Naturally Brained Woman

Natured or Nurtured?

I have written about the “nature or nurture question” here before, that is, whether we are born transgender (the nature argument) or our upbringing and environment causes us to be transgender (the nurture argument).

I am not a doctor, although I play a nurse on occasion, so I have no professional credentials to support my opinion. But I subscribe to the nature argument because that’s how I see my life playing out so far.

From the get-go, I was a feminine being. The fact that I had a male body did not dissuade me from being feminine, often to my detriment. Male peers derided and bullied me, while I socialized better with females ― not because they considered me dating material, but because I was just like one of the girls.

With regards to the transgender Wachowski sisters, an interesting article “There May Be a Biological Reason the Wachowski Siblings Are Both Transgendered,” supports the nature argument. One point that the article mentions is that the brains of transwomen resemble the brains of cisgender women, while the brains of transmen resemble the brains of cisgender men.

My mother was my role model, so that seems to support the nurture argument, However, was my mother my role model because my father was an absentee parent or because it was normal for a feminine soul to follow in the footsteps of her female parent? (A side note: My sister was viewing some photos she took a few days ago and remarked how very much I resembled my mother in the photos. I was in boy mode in the photos.)

We’ll probably never know for sure what made us trans. Perhaps it is a combination of nature and nurture.

Wearing Venus

Kay, Yvonne, and Julie attending the 1986 Chicago Be-All.