Gender Genetics and Transsexuality Problems

In the biblical Book of Genesis it is written about the origin of the biological species Homo Sapiens Sapiens: "God created them by man and woman". So who are they - a man and a woman: two halves or two different subspecies? Interconnected for the continuation of the genus of the creature, throughout the rest of life, or, more correctly, in other areas of life, besides reproductive, are friends or enemies? How much does a person's personality depend on his belonging to this or that "camp"? And how can sex genetics affect the problems of transsexuality?

Aristotle, who was far from such a modern science as genetics, as early as the 4th century BC, uttered wise words: "A man gives birth to a man." After almost two and a half thousand years, in 1956, scientists proved that the Y-chromosome is responsible for the formation of the male organism in the mother's body, which is transmitted to the son only from the father, since in the mother's body it is absent. It is she who, during the eighth week of embryo development, directs the formation of the sex glands, turning them into male testicles. This genetics of sex determines later the morphological sex, that is, the formation of external genital organs and, after the birth of the child and as it grows up, secondary sexual characteristics.

The presence or absence of the Y-chromosome affects the gonadal (the further development of the female ovary or the male testicles), gamete (the ability of the glands to produce eggs and spermatozoa) and hormonal sex (when the body produces estrogens or androgens - female and male hormones). But, since a person is a social being, not only the genetics of the sex imposes an imprint on the personality, but also the society itself with its clear rules and principles. Thus, a person has also a civilian gender - the one to which he is ranked by others. With the civilian gender is directly related gender - a set of sexual characteristics and behavior that society expects (and often requires) from the bearer of a particular sex. For example, men are expected to have courage, some brutality, independence, and from a woman - softness, tenderness, dependence, emotionality.

Well, when the chromosome definition of sex coincides with our self-awareness of ourselves as men or women. The rejection of gender restrictions in no way indicates transsexualism: if a woman wants to master a "male" profession or shows independence and courage in making decisions, this does not mean that she feels like a man. She simply protests against the fact that this or that profession is considered male, and a particular behavioral setting is imposed on a woman. But how to be in the case when the biological sex does not coincide with the psychological conviction of the person in belonging to the other sex?

In 1990, a British scientist P. Gudfellow explored the male Y chromosome and discovered the SRY gene, which is responsible for producing testosterone. So the science of genetics of sex has advanced one more step. Experiments in mammals have shown that if the female sex is implanted in the early stages of the SRY gene, male genital organs are formed, which do not lead to the fact that the male is born - a female appears with the signs of female pseudo-hermaphroditism. If a male embryo blocks the development of testosterone, male pseudo-hermaphroditism develops.

But transsexuality is not just the presence of certain sex characteristics under the influence of testosterone. Transsexuals completely, organically do not accept the genetic definition of sex, given to them by nature, and tend to belong to the opposite sex. And this desire, whatever the clerics and conservative moralists say, is not at all idle fantasy and not evidence of moral decadence. After all, transsexuality begins to manifest itself in young children (approximately two years), when the child wants to be called by the name given to the opposite sex. Gender education does not give anything, but only aggravates the psychological trauma. Boys are drawn to dolls and clothes, girls are pugnacious and play "boyish" games. In adolescence, transsexuals have an interest in "the opposite" - in their understanding - and "their own" - in the eyes of society - sex. Transsexuality affects approximately one person by 150,000 - that is, the percentage of such people in society is quite large.