Could being Transgender be described as a apotemnophilia/BIID?

submitted by anda from self.GenderCritical

I just found out about this from a YouTube video.

Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) is a rare, infrequently studied and highly secretive condition in which there is a mismatch between the mental body image and the physical body. Subjects suffering from BIID have an intense desire to amputate a major limb or severe the spinal cord in order to become paralyzed.

Technically your genitalia (I would say especially for women from at least a biological perspective) would not necessarily be regarded as a major limb right, but it would still be of the same major importance.

Transgender people say they have a misalignment of the physical and mental body. They "transition" (oxymoron) and as part of this they have to have sex reassignment surgery, and "have" to also have adam's apple removal, feminine surgeries etc.

So this could be regarded as a sub-set of BIID?

I'm not trying to come off as disrespectful or anything, this is a genuine query.

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[–][deleted] 11 insightful - 3 fun11 insightful - 2 fun12 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

89% of TIMs retain their genitalia. They show no signs of being uncomfortable with their penises - in fact, quite the opposite, they love their "ladydicks". See terfisaslur.com for what autogynephilia looks like. #ItsAFetish

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

That's true for most of them, but dysphoria is a real condition. The ones who genuinely want to pursue surgery on their genitals follow the expected pattern for BIID.

[–]lefterfield 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes. This and anorexia is the most common comparisons I see within the GC community. The way BIID afflicts people, the way many of them talk about it that I've seen, the lengths they'll go to to "correct" the mental map - it's identical to transgenderism. I think it's unfortunate this isn't considered more by doctors presently as I can't see how there's any difference between a focus on the genitals vs a focus on an arm. And it would likely help people with dysphoria and BIID to at least study the connection! Certainly more so than drugs and surgery.

[–]GConly 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

So this could be regarded as a sub-set of BIID?

I've got a paper around somewhere that phone interviewed every BIID case they could find.

19% of them were transgender. Back about ten plus years ago when the incidence was one in a few thousand. There's no way that this can be down to a chance association.

The part of the brain that is abnormal in trans brains has to do with body perception, anxiety and all kind of weird mental health issues. I wouldn't be surprised if you'd see an abnormality in BIID there too.

The connection with transsexuality is especially intriguing due to the percentage (19 percent) of BIID patients who also exhibit a gender identity problem and the high percentage of homosexual and bisexual BIID patients (also 19 percent) (First, 2005; Lawrence, 2006).

http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/BIID/Lawrence%20article%20-%20June%202006.pdfaa

Clinical and Theoretical Parallels Between Desire for LimbAmputation and Gender Identity Disorder

Desire for amputation of a limb: Paraphilia, psychosis, or a new type of identity disorder.

All subjects were asked if they ever had ‘ feelings of wishing to be the opposite sex, or having the feeling of being in the body of the wrong sex ’. Ten subjects (19%) said yes; the majority of whom (n=7) reported some history of cross- dressing behavior (not including those who only cross-dressed as part of transvestic fetishism); six out of the ten reported thoughts of getting sex reassignment surgery and one did.

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

There's a parallel but it's not the same, as most trans women keep their penises. There was an article often passed around on the old GC subreddit A New Way to Be Mad.