My braniac sister :)

[SandraAbsent]

I had a very interesting conversation with my older sister today. Ya know its nice to have a very open minded family member, especially one who is an internationally published psychologist. Her work even made it into Time Magazine :) (I'm so proud of her) Well two years ago, I had the conversation with her that was real simple. "Oh by the way, since you are going to be house sitting for me your going to find some girl stuff at my apartment. Just so you know, I'm a crossdresser." Nothing was really said after that. Fast forward to today...I told her that I was beginning transition after the first of the year. This led to a pretty deep conversation as to how I arrived at this. Then she drops the bomb.

"Mom never told you this, because she was too hurt by it and only shared it with me when I had a miscarriage myself. So for that reason I believe that when it comes to issues like gender/sexual identity, there is usually a biological reason. When you were in you're first trimester you had a female twin in the womb with you that miscarried."

A majority of her research and published work has been on prenatal effects of substance abuse as to how it relates to brain function in the development stages. We went on to discuss how strong hormones are and how even the slightest introduction of estrogen as a result sharing a womb with a twin sister, very well could have had a profound effect on the brain development.

I was and still am stunned...

[DanaR]

That is a very interesting bit of information.

[Melissa Jill]

Ive heard about how transgenderism is due to a hormone imbalance in the womb during development, but I never got around to looking more into it.

[AllieSF]

Thank you for that bit of history. I think that you need to converse with your sister a lot more. It seems a long time from "I am a crossdresser", to "I am going to start to transition" and she did not know anything about it, especially, if I understand correctly, based on your closeness with her. You have a great source of help, information and family support at your fingertips, a true gift, or fortunate situation. I also think that the more both of you talk, the more she can also learn from you, a true insider to the "T" world. Thanks for sharing.