A PHEROMONE- LIKE CHEMICAL. THAT CAUSES DIFFERENT RESPONSES IN THE HYPOTHALAMUS OF MEN VS: WOMEN WHEN SMELLED. KEY FINDING: \N ADOLESCENT CHILDREN, RESPONSES WERE CONSISTENT WITH GENDER IDENTITY, = NOT” SEX ASSIGNED AT BIRTH. IT 19 UNLIKELY THIS — WouLd Be LEARNED oR ENVIRONMENTAL, SUGGESTING [T 1S \NNATE. , &q@ MAJOR KEY FINDING: Overall, transgender brains are unique- unlike cisgender male or female brains’ (cisgender= identifies wih gender assigned at birth) WE'VE CovERED THREE FACTORS THAT \NWFoRM = GENDER- GENOTYPE, PHENOTYPE, AND COGNITION THERE'S JUST ONE THING LEFT TO CovER: THE ENVIRONMENT!THE ENVIRONMENT IMPACTS GENDER IN A Few WAYS, THREE oF WHICH I'LL EXPLAIN: 4) CuLTURE DIFFERENT CULTURES BREAK UP THE SPECTRUM OF GENDER IN OTHER WAYS: NATIVE AMERICAN NATIONS RECOGNIZE BETWEEN S AND S GENDERS, such AS = TwWO- SPIRIT TAME LEE MOsiEED ARROW ITALY (PARTICULARLY NAPOLI) HAS LONG RECOGNIZED FEMMINIELL] (SINGULAR: FEMIINIELLo), WH\CHt CAN, REFER TO GAY MEN oR TRANSGENDER WOMEN, AnD ARE BELIEVED To BRING Good LucK. PBS BAS A MAP OF GENDER DWERSITY AT PBS. ORG/ INDEPENDENT LENS/ CON TENT/TWO-SPIRIT_. MARS - beeen \ / FoR THOSE LooKING To EXPLORE MoRE:2) GEOGRAPHY A 2004 STUDY’ PROVIDED THE FIRST GlLoBAL Look AT BIRTH RATES, AND FOUND THAT LATITUDE INFLUENCES HUMAN SEX DETERMINATION. % Male 0 +57 @ 507-512. @ 512-517 AREAS WITH LONG, DARK WINTERS (SHADED IN BLUE) Propuce MoRE MALES. THE TROPICS PRODUCE SIGNIFICANTLY LESS MALES. Tis 1s thought to be due to melotonw, OO chemwcol — Hho regulareS both sleep and the production of harmones asSocioked with fomale development. Navore, Kessben, 3. “Hmans%) GENETIC \SOLATION THE GENETIC ELEMENTS OF SEX \ARY GEOGRAPHICALLY, AND THE MORE ISOLATED & COMMUNITY IS, THE FASTER A GENE CAN SPREAD THROUGH A POPULATION: IN SALINAS, DomMINICAN REPUBLIC, THERE 1S f& VERY HIGH PREVALENCE OF GUEVEDOCES, OR PEOPLE BoRN WITH A VAGINA, BUT WHO GRoW A PENIS AT AGE 12. Domnwar Repuete Sabings, CEssENTIALN, TAEY DON T RESPOND TO ANDROGEN HORMONES IN THE WOMB, AND SO ARE Bor WITH AN APPARENT VAGINA oR UNDIFFERENTIATED GENITALS, WHICH DEVELOP INTO & PENIS AND TESTICLES WITH THE HORMONE. RUSH OF PUBERTY.)S50, WHAT DO WE TRE AWAY FROM ALL THIS INFORMATION? SEX |S COMPLICATED IN ENERY SPECIES, AND RUMANS ARE NO EXCEPTION. VES, THERE ARE EGGS AND SPERM, BoT SOMETIMES PENISES MENSTRUATE, AUD VAGINAS COME WITH TesTicLes, AND 38.7 MULLION PEOPLE IN THE U.S. DON'T PRODUCE EITHER OR STRUGGLE WITHE INFERTILITY: We, os humans, put language to ovr bodies so Aor We Covld Communicate OvrselveS +o others. Gyhether i+ IS & Onild of old Friend, of someone using language for nemselves that you didatt expect, the best thing we can do & |isten. Listen, because +hey are telling you who yl they are, and hey Know themselves beter than You do- Ond loving Someone means as they ase, not oS You think +hey — should be-Because sex is not a chromosome. Its not a reproductive orga. Gr what "down there" looks like when you're born, Sex is not a pattern on a brain scan. And if you wore born in a different time or place, it might change. Sex is all of these things, interpreted. through heuristics that aren't precise. SCIENCE CAN'T DEFINE YOUR SEX (OR GENDER). ONLY YOU CAN DO THAT.QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, OR IDEAS FOR FUTURE ILLUSTRATIONS? Twitter? Cnetcolloquial Email notcolloquial @ gmor\.com IF you enjeyed Hus and = Would Ke +o contribute, Please consider donating xo the Onwersity oF Wisconsin- Madison debod@ — rea. Donate via Paypal: Badger Debate Cgmail-com CV Vitelo- Haddad 6 former geneticist and current Director of Devote and dockoral shdent ot Uw-Maatson (Go Badgers!), where they fesearch —pubhe health deliberation and transgender heath