It isn’t. Brain scans of transgender men (born females who self-identify as male) show them to have similar brain structure to cisgender men (born males who self-identify as male). And vice versa.
Not sure about those bat-men and their brains in comparison to Chiropterans.
Of course their brains will show different readings if they have a different outlook on life. I would suggest that it is the thinking changing the brains, rather than the brains enslaving people into certain ways of thinking. Different cultures affect brain patterns also.
Now while we are on the subject I feel compelled to say that I do not think any less of people for being gay(edit: or identifying as whatever they might), but I personally do not believe that people are born gay.
Actually, it goes beyond that. The physical structure is different. We have physical evidence that a homosexual and/or transgender person’s brain is different from a heterosexuals and/or cisgender person’s brain. I don’t think that “thinking” a different way alters in to that extreme.
Perhaps, I’m still not convinced, but I haven’t looked into it too much. I might go look into it further tomorrow if I remember to.
I still wouldn’t be surprised to see physical differences in the brains, as far as my knowledge on the subject is concerned. If we use certain muscles, you will eventually see physical changes adapting to their use. I wouldn’t imagine the brain to be much different. If certain parts are stimulated differently, it’s not unreasonable to assume you will begin to see physical changes reflecting that, yes?
Indeed, that reminds me of this one article I read once mentioning how the part of the brain that deals with memory and geographical locations is much more developed in taxi drivers.
(I have nothing else to add…)[/SIZE]
I think you’re just trying too hard to fit people into certain categories. The thing is though, these categories don’t actually exist in nature. They’re cultural constructs.
In other words, our culture defines masculinity a certain way, and femininity.
I can well imagine totally different cultures where the appendage between your legs doesn’t play into the way you identify yourself.
Our culture has a very strong separation between man and woman. If that concept didn’t exist, I bet there would be no transgender people or people who are explicitly gay, because there would be no “gender” to identify yourself as. You’d just be human.
Anyway, I remember reading something about this. Apparently there’s a certain stage in pregnancy, where the foetus is differentiated into (biologically) male or female. Of course, the difference is more than just a penis or a vagina, it also affects brain chemistry etc. Now, during this stage, something sometimes goes wrong: the penis might not start growing out even though the foetus has begun differentiating towards a male body. It’s the same reason why there are hermaphrodites.
Which brings me to another point: how would you define hermaphrodites? Are they just deluding themselves into thinking they’re either male or female? Do you consider them to be definitely both and nothing else?
If not, what’s the difference with someone in the exact same situation, except their penis didn’t develop, or their vagina didn’t?
I just don’t understand why people find it necessary to impose their own perspective on someone else’s identity. If someone feels like a man, who are you to say they aren’t?
I also don’t see why you need more convincing than the fact that every single person we’re talking about telling us that it’s the way it is.
Do you really need advanced medical scans and scientific evidence for something these people can you tell you themselves?
I honestly find it grossly insulting to imply that you have a clearer understanding of how someone else’s brain works and what their emotional lives are like, than the person in question themselves.
-Every single gay person on earth: “I was born this way”
-you people: “I’m not convinced.”
-Every single transgender person on earth: “I am a man/woman even though I have a vagina/penis/both!”
-you people: “I’m not convinced.”
that’s just arrogance 
From Scientific American:
[i]It’s known, from many twin and adoption studies, that sexual preference has a genetic component.
A gay man is more likely than a straight man to have a (biological) gay brother; lesbians are more likely than straight women to have gay sisters.
In 1993, a study published in the journal Science showed that families with two homosexual brothers were very likely to have certain genetic markers on a region of the X chromosome known as Xq28. This led to media headlines about the possibility of the existence of a “gay gene” and discussions about the ethics of aborting a “gay” fetus
.
In 1991, a study published in the journal Sciene (Salk Institute. A difference in hypothalamic structure between heterosexual and homosexual men) seemed to show that the hypothalamus, which controls the release of sex hormones from the pituitary gland, in gay men differs from the hypothalamus in straight men. The third interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus (INAH3) was found to be more than twice as large in heterosexual men as in homosexual men.
PET and MRI studies performed in 2008 have shown that the two halves of the brain are more symmetrical in homosexual men and heterosexual women than in heterosexual men and homosexual women. These studies have also revealed that connections in the amygdalas of gay men resemble those of straight women; in gay women, connections in the amygdala resemble those of straight men. The amygdala has many receptors for sex hormones and is associated with the processing of emotions.
We know from studying rats that exposure to sex hormones in the womb during a critical period in brain development affects future sexual orientation. By manipulating hormone levels during this time, scientists can make rats engage in homosexual behavior later on. In July 2010 a group of geneticists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science an Technology altered the sexual preferences of female mice by removing a single gene linked to reproductive behavior. Without the gene, the mice exhibited masculine sexual behavior and attraction toward urine of other female mice. Those mice who retained the gene fucose mutarotase (FucM) were attracted to male mice. (Brain Development and Sexual Orientation, Colloquium Series on The Developing Brain)[/i]
My personal beliefs about nature vs nurture were formed at a very early age. I had a family that lived two doors away from us that had three boys and two girls in it. I remember the middle boy to acting effeminate since around the age of around five. His bothers were the polar opposites but, Johnny was obviously a ‘sissy’. (This deduction coming from me as an elementary age kid.) It was obvious to all of the other kids in the neighborhood but, no one ever gave him a hard time about it. We figured that’s just the way he is. He preferred playing with girls, talked in a ‘girly’ voice, never played any of our ‘boy’ games and didn’t even have a ‘manly’ walk about him. By the time I was in Junior High School, all of us neighborhood kids just accepted that that was the way he was born.
Oddly enough, even the bible references gays being born that way. In Matthew 19:12 Jesus said "For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
Not discrediting your point–it is a good one–but I thought eunuchs were people who were castrated.
Rather than that, I don’t believe people were born into categories. Where the difference in our viewpoints come I think, is that you believe people cannot control their lives, while I believe they can. Once again, (because any time you say anything that differs from mainstream media’s views on anything you are considered an athiestic heretic and a hate machine) I don’t think any less of gay people, I just feel people have the power to choose their own lives.
As for hermaphrodites, I would call them a hermaphrodite, what is the difference between being born hermaprodite, male, or female exactly? First and foremost you are human. I understand where you are coming from when you say categories are a construct of society, but so is color of hair, and basically everything we use speech and communication for. A dog and a cat are both animals, but we call them different names because they look different. A man and a woman (and a hermaphrodite) are all human, but we call them different names because they have different physical characteristics.
EDIT: That is interesting CPU, I did not know about the fetus studies. Thanks for saving me research time 
As for Eunuchs, I believe they have been variably described as castrated, infertile and/or uninterested/nonparticipating in sexual behavior of any kind.
What have I done??? The wtf thread has gone completely off the rails… This is always what happens. Judging by the amount of walls of text posted in response to my stoned comment, I’ll need to do more calculations to be sure but… I’ll check on this thread in a few hundred years when the majority of the first world population is unable to reproduce naturally anymore because they were “born that way” and needed doctors to mutilate their genitals to feel more comfortable in their bodies.
Transgender people are not and will never be the majority of the first world population. But that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be treated if they desire it.
I actually totally forgot this wasn’t the unofficial official chat thread.
I was impressed we were able to have a civil discussion on a hot-button topic for once.
WTF?
WAT?
Thank you TheeGoatPig. We needed that.
@rot
Maybe we actually have pretty much the same view, but use different words to communicate it.
I agree that people aren’t born into any of these categories. However, their psyches develop in the context of these categories and these ways to define oneself, and it’s actually harmful to anyone (including straight and cisgender people) to reject or deny or impose which concepts one uses to describe oneself.
The reason I’m railing so hard against is the same reason I rail so hard against racism. It’s the same thing: people impose an identity onto someone else. This can’t but lead to damaged self-image and severe psychological stress.
@sersoft, the greeks arent all gay are they? they’re still able to reproduce despite homosexual love and affection having been accepted since antiquity? that’s such a stupid idea, really
Homosexuality and gender ambiguity (or however you wish to describe it) is nothing new. What’s new is the concepts we use to communicate it, and the concepts they’re contrasted against, in other words our particular cultural context. And of course that context influences their behaviour and their identity, as it does anyone’s.
I seriously do not get why people being gay is somehow interpreted to be such a bad thing that it destroys friendships. When one of my friends came out to me as gay, I just responded: “And?” It doesn’t affect our friendship, but this might be because roughly half of my friends in high school identified as some kind of alternative sexuality- gay, bi, asexual, etc.
So why the hell do so many people care so much? Just because someone has a different sexual preference, that justifies destroying friendships and discrimination? Hell, I was bullied just for having gay friends. People seriously suck.
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