Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Sexual Identity is Biological & Innate!

Questions: Is Sexual identity a biological phenomenon or a cultural/psychological construct? Is sexual identity innate or is it learned? Now we know! The science is in! SEXUAL IDENTITY IS A REAL BIOLOGICAL PHENOMENON AND IS INNATE!
When I first wondered about this issue, little scientific evidence was available on sexual identity per se. In 1965, Milton Diamond published his legendary challenge to John Money's goofy
"psychosexual neutrality-at-birth" theory. Much science has been done since then, some of it by Diamond who, having the evolutionary perspective of a biologist is a proponent of the "sexuality-at-birth" theory.
The scientific evidence is compelling, coming from many different avenues and all of it pointing in the same direction. While the molecular mechanisms are not yet entirely clear, there is a clear answer to the question: "Is sexual identity innate or learned?" The simplest explanation for all of the evidence is in keeping with Diamond's theory: Sexual identity is biological and innate!

After a long hiatus (due to all sorts of personal distractions), I will soon be posting about issues that spring from the important realization that sexual identity is biological and innate. Some of these issues are:

  • The significance of the fact that sexual identity is a biological phenomenon and innate - why haven't biologists picked up on this important biological fact? Everyone has a sexual identity!
  • Why we should be grateful to transsexual people for teaching us about our human nature
  • Why medical science needs biologists. Biologists recognize the value of differences and celebrate diversity but medical doctors pathologize/medicalize differences and attempt to "fix" them. Transsexuality is uncommon but not necessarily a problem for anyone.
  • Why transsexuality is a biological variation and transphobia is a cultural disease!
  • The treatment of trans people: Should we change the body or the culture?
  • Why it was inevitable that a biologist (Milton Diamond) would be right and a psychologist (John Money) would be wrong when theorizing about sexuality (even though psychologists pretend to understand behavior)
  • Why parents, educators, and medical professionals need to know that sexual identity is innate
  • Why, as a biologist, I can say: It is possible to be a man and a female at the same time. Similarly, it is possible to be both a woman and a male.
  • Exactly what is sexual identity? On the brain systems level, cellular level, molecular level?
  • What is the neurological relationship between sexual identity and sexual orientation (also innate)?
  • What about intersex people?
  • The political and social justice issues regarding sexual identity
  • Gender binary?...The only thing binary about gender is gamete production (egg or sperm)!

Please feel free to post any questions you would like me to address.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sources??

Veronica Drantz, PhD said...

All sources are given in the PowerPoint slides that you will find on my blog. Please go through the ten portions of the PowerPoint presentation to get the "big picture." The slides include much of the research results.

Zoe Brain said...
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Zoe Brain said...

I think you'll find the PPT given by Dr Sidney Ecker MD FACS to the APA recently most illuminating.

Brain Gender Identity.

There's more (including an extensive set of sources) over at my blog.

I think we're getting a handle on this, and taking it out of the JuJu "Science" of fringe psychology, and into the evidence-based realms of neuroscience. One can only hope, anyway.

Veronica Drantz, PhD said...

Thanks, Zoe, for the information. I concur with Dr. Ecker's thinking on the molecular mechanism.