Like many of us, I have agonized off and on over the years about why I am this way. Society's conventional wisdom is that it issinful -- whether they use the theological term or not -- that it is perverted, and that it's something we choose to do. So pervasive are these beliefs that we ourselves become convinced of them, and keep it all hidden, often from our closest loved ones. All of which leads to a huge wad of shame, closed up lives, and increasingly dysfunctional relationships.
Of course, theories abound about the origin of trans, from the psychological -- dominant mother, nebbishy father, etc. -- to the physical, such hormonal anomalies in the womb. In recent years, there has been increasing evidence that Diethylstylbesterol (DES), administered prenatally to millions of women over a period of three decades, may play a role. Approved in 1941 for a variety of gynecological conditions, it's use was expanded in 1947 to women with a prior history of miscarriage. In the early 1970s, it was linked to a rare form of cancer in women who were exposed prenatally, and was discontinued. In that time, between the late 40s and early 70s, five to 10 million women are estimated to have been exposed to it, either prenatally or during their pregnancies.
