Psychology

Human psychology is fascinating and because we are all born clean slates, what you put into us as vessels will combine with our genetic predisposition to dramatically impact our lives. Often traumas will cause deep wounds which require healing but perhaps due to fear are addressed later in life or maybe not at all. All of us have blind spots regarding our own psychology and we often fail to recognize patterns of thinking which may be borne of childhood fears.

The predisposition for gender variance may already be present in childhood and what impacts it will determine how it progresses going forward. For example, if there is outright rejection it will perhaps go underground as it did for me. Conversely, the child may insist profusely irrespective of the frustration of flustered parents. I am speaking here primarily of prepubescent behavior because the post pubescent kind seems to be driven slightly differently.

If gender variant behavior has genetic roots, we have yet to find conclusive proof although the sheer numbers, even if small as a pro-rata of society, point towards that as a logical conclusion.

Post-pubescent origins seem to suggest more sexual motives; however, the argument could be made for denial playing a part in later recognition. Trying on your mother's bra or panty hose in your teens and being aroused can begin a pattern of behavior which could be argued to be rooted in predisposition simply because most young men would not find such experiences titillating enough to build into a lifelong pattern.

In the past we made distinctions between transvestism and transsexualism although on Benjamin's scale they seemed to meld as you went from type III into IV. Since no two people are alike and we are not all able to properly describe or even understand our own behavior, a clinician might have been hard pressed to make an accurate assessment.

My point here is that there may be genetic drivers for gender variance but not necessarily in all individuals; the particular combination of nature and nurture being decidedly unique in each case. But in the end no matter the source, complete self-acceptance becomes mandatory because suppression seems to produce far more adverse psychological effects.