by Lynette Alice

Created on: December 22, 2008   Last Updated: February 07, 2009

Transsexualism is a condition which is greatly misunderstood by people everywhere, it isn't just one country or region of the earth, but a universal phenomena. Transsexualism is defined as one of two things in most mainstream dictionaries which is either: A person that has undergone a sex change, or a person that wishes to be considered a member of the opposite sex. On the surface that seems very easy to understand and leaves little if any room for ambiguity, however the truth is that doesn't begin to explain what transsexualism is. To truly understand it, you either have to be a transsexual or be willing to spend plenty of time doing research and more importantly listening to people who are transsexual. Transsexuals like anyone else are individuals so therefore cannot simply be defined or understood with only a few words. What follows will hopefully help educate people on the things they should know about transsexualism so that they may be more aware of the facts and people behind the definition.

The first misconception that must always be dealt with is that transsexuals are mentally ill. While it is true that for a period of time they were classified as such, further research proved this to be false. A transsexual person does suffer from a condition commonly know as GID or Gender Identity Disorder. GID in no way implies a person is psychotic, schizo-effective, or unable to mentally function in any manner. It simply means that their brain and body do not match each other.

For many years Dutch scientists have conducted in depth studies of the organic causes of transsexualism. The first thing that was evident is that in living self identified transsexuals brain scans showed that their brain actually did mirror that of the gender they identified to and not what their genitalia would predict. The second wave of testing was conducted on transsexuals who had either self identified but never had GRS (Gender Reassignment Surgery) or who did undergo GRS and something fascinating was found, they did in fact have different brains from their birth sex. The BSTC region and hypothalamus both clearly reflected the gender they identified to rather than that which they were born into. Medication can't create that change, nor could surgery as the BSTC region is an inoperable area of the brain. Clearly the demonstrated this is an organic matter, not psychological.

This is further backed up by research which indicates that transsexualism is in fact a condition caused by the hormonal

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