Sci Am: the Disturbing History of Research Into Trans Identity

[Carolyn Marie]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-disturbing-history-of-research-into-transgender-identity/

 

A very interesting read on a very fraught and difficult subject, IMO.  Many of us want answers, but too many researchers are looking for evidence that backs their per-conceived ideas, rather than search for unbiased facts using objective and thorough scientific methods.

 

 

Carolyn Marie

[KayC]

Good article.  Thanks @Carolyn Marie!  I am happy it seems they have come further along in the last 15-20 years to identify this as a medical issue and not an environmental/behavioral cause. 

But, seems some just want to hold on to these rejected ideas, and they are still floating around out there.  Dangerous little darts.

[VickySGV]

Suspicion and fear of the "different" is the root of more human error than as of yet been given a quantity.  One of my college professors in Behavioral Science who emphasized the Scientific Method of research had a poster in the classroom that asked us "Are you the measure of humanity or the measurer of human behavior?"  His point was that we needed to include ourselves as subjects of our own research, and spent time with each of us discussing an assigned research project to get us to know what we were taking into the project of ourselves and our preconceived ideas about the subject.  At the end of the project we sat down again and subtracted anything that looked like it mirrored the preconceptions.  With those gone, we wrote the projects up for grading.  My response was a little more full than many, but still pretty darn short.  Two of my classmates who wrote "I learned a lot about myself, but almost nothing about what I studied" actually got very high grades.  I got an 85% or high B grade and it had been brutal. 

[Sally Stone]

Great points Vicky.  I believe we should apply scientific method to every one of our own personal biases (we all have them).   Unfortunately, we are spring-loaded to the thoughts and ideas that make us comfortable and that's just not objective.

 

Along similar lines, we have generally lost the ability to engage in true discourse.  Instead, the moment someone makes an argument or comes from a point of different from ours, we declare that person is against us.  "If you aren't with me, you are against me" is a completely counter-productive assumption that stifles understanding and compassion.

 

We need to listen to understand instead of listening to refute.