Is being Transgendered a concious choice?

[Anonymous]

Thanks Pamela, that was a very interesting read, there was a program on TV Monday 16th Sept on channel SBS HD called “Out of Control”.

The program was about the new research being carried out on the “unconscious mind”, the part of your brain that senses things, decides what you do and many other functions that your body does that you do not think of doing consciously.

Scientists now realise that we are far more complex than ever before and many of our choices in life are determined by our “unconscious mind” and we have no choice in what it decides for us to do or be.

A very interesting program indeed, well worth watching.

http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/46340675710/Out-Of-Control

Cheers….Karly

[Anya]

Is being transgendered a conscious choice? Like others, I’ve often scratched my head about this one. My simple take is that it would be wonderful if it was. Overall, I’d err on the side of simplifying my life by choosing to walk away from this transgender stuff.

Having “failed” miserably in that regard, it seems to me that I have a “hardwired” female identity. And as a consequence, like most other folk here, I guess, I live with a personal sense of dissonance, “dysphoria” perhaps, between my sense of self and the reality of what was declared by the first person who threw a glance in the general direction of my groin.

The dissonance eases when I express myself as female. On some occasions there may also be an initial sense of euphoria, but this settles and gives way to a generally more comfortable sense of self. Gender expression, in contrast to gender identity, is something that I think I have some choice over. The drive to express myself socially as female has progressively increased over time, but I still have some choice.

Then there’s the question of how we chose to express ourselves when we’re interacting socially – behaviours, speech patterns, dress codes, body modifications, etc. Personally, it seems that I’ve been able to get away with more “feminine” behaviours – even as an adolescent in a boys school (to which my parents were very keen to send me). But, numerous childhood experiences alerted me to the value of keeping a lid on anything else that challenged people’s view of me as a boy.

So, driven by a strong sense of social restraint all around me, I exercised choice to be selective about what I expressed and when.

Then there is the issue of the extent of the underlying imperative to align identity with reality, which for many seems to rise up and overwhelm any sense of choice. The imperative or “drive” aspect fascinates me – it clearly varies enormously from person to person. And, within some people at least, it also seems to fluctuate overtime.

Anyway, I think I should stop here so that I don’t risk heading into aspects that are beyond the immediate topic.

[Anonymous]

I think Anya has hit it on the head. I don’t think we have a choice about being transgendered, it’s one of those characteristics that come up with your genetic makeup. However, it is your choice to act upon your feelings and to allow yourself to follow your feelings. I am now finding my need to dress and fulfil my needs is as strong or even stronger than ever. I dress more and express myself as Helen more frequently. That is my choice, I choose to act on my needs but those needs were hard wired into me and were not my choice.

[Anonymous]

Hi Anya and Helen, the program that I had mentioned and supplied a link to in my post is all about to what you both mention in your own posts. I do recommend watching it as it helps to understand how our brains are wired and how they control us with decision making both conscious and unconscious.

I recommend all Transgender people to watch it as it could help you understand there is a lot more than “choice” involved in who we are.

Even when we “think” we are choosing what to do, there are unconscious decisions going on that we do not control consciously, so the point is “Do we have a choice” when deciding who we are and how we present ourselves to others.

Please watch ]

Cheers….Karly

[Anonymous]

The world we see and live in is effectively a construction of the mind. It is the reason why psychosis is so real to those that experience it . When I read the title of this post my high horse came out . Then I read the article and it is concurrent with my reading.

There are it has been found in recent research connections in the brains of transgender women that are consistent with the connections in the brains of natal women , so the comment about being hardwired appears to be fair. But as to this matter of choice.

We are members of a society that existed long before the appearance of any of us. The social nature of humanity demands a certain compliance from the individuals in order that we can function together as a community. When you challenge that you challenge millennia of accumulated experience. This is not a decision process it is a reality in which we live. It changes slowly because that is the natural way and though the human intellect has the capacity to change, the vast majority choose not to use their intellect for fear of the social repercussions. In the event of there being no constraints from society we, would express ourselves exactly how we feel from the beginning and we wouldn’t experience the stress that we do.

We are who we are and what prevents our self to be is the societal constraints. Wired as women and built as guys we challenge the societal intellect. That of course is a fantastic thing to do and when the societal intellect truly awakens humanity will take one massive step forward.

A long winded way of saying no it’s not a choice.

[Anonymous]

Why on earth would anyone “choose” to be a woman?! It is sooooo much hassle!

I chose things though. i chose to stay in the closet. i chose not to confide in my closest friends. i chose to accept my fiance and wife’s fear, restraint and denial.

Then one day i chose to change all those choices.

We have choices. they’re just not easy ones.

love to you all x