Men's, Women's Brains, and Transgender Surgery (Essay Sample)

Men's, Women's Brains, and Transgender Surgery
Name
University AffiliationMen's, Women's Brains, and Transgender Surgery
Evidence the Story Provides for the Role of Biology in Development of Gender
Professor Swab of Netherlands Institute for Brain Research studied human brain samples to explore the difference between the female and male brain. Importantly, evidence from the research showed that the sexually dimorphic nucleus (SDN) in the left side of the male brain is twice as big as that in the right side of the female brain. Moreover, Swaab and his team studied transsexual brains to determine the cause for their unusual gender identity. The investigation showed that there as a particular SDN that was present in the brain of a normal male but the SDN was the same size of a woman’s in the brain of a transsexual male such as Emma who lived and felt as a woman. The researcher concluded that SDN played a key role in defining gender identity. Furthermore, in preliminary studies where pregnant laboratory animals were injected with testosterone, the hormone made its way to the embryos in the womb through the umbilical cord. Consequently, at birth the genitals of the female offspring looked almost male and later the females attempted to mate as male. Certainly, the testosterone had not only transformed their body but all their behavior and instincts (“Boy who turned into a girl”, 2000). Lastly, the case of David Reimer shows that even after transgender surgery and psychological support he was never happy to live as a girl since he was born a normal boy and he had already developed a male’s brain while in the womb.
My Reaction to the Story and What I Found Troubling About It
After reading the story, I was surprised that doctors and researchers had for many years believed that a boy who was born a normal male would be transformed into a girl and live that way for the rest of her life. What I found troubling about the story is the fact that there is no scientific data to determine the success of transgender performed during infancy. Accordingly, when David's parents stopped seeing doctor Money when they realized that Brenda was not happy being a girl, many people had believed that his case was a success. However, David was always lonely and unhappy since he was a teenager because he felt uncomfortable being a girl (“Boy who turned into a girl”, 2000). In fact, later he underwent penis reconstruction surgery, changed his name from Brenda to David, and got married.
How Living as a Member of the Opposite Sex Would Change My Life
Living as a member of the opposite sex would limit my productivity since my behavior and instincts were already determined biologically before birth. What is more, my environment and upbringing have conditioned me to think, feel, and act as people of my current gender.
Neurological Differences between Men and Women and How They Affect Behavior
Allen (2009) writes that the limbic system in women’s brains is larger than that in male’s brains. For that reason, women are more comprehensive in thinking, empathic, and emotional. In contrast, men focus on only relevant information and are less emotional but think more logically. Additionally, the male brain is 8 percent larger than female brain. Accordingly, men do better in problem solving while women perform well at situational thinking. Furthermore, men brains use more gray matter while women brains use more white matter for activity. Essentially, gray matter are information and action processing areas in specific centers in a specific region of the brain. This results into a tunnel vision when men are doing something. Thereby, when they focus on a task they may appear insensitive to their surrounding or other people. Conversely, white matter is a networking grid which connects the gray matter and other processing areas in the brain. Thus, women tend to transition between tasks more quickly than men. Lastly, whereas women are good at multitasking, men excel in task-focused activities.
Summary of ‘Transgender Surgery is not the Solution’
McHugh argues that transgender feelings should be viewed as a mental disorder that requires medical and psychological intervention. He adds that it is biologically impossible to achieve sex change and that those who advocate sexual reassignment surgical procedures are promoting a sexual disorder. At the same time, he reports on a research that showed that the suicide rate among transgendered people who underwent reassignment surgery is twenty times higher than that among non-transgender people. Again, the main notes studies where children who had transgendered feelings but up to 80 percent of them lost the feelings later in life. He states that promotion of transgender feelings as normal or a matter of civil rights by the government and media is misinformed since the idea of sex misalignment is an assumption that does not correspond with reality of the human body and may lead to adverse psych...