Biologically wired to be transsexual

Star: PETALING JAYA: There have been medical studies done which show that one of the reasons for someone being transsexual is biological and there are tests that can be done to determine that.
This was disclosed by consultant clinical andrologist Dr Mohd Ismail Mohd Tambi who also provides counselling to individuals with issues concerning sexual identity at his clinic.
He said that in studies done by endocrinologist Prof L.J.G. Gooren who is an expert in Gender Studies and Gender Reassignment Programmes at Vrije University in Amsterdam, Netherlands, magnetic resonance imaging scans of the brain showed differences between men and transsexuals.
“Scan of the hypothalamus (the region at the base of the brain of which a part is involved in sexual behaviours) show that a part of it is bigger in males by 44% than in females. But for a transsexual male the scan will reveal that it follows the size of a female's. The reverse is true for transsexual females.”
Other scientists have authenticated the study internationally, he told The Star.
Dr Mohd Ismail said that Prof Gooren’s study also showed that the process of sexual orientation (one's realisation of one's gender) was complex and the physical changes were usually early and the mental changes usually came later.
It was usually during adolescence that transsexuals would want to be close to the gender of their choice, he said.
“They do not decide on their gender overnight. The process is complicated and dynamic. It is influenced by the sex determinant genes, testosterones and hormones, environmental factors and the mental changes in the hypothalamus,” said Dr Mohd Ismail.
He said he had spent two weeks at the Gender Clinic of the Free University in Amsterdam in 2001, where he learnt of the studies by Prof Gooren.
The studies also said there was a possibility that one in every 15,000 males and one in every 35,000 females were transsexual.
Dr Mohd Ismail cited his own paper which he presented four years ago at a local counselling seminar in which he said that counselling was a must as there were many individuals who were confused about their sexual identity and might not actually be transsexuals.
He added that if they were transsexuals they needed to be provided with avenues to be reassigned in terms of gender according to the laws of the country.