tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post5610937963160719498..comments2024-02-20T15:17:48.594+11:00Comments on A.E.Brain: Reading ListsZoe Brainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13712045376060102538noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-69984663141129436292008-09-19T00:17:00.000+10:002008-09-19T00:17:00.000+10:00Many fewer than before, Val. The information and i...Many fewer than before, Val. The information and interaction available on the internet is saving a lot of lives of younger as well as older people.<BR/><BR/>I can't imagine you as an FTM, Zoe. But I do identify with the terror and confusion that hitting the wall does produce.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-25351423579211056702008-09-18T17:58:00.000+10:002008-09-18T17:58:00.000+10:00I would describe myself as a heavy case, but I mys...I would describe myself as a heavy case, but I myself didn't crossdress before social change, too - well I did some experiments and I always hid my male patterned baldness under a cap or cloth even when at home. But I think that doesn't count. I never defined femaleness over clothes.<BR/>I think that was the result of a very feministic upbringing.Bad hair dayshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02074719911527566883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-44172418950177589582008-09-17T14:35:00.000+10:002008-09-17T14:35:00.000+10:00Good points, val. I need to think on them.As for t...Good points, val. I need to think on them.<BR/><BR/>As for the others who don't appear on the radar screen - how can we know how many exist? I think Lynn Conway's figures might be more reliable than I'd assumed. And there are degrees of this, it's not a hard, rigid binary.Zoe Brainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13712045376060102538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-22098673174642598642008-09-17T02:42:00.000+10:002008-09-17T02:42:00.000+10:00I think I still see a difficulty with classificati...I think I still see a difficulty with classification order. While it doesn't strike me as at all coincidental, that the (very) small population of "natural changers" are also psychologically "classical TS" doesn't necessarily imply the larger biological model. The very small subset does not define the conditions of the much larger set. <BR/><BR/>I also note that it's pretty much impossible not to invoke the psychological markers while arguing for a strictly biological condition... inevitably so, given the near-total lack of overt physical markers in most.<BR/><BR/>All of which is taxonomic quibble, as opposed to outright argument.<BR/><BR/>Your last comment, though, particularly piques my interest. Given that most transpeople do not have the benefit of that undeniable kick in the evidentiary ass that you received, how many classical TSs might remain too frightened, confused, isolated, etc., to make that step?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10873404440876615630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-10391928796891623452008-09-16T23:36:00.000+10:002008-09-16T23:36:00.000+10:00TPQ - glad to be of service.Val - yes, I'm anomalo...TPQ - glad to be of service.<BR/><BR/>Val - yes, I'm anomalous in terms of my metabolism. But psychologically speaking, I'm indistinguishable from the standard TS case.<BR/><BR/>It would seem to me to be quite a coincidence, one that strectches credulity. Here we have one of the dozen or so known cases of a natural MtoF change, and they all - with one recent possible exception - coincidentally happened to fit the classic TS profile exactly.<BR/><BR/>It's almost the perfect experiment - what happens when a biological female (well, more female than male) is forced to adopt a male gender role due to her appearance. What would be the consequences in how she would feel, how her mind would work.<BR/><BR/>The mapping is not exact: I never cross-dressed for example, and before the change, my gender dysphoria was under control. Enough so I would not have appeared on any Transgender survey, anyway. I has a mild case, I was and am not as strongly gendered as pure TS women who present for treatment. Or maybe I'm just more cowardly, as my female gender identity seems strong enough now!<BR/><BR/>But that would tend to reinforce the case for biological TS causation, not diminish it. And totally destroy any idea that I'm searching for some kind of "it's not my fault!" excuse. I could, in theory, after all, have taken FtoM measures. I did consider it, and even subscribed to an FtoM magazine. But I just couldn't do it. I'm good at self-deception, but I've never claimed that this wasn't something I desperately needed.<BR/><BR/>Rather than me using my unusual biology as an excuse for transitioning, I've always said that it was just the trigger, the "spur that pricked the side of my intent". Without it, I never would have transitioned. But only because I was too terrified to, not because I wasn't classically TS, like all the rest.Zoe Brainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13712045376060102538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-42714393569496086762008-09-16T22:45:00.000+10:002008-09-16T22:45:00.000+10:00> The trouble is, there was photographic and ey...> The trouble is, there was photographic and eyewitness evidence that my body was changing.<BR/><BR/>You do understand, of course, that your experience was anomalous in the extreme, and doesn't in itself support a biological model of transsexualism (against which I am not arguing)?<BR/><BR/>As far as I know, almost no "classic" transsexuals undergo spontaneous changes like your own. For most, the reality testing is quite a bit more subjective.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10873404440876615630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-55477857100002764222008-09-16T09:57:00.000+10:002008-09-16T09:57:00.000+10:00This is really interesting stuff - thanks for post...This is really interesting stuff - thanks for posting the reading list. <BR/><BR/>TPQAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com