Ms. Li Yinhe, widow of the famous Chinese sociologist and late writer Mr. Wang Xiaobo, recently issued a document < < Response to the Exposure of the so-called Lesbian Identity > >, refuting the rumor that she was homosexual and voluntarily [revealing] that she had lived with a physical woman and a psychological male [transsexual] for many years.
Li Yinhe said: “His love for me is overwhelming and thunderous. I am not attracted or touched. At that time, I felt that he was an angel sent by God and came to save me from the misery of losing wavelet.”
Sex, it’s not that simple
Gender is actually far from as simple as people think. In medicine and sociology, gender can be divided at least at five different levels:
1. Sex of external genitals
This is the most basic and commonly used method of understanding and distinguishing gender. The most representative scene is when the baby is born, the midwife tells the parents: “It is a handlebar”. Whether the baby has a handlebar (penis) or not is the distinction between men and women according to the shape of the baby’s external genitals.
2. Sex of the gonad
The external genitals develop and mature under the regulation of human sex hormones. Men have testicles, which can secrete a large amount of androgen, promoting testicles to enlarge, penis to thicken, body hair to grow, Adam’s apple to protrude, reflecting the typical male appearance. However, women have ovaries, which secrete a large amount of estrogen, promote vaginal development, menstruation formation, fat enrichment and hyperplasia of mammary glands, reflecting the appearance of typical women.
Testis and ovary are the gonadal differences peculiar to men and women.
3. Chromosome sex
The reason for the above differences is, in the final analysis, that human sex is determined by the sex chromosomes in human cells: the sex chromosomes in male cells are XY and the sex chromosomes in female cells are XX. Different chromosomes eventually lead to the development and maturation of different internal and external reproductive organs.
In most cases, chromosomal sex is consistent with anatomical sex and gonad sex. However, some diseases will cause abnormal sexual development of patients, resulting in the simultaneous existence of testis and ovary, or the phenomenon of internal and external genitals not being unified.
4. Psychological gender
This is the gender in one’s inner mind. People’s gender identity with themselves is formed between 18 months and 3 years old. After that, it is relatively stable, generally consistent with biological sex, but there are exceptions. For example, Li Yinhe admitted that his partner, [he] in terms of external genitals, gonads, chromosomes and other aspects, is in line with female physiological characteristics, but in terms of psychological orientation, he identified himself as male, which is called [Transsexualism] in medicine.
5. Gender
Strictly speaking, gender does not belong to the category of medicine, but the identification of gender by the individual’s environment.
Let’s take Li Yinhe’s partner as an example. His original gender is [female]. After strict medical and legal procedures, even if his sex chromosome is still XX, his gender may be corrected to [male].
How to correctly understand [he] of [physical woman, psychological man]?
Ms. Li Yinhe’s [Mr. Right] is a [transsexual]. This is different from what we usually call [pseudo-mother] and [female man]. Pseudo-mother and female man identify with their own gender and enjoy the wonderful experience of guest roles.
However, there are serious obstacles to the [gender role] and [gender identity] of transsexual patients. They cannot accept their inherent biological gender, are extremely disgusted with their own gender, and are strongly eager to change their gender. Some even have had extreme behaviors and suffered great mental pressure and physical pain.
What causes transsexuals to want to live in a different sex?
Unfortunately, there is still no clear answer to this question.
Some people have tried to explain from a biological point of view that the hormone disorder in the mother’s body during pregnancy affects the development of the fetus, leading to the feminization of male fetuses or the masculinization of female fetuses. Others believe that this is a pathological change in thalamus [self-identification center]. Some studies even believe that chromosomes of transsexual patients may have abnormalities, but these are not supported by conclusive evidence.
Different psychological schools have different psychopathological explanations for this phenomenon.
Psychoanalysts emphasize the influence of the relationship between patients and their parents or their dependents on their sexual psychology in the pre-Oedipus stage, believing that transsexual diseases come from unresolved separation anxiety of individuals.
Behaviorism schools attach importance to the role of parenting and observing learning in the causes of transsexual diseases. For example, parents not only do not prevent children’s cross-gender behaviors, but also give explicit encouragement in many situations, which may lead to conflicts between physiological gender and acquired gender identity.
Social constructivism holds that human beings have no natural gender identity, It is in the process of growth and after social construction that, Only then can children grow up to be men and women. If children reach a certain age and cannot identify with their own gender psychologically, and cannot make their psychological experience of gender consistent with their actual gender, but blindly imitate the clothes, words and deeds, and behaviors of the opposite sex, then to a certain extent there will be the possibility of gender identity obstacles.
Is transsexual disease homosexual?
Although the sexual tendency of transsexual patients is the same biological sex, because they regard themselves as the opposite sex, the original same sex becomes the opposite sex in their concept, so what they are actually looking for is the opposite sex partner.
A person who is worthy of understanding and respect and in urgent need of medical assistance must be given a correct name. Although the medical term is still called “transsexual” and the diagnosis is included in the DSM (Manual of Diagnosis and Statistics of Mental Illness) catalogue, doctors do not treat it as a mental illness.
The purpose of treatment for transsexual diseases is not to change their minds, but to help them change their gender and achieve a healthy and dignified life through gender replacement surgery, hormone replacement therapy and other methods, [correcting God’s clerical errors].
Transsexuals Need More Understanding
More and more scholars have advocated the removal of transsexual diseases from DSM, just as homosexuality was removed in 1973.
Limited by the overall understanding of the society, Transsexuals are extremely vulnerable to ridicule, contempt, accusation and abuse from their surroundings and even family members. Public stars like Harisu and Venus [transsexuals], It belongs to a very small number. The vast majority of transsexual patients often choose to disappear from their old living place after sex change surgery and start their life again in a strange city with a new gender, name and identity. The past experience becomes an absolute secret and will not be disclosed to anyone or even doctors. This is extremely unfavorable to the health of transsexual patients.
Sex change surgery changes only the appearance, The body still lacks the corresponding gonad and sex hormone secretion, In order to adapt to and maintain the new gender characteristics, I am also worried that I will expose my identity in the process of seeing a doctor and often supplement sex hormones without necessary medical monitoring. In several cases of susceptible patients I have come into contact with, there is excessive intake of hormones, and the sex hormone level of individuals even exceeds the normal range by more than 100 times, posing a great threat to personal health.
French feminist Beauvoir once said: “Man is not born a woman, but becomes a woman.” This sentence also applies to transsexual patients.
True gender is a personal role characteristic that brings people a sense of fulfillment, hope and strength. We are born with it, cherish it and accept it. We should also understand and respect the self-choice of transsexual patients.
The article was reprinted by Clove Garden authorized by the author.