Both: Early childhood socialization and what causes people to become trans

submitted by worried19 from (self.GCdebatesQT)

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[–]censorshipment 4 insightful - 6 fun4 insightful - 5 fun5 insightful - 6 fun -  (3 children)

I think dysphoric kids get the feeling that their parents would rather have a "trans daughter" than a "sissy son", and the kids become obsessed with killing themselves figuratively (and literally in some cases) i.e. "transitioning".

[–]worried19[S] 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

That's an interesting interpretation. Do you think that also holds true for those who were raised without any exposure to the concept of transsexuality?

I can imagine the shame of being considered a "sissy" might drive some male children to hate themselves and perhaps subconsciously want to turn into the opposite sex to gain their parents' approval.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

That could be true. I wasn't aware of transsexualism or gender dysphoria/gender identity disorder growing up, but when I came out to my parents later, my dad totally flipped his treatment of me completely to kindness, compassion and acceptance when he found out I was a transsexual person as opposed to the gay son he thought I was. It was never explicitly talked about growing up, but maybe I got all the signals on an unconscious level?

[–]worried19[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Perhaps, and parental approval is so important to kids. Feeling like your parents don't love and accept you as you are can really do a number on someone.