An Extract

• Posted by Cristine Jennifer Shye. BL. B/acc June 1, 2018 Filed in Member's Blogs 2,084 views
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  https://gendersociety.com/forums/topic/10437/education-research-topic  (Alice S. The Gender Society).

  An in depth explanation of genetic issues faced by transgender and intersex people is outlined in the essay's  The first is the “Definition and Synopsis of the Etiology of Gender Variance” “Heronomativity” (Shye, 2017).  This shows that, as well as being a condition that affects the brain, there may be quite pronounced physical symptoms as well.  Ms Shye also wrote an essay detailing her own background.  This further underscores the physical nature of transgenderism, as she details her own diagnosed condition – “Reifenstein’s Syndrome” (Shye, 2017).  This would seem to indicate that there is some weight to the existence of male/female differences in transgender people and that logically a transgender female should approach education as a natal female would.

   

  An alternative explanation to those outlined by Ms Shye have been discussed in the e-mail from Claire Birkenshaw (See Appendix E), a post-operative transgender and female head mistress of a secondary school, who transitioned while in office.   She does not believe that male and female brains work differently and has provided two sources to support her claim (See Appendix E).  The first is a newspaper article in the Guardian (Sample, 20125) , while the other is a TED talk by Daphna Joel (Joel, 2012) detailing how the brain can change characteristics to become more male or female during stress.  These offer interesting insights, but the existing medical research indicates that Ms Shyes’ (who also challenges Ms Birkenshaws view on the Gender Societies forum in a post “Male/Female Brain”) model is correct and that there are two distinct brain types and that hormones, not only play a large part in the brains development, but also may have an impact upon thought processes after HRT treatment has begun.  Interpreting the research done by Ms Joel, despite her claim that the brain is gender neutral, it is apparent that the starting point, without stress, is either male or female.  In addition to this, a certain amount of re-wiring has been observed by doctors treating teenage transgender patients with hormones, so that the brain functions in a more male or female manner, depending upon the hormone employed.  Given the weight of research to support the gender specific brain, it seems to indicate that a male to female transgender students’ study and examination characteristics would be the same as a natal female students.