Are the TQs right or wrong in saying that the brains of gay people are structured like the brains of their opposite sex by which they mean gay men are psychologically women and gay women are psychologically men?

submitted by EverydayIsSad from (self.LGBDropTheT)

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[–]reluctant_commenter 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Happy to update this comment if someone has more updated information or sees a mistake.

They are wrong. Those are highly misleading statements at best, and outright fabrication at worst.

Short version: An average gay person's brain is more like that of the opposite sex brain than an average straight person (of the same sex). BUT, this does not mean that it IS a straight person's brain! Or that "a gay man is really a man in a woman's body". That's a gigantic leap based on no facts.

(Also, there may be some volunteer bias in these studies, and overrepresentation of LGB people who have more opposite-sex characteristics.)

The claim about bisexuals all being genderqueer is completely fabricated. Because: a) There is like 0 research on being "genderqueer", period.. even if it were a real phenomenon, there is no evidence upon which to base a comparison between bisexuals and genderqueer-identified people. b) There is little research on bisexuals in the context of brain patterns, anyway!

I think it is no coincidence that both articles you linked are from 2008. The argument that "gay men are just women" and "gay women are just men" has been used to forcibly mutilate and terrorize LGB people in some countries, and pressure LGB youth to come out as transgender.

Also-- it's been 12 years and neuroscience research moves really fast. u/GConly already linked this review of more recent research, but I'll link it as well:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3180619/

With those articles, the TQs I've talked to so far have told me

I would be very cautious about believing any claims made about biology or "findings on transgender people" in casual articles or media outlets. Not only are most articles lacking citations and correct information, some of the most "groundbreaking" studies supporting popular transgender ideas have been retracted or heavily rewritten, because of major design flaws and shoddy research practices. So you have to be careful and ask yourself, "Ok, what's the evidence for this claim? Does it come from a reputable source, and has the science been replicated?"