A Lorelei Verthandi

Transcript:

Welcome! Today, I want to talk with you about gender. Specifically, about being transgender. This is a presentation I gave on the topic for my workplace last week for Pride Month; I’m recording it and sharing it here in case it does someone somewhere some good. I haven’t changed anything for this video, except to add one slide at the beginning to make the science a little more accessible to a general audience.

On that note, I’d like to start with biology.

First, we need to lay just a bit of groundwork.

You’ve probably heard of DNA, often referred to as the “blueprint for life.” An organism’s whole blueprint is called its genome. The genome is broken up into big chunks called chromosomes that get mixed and matched when forming offspring. And on each chromosome, there are tons of individual coding regions called genes.

A gene contains the instructions for making a certain protein, through a process called transcription and translation. Proteins are the molecules that do most of the actual stuff cells need to do. Different cells—like skin cells, muscle cells, kidney cells, brain cells—do different things, so they need different proteins at different times. The thing is, every cell carries a copy of the whole genome, so how do they determine which genes to express? That’s where transcription factors come in. Transcription factors are special regulatory proteins that turn certain genes on or off as needed.

Now let’s talk about what that has to do with sex.

The animal kingdom has evolved many very different strategies for sex determination. In humans and most other mammals, it begins in the embryonic gonad. When the gonad forms, it is bipotential, not yet differentiated into either a testis or ovary. In this state, its somatic cells express a balance of mutually inhibitory transcription factors, WNT4 and FGF9.

Now, as you might suspect, the fate of the gonad involves the sex chromosomes, X and Y.

That’s because of a single gene typically found on the Y chromosome: a transcription factor called SRY. SRY is expressed—pretty much only in the gonad and only very transiently in humans—to up-regulate a related gene, SOX9. Once SOX9 reaches a critical threshold, it enters positive-feedback loops with FGF9 and other factors, with the whole cascade resulting in the maturation of the gonad into a testis.

Meanwhile, in the absence of SRY, WNT4 eventually wins out, setting off its own cascade that results in the development of an ovary.

This differentiation of the gonads, then, obviously has implications for reproduction, but more generally affects the balance of hormones that goes on to affect the rest of the body.

So that’s the standard picture. Now let’s complicate things.

This infographic was published in Scientific American in 2017. It details various intersex conditions and how they can arise. (And here on the right I’ve included the intersex pride flag!) We see mechanisms at the level of chromosomes and individual genes, affecting hormone production and signaling, leading to effects visible at birth as well as during puberty.

So we might wonder: What happens if an individual has an atypical configuration of sex chromosomes, or is mosaic? What if SRY is mutated, or translocated? What about mutations to other genes, like: what happens if the body is producing androgens like testosterone, but there’s a mutation in AR, the gene for androgen receptor?

And of course, we must recognize that even if one falls to either extreme of this infographic and experiences a quote-unquote-“typical” development, humans still exhibit a huge amount of variation.

My point in sharing all this is, well, because intersex people are an important part of our community, but also to impress upon you that “biological sex” is not just one simple thing. It is in many ways bimodal, but it is by no means binary. It is variable, and it is malleable.

And that’s just sex! Now take that body, whatever its sexual differentiation, and integrate it with a massively complex human brain.

Then take that individual and incorporate them into a complex and evolving culture.

Now we’re approaching something like gender.

I also want to acknowledge sexual orientation, that is, what genders a person is attracted to. That’s outside the scope of this presentation, but it’s intersectional and obviously a huge part of Pride.

Regarding gender: when you hear that “gender is a social construct,” this is something like what is meant. It’s about so much more than just biology and anatomy; it’s about the expectations placed upon you by your culture, and the hopes you have for yourself and your sense of identity.

In our culture, a baby is typically assigned—literally assigned!—a gender at birth (or earlier), by their parents and/or doctor, based on some observation of their anatomy.

If, as that baby becomes a person, they find their gender agrees with what they were assigned at birth, then we say that person is cisgender, or cis.

On the other hand, if their gender differs from what they were assigned at birth, then they are transgender, or trans.

The prefixes are Latin—cis is same side, trans is other side—same as we use in chemistry, for instance.

These are general definitions, but a good baseline.

Ultimately, gender is a complex thing that manifests in many different ways. Everyone has their own relationship with it.

As just one example, here’s a bit about mine. I am trans! Transfeminine, specifically; I was assigned male at birth, and have since been “transing” in a more “feminine” direction. That doesn’t mean I fit neatly into the “woman” category, though; I am nonbinary as well as genderfluid. I personally wholeheartedly embrace the “queer” label. And I identify as a tomboy and a lesbian, which might not be genders, depending on who you ask, but they sure say something about my gender, don’t they?

Some people, trying to discredit us as a fad or a social contagion, put forth this false notion that transgenderism is a recent phenomenon, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Some of the language we use is quite new, but the trans experience is as old as humanity itself.

Here on the screen are just a few examples from throughout history. They’re all fascinating, and I encourage you to look into some of these stories for yourself. (As a former tuberculosis researcher, I do have to give a shout-out to Dr. Alan Hart, a trans man who pioneered the use of chest X-rays to diagnose TB.)

But although trans people have always existed, acceptance of trans people is another matter.

Entering the 20^th century, building upon advances in science and philosophy, we see the founding of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft in Berlin, in 1919. This was the world’s first research institute dedicated to the study of sex, gender, and sexuality, and was a worldwide hub for LGBT advocacy.

It lasted until May of 1933…

…when the newly-empowered Nazi party raided it and burned the contents of its library. If you’ve ever seen a photograph of a Nazi book burning, chances are extremely good it was taken of this very event. They didn’t just burn books, either; they burned research papers, patient records, and collections of queer art. It was a massive setback for LGBT rights and scholarship.

And, of course, things in Germany got a lot worse before they got any better.

But moving on… I’m not going to cover the whole history of civil rights movement…

I will mention the Stonewall uprising, which you’ve probably heard of; it’s a major reason why we celebrate Pride Month today. Also, three years prior, there was a similar riot at Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco.

But I want to focus on where things stand today. In many ways, trans visibility has never been better. We can recognize ourselves and each other like never before, and that emboldens more people to realize themselves and to come out, and visibility snowballs.

But to be visible yet without protection makes us a target. In the ten years since Time magazine declared the “transgender tipping point,” we have gone backward as a society.

We are currently in the thick of an empowered international moral panic targeting queer, and especially trans, existence.

For example, this is a map compiled by journalist Erin Reed evaluating risk to trans people from legislation across the United States. States range from dark blue, indicating good protections; to dark red, indicating the highest risk to live in or visit; to Florida, which is so bad that it’s simply marked Do Not Travel. And as bad as it is for adults, it’s even worse for trans youth.

You can see just some of the issues at stake here. These measures are intended to make us invisible, push us out of the public sphere, deny us care, and mark us as targets for harassment and abuse.

None of this is unique to the United States, either. Transphobia is especially rampant in the United Kingdom right now. The latest news includes a cover-up at the NHS of a sharp increase in youth suicides due to the baseless decision by the NHS to stop prescribing puberty blockers to trans kids.

So, if I can leave you with one thought, it’s that trans rights are human rights. And when I say that, I don’t simply mean in the sense that trans people are human. No, I mean deeply, the rights I exercise as a trans person are an expression of rights we all share and rely on to lead fulfilling lives.

I mean the rights to self-actualization, and to bodily autonomy.

Pride means we won’t be shamed into surrendering those rights, for ourselves or anybody else.

Thank you.