There is no biological explanation

No one is born in the wrong body

It is often claimed that transsexuality has a biological basis, due to an atypical hormonal exposure in the womb, which would cause transgender brain structures to have characteristics more similar to the ‘perceived’ sex than the ‘assigned’ sex. There is no evidence to support this, and it is contradicted by all clinical science and experience. Worth mentioning is the insight gained from studying DSDs (Disorders of Differences of Sex Development). For example, female babies born with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a condition that exposes the developing baby to high levels of male hormones, often exhibit typically masculine preferences and behaviours. Several possible explanations for this phenomenon have been proposed that are independent of prenatal exposure to the male hormone. Importantly, the vast majority of affected children with CAH have not experienced transgender identity or gender dysphoria in the past.

The lack of a sustainable biological basis for transgender identity is best demonstrated by studies with identical twins, which show that when one twin develops gender dysphoria, it only occurs in 28% of both, despite the fact that they have identical genes.

Claims about structural similarity of the brain are myths and are refuted by technically advanced methods in morphological studies with transgender and control groups.

There are static differences between the brains of men and women. For example, male brains are on average 10% larger than female brains. Women have a higher density of “grey matter” (abundance of neural cell nuclei) and correspondingly the volume of “white matter” (abundance of non-neuronal glial cells, in particular “myelination” of neurons) is greater in men. The cerebral cortex of men is thinner than that of women.

Extensive research has been done on human brains with so-called Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). The conclusions were that the variability in each region, ‘nucleus’, was so great that it is impossible to say that this region shows that this brain belongs to a man or a woman. Nevertheless, deep learning computer programmes can see with 93% accuracy that there are two brain classes, male and female.

In trans women (born male), differences in brain morphology were found with the control group, but the differences observed were identical to those for gay men and were not comparable to the morphology of female brains. A similar relationship was seen between trans men (biological women), lesbians and a control group of women. Thus, scanning imaging can determine gender from brain morphology but not gender identity.

Similar studies have been done on changes in brain structures for different professional occupations. For example, a long-term study of comparison between stewardesses (airplane) and taxi drivers showed that occupation over time can have a major impact on the size of brain structures, such as the hippocampus, a brain structure known to be crucial for memory processing and spatial orientation. Studies of various mental disorders (e.g. schizophrenia, depression, sleep deprivation) also show significant differences from control groups.

Differences in brain morphology of individuals suffering from gender dysphoria compared to control groups is also likely to be influenced by differences observed for different psychiatric disorders and psychological stress. In summary, there is no evidence that the transwomen’s brain is more similar to the control group’s female brain, nor are there corresponding differences in the transmen’s brain.

In children, the brain is not fully developed and is programmed to change with age, genetically and with exposure to sex-specific hormones. During puberty, testosterone in males causes the cerebral cortex to become thinner than in females and then ‘male’ in its characteristics. This means that before puberty, there are no details about how the brain will develop during and after puberty (up to 25 years). It is therefore impossible, even theoretically, to use fMRI in children to conclude whether the child is suffering from gender dysphoria or from other psychological/psychosocial problems.

Source: It is a myth that specific brain regions of trans persons are more like those of the self-identified gender

Perhaps even more important than the above is the following article, which describes the striking similarity between Anorexia and gender dysphoria:

Gender Dysphoria and Changes in the Resting State Networks

It is becoming increasingly evident that Gender Dysphoria is not a case of having an opposite sex gendered brain in your body—a belief with no basis in science or logic. Instead, evidence points to connectivity within the Resting State Networks of the brain to explain why some feel that they are the opposite of their actual sex. Namely, research indicates that, with gender dysphoria, as with anorexia nervosa and other body dysmorphia disorders, there are visible connectivity changes within the Default Mode (DMN) and Salient (SN) Networks, which are believed to be the neurological basis for the sense of self.

In their study of brain morphology and on the possible neurobiological underpinnings of Gender Dysphoria, Savic et al conducted a study of brain differences in individuals that expressed gender dysphoria. What they found is that the brain morphology of gender dysphoric individuals was indistinguishable from their natal sex, once adjusted for homosexuality (interestingly, there were differences noted between homosexual and heterosexual individuals). There were changes, however, in gender dysphoric individuals, not in the brains themselves, but in the neuroplastic connectivity networks responsible for “mediating self–body perception”— showing decreased communication in individuals with dysphoria. Because of these connectivity changes, they noted that they were unable to determine that gender dysphoria is innate, or if instead, it is the result of long-term rumination.

Similar findings have been made in studies of anorexia patients. Similar to the gender dysphoria studies, researchers found that there was weakened functional activity in the DMN, and microstructural abnormalities in fronto-occipital brain structure in patients with anorexia, a disorder that has, at its root, a similar disconnect between the image of self and the body, in this case, body weight and size, rather than gender. These disorders appear to be more similar than activists would have us believe, and both involve a disconnect between biological reality and self that is observable within the brain.

In the case of both gender dysphoria and anorexia, the cause and effect is unclear— did a mental disconnect in the subjects, between “their own body image and perception of self”, potentially due to rumination and social influences (known causal factors for both ailments), subsequently lead “to a weakening of the structural and functional connections in these networks”, or did weakened connections and decreased connectivity create the chasm or dysphoria in the person’s sense of self? More study is needed to address the root causes. However, it is clear that disrupted neural pathways can disrupt the sense of self and lead to a variety of distressing conditions.

However much activists would like to believe that these afflictions are different, the brain says otherwise. The commonalities between Anorexia and Gender Dysphoria patients are so evident, that it is striking that this is continually overlooked by researchers. Equally striking, however, are the very different ways that these two disorders are treated, because the common root cause or symptom is being overlooked. Anorexia is treated through psychological care, whereas gender dysphoria is currently treated through affirmation and medicalization to support the disordered thinking. These divergent treatment protocols are baffling. Physicians and psychologists treating eating disorders never affirm the observably false idea, caused by the disruption in accurate body perception, that the patient is overweight, and it is known that eating disorders can be resolved by following this approach, in combination with supportive medical care. With gender dysphoria, however, the school of thought is to agree with the patient’s observably false perception of self and to undertake medical and psychological treatments that further enhance the dysphoria.

Now, when wrong sex hormones are introduced into these individuals with mental dissociation, neural networks are further disrupted by this chemical intervention. As the study by Clemens shows, males treated with hormones showed decreased connectivity between the left frontoparietal cortex and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In other words, the hormone interventions decreased communication pathways in unintended ways in the brain. One might say that this has the effect of further deepening the body perception disorder, rather than working to resolve it. Not a desirable effect!

Source: Transgender Medical Interventions: Impacts on the Brain

See also: No such thing as the wrong puberty