Quote Originally Posted by Tinkerbell-GG View Post
I agree with every thought you wrote, Stevie. This idea that there can be a gene for crossdressing just seems like wishful thinking. Fact is, when viewing this from the outside, crossdressing looks awfully similiar to some other behaviors that are sometimes mentioned here, so I highly doubt there's a 'crossdressing gene' but rather an inclination for some human males to create a seperate 'identity' for themselves. ]
I think it's unlikely to be a single gene - because it's not like there's a single "bit" that controls "Male" or "Female" in humans - we're talking multiple organs in the body that have to develop as either male or female. Most of the time, this works just swimmingly. But when it doesn't, it just doesn't.

TLDR: Our brains our different, and this happens during development. It may not be a gene at all.

1. Human beings can clearly be intersexed. The brain is a sexually dimorphic organ, and, interestingly enough, the last one to differentiate between males and females.
2. It's increasingly apparent that the brains of transgender people map more closely to the brains of cis people of their desired gender, rather than the brains of those matching their primary and secondary sexual characteristics. (Translation - I got a girl brain.)
3. I suspect that "behaviors" such as sexual orientation and gender expression are wired into our brains to a much greater extent than we realize. Gender expression between men and women varies over time based on social constructs - but we appear to be wired to need these differences.

When it's all finally understood, I'd be really surprised if we didn't find one or more structures within our brains that made combinations such as:
- feminine gay man
- crossdressing straight man
- MtF transsexual
- gender queer
and all the other combinations of behavior / identity / sexual orientation / and need for physical change (or lack thereof.)

Look - I can only really speak from my own personal perspective, but the need to be perceived in society as a woman, the need to BE a woman, is incredibly strong with me. So much so that if denied this for some reason, I'd literally choose self-destruction over life as a male. Given that CDing seems to be impossible to shake, I suspect it has to be a similarly fundamental part of the identity of the CDer. I think this stuff is wired into us, and as best we can tell, and for reasons we don't yet understand, this happens to some of us to some varying degree while we are developing in utero.

But it's probably not going to be just a single gene. There are a number of organs in the body that can be affected by intersexed conditions to varying degrees. It seems unlikely to me that there's just a single "bit" stored in our DNA that makes us who we are, in terms of gender. Human beings are just a lot more complex that that. I mean, maybe it's that way - who knows? But I wouldn't bet on it.

I know y'all would like for CDing to be a totally separate deal from being transsexual, but there really isn't even a credible model proposed that supports that. I'm sorry. I know that's scary. :/