Do you "feel" that you shouldn't have 7 legs? Or is having 2 legs just natural, and not a result of mere social construct?

The evidence is that Men and Women have brains that differ. Even at a few months old, girls react quite differently to various stimuli. This despite the brain being very undeveloped. It's quite a basic thing, embedded in the lymbic nucleus rather than the relatively unorganised cerebrum.

In certain ways, though not others, autopsies on TS women have shown that their brains are feminised. Autopsies on non-TS men taking hormones as part of cancer treatment show normal male patterns in this area.

Dynamic MRI scans of brain function have shown that TS women have standard female patterns of brain activity in the lymbic system too.

Biology is not destiny, but it shapes and constrains it. Transsexuality appears to be an artifact of anomalous brain development.

A feminised brain leads to biologically-determined feminised modes of thought when young. This in turn leads to a perception of males as "different" and females as "same", despite appearances and even socially-conditioned behaviour patterns to the contrary. Much of what we consider "typically feminine" behaviour is only a result of social context. But not all, some is biologically hard-wired, so essentialists are not 100% incorrect. Gender is not a social construct, but a biological one. Most Gender Role though is purely a social construct, and will differ between societies. That's actually a good way of telling the two apart - if the same pattern of behaviour is found in New Guinea, Patagonia, Lapland and Mongolia, it's likely hard-wired. If the behaviour in a Patriarchal society like Saudi Arabia differs from a Matriarchal one in the Marianas, then it's a social construct.

See http://aebrain.blogspot.com/2008/06/bigender-and-brain.html for all the gory details and medical papers that led me to that conclusion. Much involves the study of Intersexed people, and those exposed to abnormal hormones during gestation.

You obviously haven't a clue about transsexualism. First of all you sound like a gender essentialist, that you believe gender is totally a social construct. That has been thoroughly disproven:

http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/TS.html#anchor690142

Gender is much, much more complex than most people believe.

Next you insult trans woman by saying "a man that feels like a woman on the inside". Research is proving what we have said all along: We were born this way. There is NO choice involved, it is a birth condition. Our gender identity is, and always has been, female. Gender identity cannot be changed, so we change the body to match the brain.

If a trans person has always known their gender from earliest memory how can it be about stereotypes? No, I counter with YOU are the one who is trapped by stereotyping. YOU are the one who can't seem to accept that people are born this way. It's time for you to think outside the box of social stereotyping and recognize that diversity happens. Transsexualism is a normal biological variant.

Это - спам

To those who love me, thank you. Tho those that don't... It doesn't matter to me anymore if I make you uncomfortable, or don't fit into your worldview. You, and people like you, had my entire childhood and adolescence to mock, ridicule, abuse and reject me based on my gender expression. Now, I am an adult with all the hard-won strength that I took from your arguments based on hypocrisy-riddled religious notions and an understanding of science that barely rivals that of a poorly educated 5th grader. I don't care if you're uncomfortable with me, or how I present myself, and the loss of your potential affection is of less than no consequence to me. The complex, difficult-to-arrive-at choices I've made in my life are far beyond your experience, and probably involve a depth of difficulty and sacrifice that you will never face. My only wish for you is that if you choose to reproduce, you have a gay or transsexual child so that you can face the object of your bigotry up close and maybe see how wrong you are. I generally know your type after hearing a few words, and would be unlikely to give you anything but a chilly glance at one of these theoretical "parties", so your valuable masculinity is completely safe from my wiles. Bon jour!

I'm fascinated, and I have genuine questions. I want to be clear that I'm not being aggressive or angry or accusatory or threatening in any way, just genuinely curious about your reaction to TS people.

What is it about someone who has undergone surgical and hormonal treatment to have their outside match their inside that makes them somehow false? To me, it demonstrates real integrity - there's now no mismatch, no "false advertising". It seems that you're one of the people who doesn't understand the fundamentals of gender reassignment, and so see people who've transitioned as simply fakes instead of people who have gone through a great deal physically and emotionally to be able to present themselves honestly as who they actually are. Are you able to consider this viewpoint as valid, or does it raise your hackles? If it upsets you, can you work out why it does?

Do you, upon first meeting someone, go into detail about the changes you have undergone in your life, your STD status, whether or not you have spent criminal convictions, your credit history, your previous political and/or religious affiliations or lack thereof, any mental illness you may have, or anything else that they might react very strongly to? Or do you present yourself as you are and allow your history to emerge as and when you feel comfortable? Which do you think is the most reasonable and socially acceptable choice? Do you feel that this choice should extend only to certain groups of people, or to everyone? If you feel that certain groups should be immediately public about their histories, which groups are they and why?

How do you feel people who are going to transition, are in the midst of transitioning, or have transitioned should present themselves? Should they tell you the moment they're introduced to you, later in that conversation, after a few days? Do you feel any pressure to explain to people that your external sex is the same as your internal gender? Do you do that? If so, at what stage do you do that?

How safe do you think it is for someone to out themselves as someone who will have/is undergoing/has undergone gender reassignment? Are you aware that people who react so strongly are the people most likely to verbally or physically abuse people who are in that position, and that you may be perceived as a very real and immediate physical threat? Are you aware that reactions like yours are the reason TS people lose jobs, friends, places to live (or shop or do laundry or work out or...), families? You may well not think of yourself as a threat, and be appalled that anyone else might. Can you put yourself in the position of someone for whom immediate disclosure might mean the threat of violence or even death from any quarter?

Do you feel that everyone should tell you their histories up front, or only the people you're sexually attracted to? Why is that?

I hope you'll consider these questions in the spirit they're asked - I'm genuinely interested in why a person would react this way, as it rather baffles me. In my own experience, I feel angry and threatened when I'm pushed to deal with my own insecurities and emotional problems, and that seems to hold true for the people I know. It's uncomfortable for me to take a deep breath and honestly examine those areas, so if you're too uncomfortable to answer, I perfectly understand.

James, I'm sorry you feel the way you do. You seem to feel that you 'deserve' for things to work the way that you want and for all social interactions to work within the small boundaries you have for personal interaction. I have been to many public places and there have been people I could not tell what sex they were. And it didn't matter, I talked with them as I would any stranger, I held the door as I do this for both women and men. I had no anger with them because they wouldn't meet my requirements to blatantly advertise their physical sex; they were a person first. Just as I see you and Calpurnia, human first, the details come later.

What would you say about a 'genetic woman' who flirted with you while 'hiding' the fact that she had had a hysterectomy and therefore could not give you children? As you point out "to come across as a biological female to a heterosexual male is nothing short of psychological abuse." So wouldn't she be abusing your belief that you could have children by her?

Have you done any studies lately on the genetics of sex? If so, you'll note that there is no such thing as a 'real woman' or 'real man' as your phenotype may have nothing in common with your genotype. XXXX, XXXY, XYYY, all can produce either male or female parts, in fact even "plain old XX, XY" can be different from expected physical parts.

I honestly want to think you put your reply as flame bait for conversation, because if what you are espousing as your actual belief is true then you are demeaning, ill-willed and evil. All people, even you, deserve basic respect, not because we can possibly get something from them, but because they are human. Once you open your mouth though, all bets are off.

Maybe it's just me, but I think I'd tend to give a person more respect for having transitioned, because it's not an easy process, and it does demonstrate a certain strength of will. Although I wouldn't necessarily respect them just for that either, as it does still depend on what kind of person they are.

Also a point from this post that bothered me is the idea of treating someone "like a female"...what exactly is that supposed to mean? I know a lot of women, I know a lot of guys, and I treat every one of them differently, because they are unique. I find the idea of having a pre-defined way of treating them based on gender a lack of respect for them as a person.

I can only think of one person to whom it's actually relevant what gender a person was born as, and that's their medical practitioner, because having XY chromosomes and having XX chromosomes does make a difference for some genetic condition. Other then that, I think it matters more who they are as a person.

Do I know how I would react if this situation arose? Honest answer, I don't. I'd like to say it wouldn't make a difference, but having never been in that kind of situation, I really don't know how I would react. Maybe I'd still be interested in them romantically, maybe I wouldn't, I don't know. Much in the say way I don't know how I would react if a lady I was interested in told me they couldn't have kids, because I just don't know. But it wouldn't change the level of respect I feel for them - the problem is on my end, not theirs.