We have made it. Thank you for staying with me on this lesson of learning. Even I took the time and dug deeper than what I gave you. I would encourage you to do the same as I have only given you a small view into the gender spectrum. We have been conditioned to look at life in a simple cut and dry view. The truth of the matter is life is not cut and dry. It is not as simple as Black and White. The Gender Spectrum is not as simple as Male / Female.

Now before I get to busy and forget I need to say a huge thank you to Emily Quinn. Emily is the main answer to understanding the Gender Spectrum. Both on a Physical and Mental level. As Emily said “If she was dead and 100 years they find her bones. Then tested them, she would be identified as a male” [sic]. But at birth when she came out the doctor looked at her and saw there was not a penis and said “It’s a baby girl”. We don’t have the full story as to when the song “One of these things is not like the others’ was sung. But it is safe to say something triggered a visit to the doctors and one thing lead to another.

Why is Emily the key to understanding the spectrum? As I said above by all appearances she was born as a Cis-female but through research was found to be Intersexed. With genetic markers of XY meaning that she was leaning more towards the male side of the spectrum. There are others who are Intersexed that lean more towards the female (XX) side of the spectrum. But in this case we are looking at Emily. Who throughout her life has identified and lives life as a female.

When we look at the narrow scope of only two genders (Female/Male). Emily does not fit into that narrow view so you would be forced to choose one or the other. But in saying that you cannot because that would negate the issue of personal identity. Which from birth has been nurtured to be a female. Which brings in the argument of Nature vs. Nurture. Does one override the other and if so does that mean personal identity plays a part as well. Which if you forced Emily to live as a male we would expect severe mental health issues possibly leading towards suicide if we go against her personal identity. Which we can clearly see is Female.

Now how does this tie into being Transgender. Simple we need to look at the personal identity as well as it being a physical health issue. Where for some reason mother nature wanted to be a little more complex than (Female / Male) in personal identity. Which if you don’t understand yet being Transgender is looking at A+B does not equal C. A being the physical sexual characteristics and B being the personal identity in regards to a persons Gender. Equating in C in every person. So a Cis-Female or Cis-Male would look at their body and there would not be any inward confusion. Whereas a person who is Transgender looks at their body with the confusion as they are not matching their personal identity.

Now we need to look at the issue of Nurture vs Nature. One of the issues of Transgender children is that many if not all of the Transgender community felt something is/was not right at a very young age about 5-6. Within the last 10-15 years a focus on the mental health of children who are starting to say A+B is not C. We are seeing an increase of what we can call a holistic approach to Transgender youth. Where we are trying to listen to the child as they understand the answer to the question of A+B. Then we look at how it is best to proceed with health services for the child. Sometimes counseling is what is needed and a small amount of children grow out of the issue. But then there are those who like myself did not grow out of the issue. We are now looking at the best treatment for the gender identity of that child. *No Hormones are given to the child!* What does take place is that Nature and Nurture are allowed to follow their own progression.
For Example I have a few Friends that have Transgender youth in their family. By allowing the child who identifies differently than at birth. Parents are encouraged to allow that child to roll with nature and allow parents to use proper nurturing to care for the other side of the coin. So if the child chooses to wear a dress mum/mom teaches the child how to act in a dress. At no time is the parent encouraged to force upon the child a different view to the equation. Meaning that the parent is not told to tell the child no you cannot be a girl you are a boy as an example. As this has been shown to cause a traumatic response if the persuasion is high enough. As well as it goes against the issue of Personal Identity. Which is developed by each person on their own terms (Nature).

Now if we look at the spectrum and at its core. We have the XX and XY chromosomes which either by design or by accident results in the continuation of the human species. Which is the only reason for the two chromosomes. Now I do understand that I have left out of the conversation the issue of religion as to avoid confusing it with science and the facts of the spectrum. Though if we were to add in the subject of religion. The creator did the same thing XX and XY to propagate thus carrying on the human species. As you can see in both issues it does not matter what the question is (A+B or B+A) the results end up with offspring, then it repeats itself. When we look at Emily we can see the spectrum and the results of it. Emily for whatever reason is a mixture of XY and XX though unable to reproduce. Which is also the same in the differences of the other two examples that I gave (but there are more examples but way to much for everyone to read).

Now when we add in personal identity of Gender into the mix. Which is shown in Emily as she since birth has been nurtured to live as a female even though her chromosomes clearly show as male. We can also see the Gender Spectrum is linked to personal identity rather than genetics. Which show us that Emily since birth saw herself as a Female. Which is the same issue as the Transgender community with the exception that it was not Nature instead of Nurture that creates the spectrum within the Transgender person. But we then need to review the following study:

Kilpatrick, L. A., Holmberg, M., Manzouri, A., & Savic, I. (2019). Cross sex hormone treatment is linked with a reversal of cerebral patterns associated with gender dysphoria to the baseline of cisgender controls. European Journal of Neuroscience. doi:10.1111/ejn.14420

and

White matter microstructure in female to male transsexuals before cross-sex hormonal treatment. A diffusion tensor imaging study (Journal of Psychiatric Research Feb 2011) FTM

and

>The microstructure of white matter in male to female transsexuals before cross-sex hormonal  treatment. A DTI study  (Journal of Psychiatric Research Feb 2011)

Which gives us a view of the research that is linking to the subject of a Transgender persons brain is more closely related to the gender to which they identify as.

Now in closing this look into the gender spectrum. We can see that there are two spectrum’s’ to the Gender question. One being Physical and the other being Personal Identity. Once again I have left out religion for the simple reason is that I am talking about science that has been proven and is replicated on a daily basis. Where as religion and belief structures are subjected to no testing and can change on a whim depending upon whom is at the top of the structure. At no point do I fault a person for their belief structures. I believe that as long as your beliefs do not cause harm to myself or those I care about you are welcome to them. I wish you the reader all the best and I hope that you have grown from these posts.