Elevated rates of autism in transgender and gender-diverse individuals

"Gender dysphoria - as a general descriptive term refers to an individual’s discontent with the assigned gender."

That is a very weak definition, if you ask me.

> Studies have shown eye training on infants can completely remove symptoms of autism.

Do you have any links for these studies? I’ve never heard any credible claims of a treatment for (or prevention of) autism.

Hi, are you here for a curious conversation? Please review the guidelines, because you're cross-examining and attacking the weakest interpretation of what I've said.

> Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.

I specifically referenced the title of the book, because it should be a dead giveaway that the book isn't a great start for this conversation. Nowhere did I say that I only looked at the title, that's your weakening interpretation. I read about a dozen reviews, pro and con, and I'm quite familiar with the literature and science on the subject of trans people.

> It never says that the crazy describes all trans people. It doesn't call all trans fakes.

Sorry, did you even read what I wrote? I didn't say anything about "all trans people". I said that the book is cherrypicking. I'm not denying that those cases exist, I'm saying that those cases are rare.

> You basically dismiss everyone in the book as just being unable to "cope with loss"

Who are you responding to??? I didn't say anything about that.

> Your experience in the 90s has little bearing on 2020 where you get instant social proof on social media in some circles by putting a rainbow flag in your username.

Oh hey, an actual reference to something that I wrote! I'll respond to that. I specifically noted my experience in the 90s, because my transition was delayed 'til the 2010s. I specifically explained why we're seeing a massive increase in the rate of people coming out. But you missed it, because you're focused on attacking the weakest interpretation of what I said.

> That you give yourself so much authority on trans matters, especially in response to such a reasonable point, is kind of an example of what I see as modern trans clout these days.

Yeah, I've got so much "clout". People in my industry are happy to give plaudits for my "bravery", but multiple previous co-authors have ghosted me. Co-workers don't take me seriously like they used to. So professionally, I experience tokenization and isolation. I've lost family, I've lost friends, but if I had a twitter account I'm sure I'd get some followers. But some of my trans friends do get extra followers for being trans -- many of them chasers and trans antagonists who are variously bent on making their lives hell. Whoop di fucking doo. I'd strongly prefer to not be trans, but that's not a choice I've got.

Am I an authority on trans matters? Well, I am a member of the community and I see the good the bad and the ugly -- both from within, and from without. I'm also in regular contact with high-school age trans kids through group counselling -- I don't share their experiences because that would violate their confidentiality.

So what's your basis for authority? All I see is your experiences with amphetamines and you may have read a book about trans people that was written by a blatant transphobe. And you're imploring me to have an open mind. Guffaw.

previous poster's claim is a common piece of folk wisdom that ultimately stems from this paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16298429/ 2005, n=187. the authors are blanchardites so the language they use is needlessly confusing, but they find 107.3 mean iq among the male-attracted trans women, 121.7 among the female-attracted

interestingly while pulling this up I also found this one from 1967(!) https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.2... n=34, which found half in the 110-119 range and eight over 140

It's not really about the traits, though. You're making a category error if you think this is about gender stereotypes at root. It's possible that some people transition mostly because of gender roles, but for a lot of us it's because our bodies feel wrong on a fundamental level. It's hard to explain exactly what this means but suffice it to say it's unpleasant enough that it makes transition worth it for a lot of trans people.

I would say that if you find all of this strange that's a good sign that you're probably not trans and nothing more. You're right that transition is not something that just anyone does, there is an enormous amount of self-sorting that goes on.

Also, there's nothing wrong with transitioning and getting psychological help. In fact, I recommend it. Psychologists and psychiatrists these days really shouldn't be anti-transition or anti-trans people existing, the consensus on these things has shifted quite a bit, just like it did back in the 60s and 70s with gay people.

>EDIT: isn't something completely broken if some people binarize traits as female and male and accordingly everyone in between as non-binary? I mean, before we categorized people into genders by sex, now we categorize people into gender by their binarized behavior

Trans people are likely to be the last people to automatically characterize people based on those traits. To me at least, really what matters is what you tell me your gender is. I think people should have the freedom to choose the gendered existence they most desire, in body and in character. Trans women are definitely not all stereotypically feminine, though this is widely believed. I wear a t-shirt and jeans and have a buzzcut.

>Btw: if there's 1 of 100 trans, how come you really know a lot of them? I imagine if they are in the closet, it's hard to get them talking about these things as well! So how do you do it?

The internet :). 1/100 is quite a bit in a world with 7 billion people in it. And more and more of us aren't in the closet anymore. Moreover, closeted trans people often want to talk to trans people who aren't closeted, or have transitioned, because they're looking for validation that what they know to be true about themselves is possible and legitimate and many cultural and societal forces tell them it isn't.

I also suspect the real prevalence of trans people and gender dysphoria is not well understood. I don't know whether the real number is lower or higher, though.