[GoneGirl]

I found this piece by Dr. Carl Bushong at transgendercare.com and thought I'd share it with you. His 5-dimensional gender matrix strikes a chord with me. I also like is way of describing the objective of transition:

"It has been my observation that the female self needs little help in growing up and developing if the overpowering weight of the male persona is removed from it. The transgender individual has spent years, decades developing, reinforcing and living in their male role. Dismantling the male persona takes a great deal of time, effort and outside help. But, an individual's sense of happiness and success is directly parallel with the degree they have dismantled their male identity, not on their age, physical size, hormones, surgery, etc."

From What is Gender and Who is Transgendered?

Clara

[GoneGirl]

One thing that I'm a little skeptical about is Bushong's including "Brain Sex" as one of the 5 independent attributes or dimensions of gender. He describes Brain Sex this way:

"Brain Sex is the primary hard-wired patterns which dictates how we view and relate to others on a social, interpersonal and sexual level. Although, like Brain Gender, most physical females will have female Brain Sex and physical males, male Brain Sex. But, this is far from absolute, and in the case of transgendered folk, it is the reverse. A physical male transgendered person will have female Brain Sex as well as female Brain Gender."

The reason I question this is that before starting HRT with PM, I'm pretty sure I had a male's Brain Sex as Bushong describes it with a strong emphasis on sensual attitude, visual stimulation (porn), and emotional detachment. On estrogen, my Brain Sex seems to have become completely female. It's like I had two versions of Brain Sex gender -- one was activated by testosterone, the other by estrogen.

Maybe that's not inconsistent with Bushong's notion of Brain Sex, I don't know. It could be that my sexual inadequacy as a male throughout my life was the result of interference by my suppressed female Brain Sex. If that's true, then there are aspects of my sexuality that I'm not aware of yet. Could that become a problem down the road for my marriage? Again, I don't know. Bushong states:

"Female brained individuals, on the other hand, appear to be much more fluid and less physically restricted in their choice of sexual partners. Women routinely become romantically attached to each other, but physical expressions remain atypical for most. While periods of lesbian experimentation is not rare among women, for a straight male to become romantically involved with another male in mid-life without previous gay feelings unexpressed is all but unknown."

That would explain why many heterosexual MTF transgenders become attracted to males at some point in their transition.

Hmmm.....That could present a threat to keeping one's marriage intact long term.

Clara

[AnnieBL]

One thing that I'm a little skeptical about is Bushong's including "Brain Sex" as one of the 5 independent attributes or dimensions of gender. He describes Brain Sex this way:

"Brain Sex is the primary hard-wired patterns which dictates how we view and relate to others on a social, interpersonal and sexual level. Although, like Brain Gender, most physical females will have female Brain Sex and physical males, male Brain Sex. But, this is far from absolute, and in the case of transgendered folk, it is the reverse. A physical male transgendered person will have female Brain Sex as well as female Brain Gender."

The reason I question this is that before starting HRT with PM, I'm pretty sure I had a male's Brain Sex as Bushong describes it with a strong emphasis on sensual attitude, visual stimulation (porn), and emotional detachment. On estrogen, my Brain Sex seems to have become completely female. It's like I had two versions of Brain Sex gender -- one was activated by testosterone, the other by estrogen.

Maybe that's not inconsistent with Bushong's notion of Brain Sex, I don't know. It could be that my sexual inadequacy as a male throughout my life was the result of interference by my suppressed female Brain Sex. If that's true, then there are aspects of my sexuality that I'm not aware of yet. Could that become a problem down the road for my marriage? Again, I don't know. Bushong states:

"Female brained individuals, on the other hand, appear to be much more fluid and less physically restricted in their choice of sexual partners. Women routinely become romantically attached to each other, but physical expressions remain atypical for most. While periods of lesbian experimentation is not rare among women, for a straight male to become romantically involved with another male in mid-life without previous gay feelings unexpressed is all but unknown."

That would explain why many heterosexual MTF transgenders become attracted to males at some point in their transition.

Hmmm.....That could present a threat to keeping one's marriage intact long term.

Clara

It was an intersesting and useful article, but there were a few things in it which seemed to hit a slightly wrong note for me, including some of the same things that you mention.