IJ TRANSGENDER - London Congress - Abstract - Looking for the Brain: Biological Origins of Transsexualism

Editors:
Friedemann Pfäfflin,
Ulm University, Germany

Walter O. Bockting,
University of Minnesota, USA

Eli Coleman,
University of Minnesota, USA

Richard Ekins,
University of Ulster at Coleraine, UK

Dave King,
University of Liverpool, UK

Managing Editor:
Noelle N Gray,
University of Minnesota, USA

Editorial Assistant:
Erin Pellett,
University of Minnesota, USA

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ISSN 1434-4599

XVI Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium
17 - 21 August 1999, London

Reflections on "Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment" 1969 -1999

Looking for the Brain: Biological Origins of Transsexualism

Green, Richard, Head, Gender Identity Clinic, Charing Cross Hospital, London

Limitations on direct study of the brain and its functions compromise research on differences between conventional males and females that could show a paradoxical difference in transsexuals. Consequently, indirect measures are sought.

We studied four variables in over 400 male and 100 female transsexuals that may reflect central nervous system development distinctions.

The variables are hand-use preference in common tasks, fingerprint ridge count patterns, the transsexual’s sibling sequence of brothers and sisters, and the ratio of uncles to aunts in the transsexual’s mother’s family tree. Rationales for selecting these variables are presented.

All four variables demonstrate differences between transsexuals and non-transsexual men and women.