What does it mean to say the VU is “founded on the Bible?”

I would love to hear an explanation, even if it’s just that the author wanted to point out there’s an additional religious debate about cross dressing.

Additional, that is, to scientific study of transsexualism, which is what this story is otherwise about…

I am inclined and have been so persuaded to believe people who are “born in the wrong body” are likely to have been exposed to “stress” while in the womb. Although Gunter Dorner has been given a bad wrap because of the interpretation of his work in this area, it makes a lot of sense that “homosexuality” and “transsexualism” may be induced through varying degrees and durations of “stressors” on the mother during her pregnancy. Although I could go into boring detail, a brief synopsis of Dorner’s hypothesis may at least shed a bit of light on this issue which in my belief is overly complicated on useless research on “mystery genes” and the like. Stress is an ever present part of life and is likely to be one of the hidden culprits in this line of research…

J Homosex 1995;28(3-4):269-75
Does peace prevent homosexuality?
Schmidt G, Clement U
Department of Sexual Research, University of Hamburg, Germany.
This study attempted to replicate a series of investigations by Gunter Dorner and his associates that concluded that more homosexual men are born in wartime than in times of peace. That conclusion is based on Dorner’s belief that war induces stress in pregnant women and that stress causes a drop in fetal androgen levels which in turn leads to the development of a homosexual “orientation”. The replication not only failed to support the Dorner conclusion but also found that even those cities that suffered the most severe bombing during World War II showed no evidence of increased numbers of homosexuals. The authors conclude that homosexual men can go on loving peace and getting involved in the peace movement.
PMID: 7560931, UI: 96028457

In regards to the ‘importance’ of breasts and penis, one must remain cautious and delineate proximate mechanisms and their product. From my reading of Dr. Swaab’s work, among transsexuals and other atypically identified individuals, there is a disjunct between their neuroprocessing circuitry and their genitalia. As other’s have put it, these individuals are generally convinced that their present genitalia simply does not match ‘them’. So, yes, in a way there is an importance on penis’. In addition to Dr. Swaab and Dr. Savics’ work, there is work conducted by Dr. Meredith Chivers (many refer to her as the “Bonobo porn lady”) that has demonstrated that genitals are indeed an important component of sexuality and sexual arousal patterns. Her research has demonstrated that whether or not men identify as heterosexual or homosexual, their sexual arousal patterns will map onto their identity. This suggests that male homosexuality (unlike female sexuality) is category specific, which means that it either conforms to a homosexual or heterosexual sexual arousal pattern.

I end this with an important observation. To many, there seems to be something very peculiar and daunting about male homosexuality. We have tried SO hard to make claims that social and cultural factors drive or determine onset of homosexuality. However, this is simply not so. Currently, there is no evidence that postnatal social factors influence or “create” homosexuality. Many argue, myself included, that homosexuality is determined in utero- an argument for which we have a great deal of evidence. We must keep in mind that sociality and culture are only capable of exaggerating or limiting a phenotype, unless culture is able to affect gene frequencies-which, in this case it has not.

Once we make sense of the evidence and sort it out within a evolutionary paradigm, we will able to make great strides in unlocking this fascinating puzzle.

It also seems to focus on the penis for transwomen and breasts for transmen – which are of course no the only sexual characteristics if one is obsessed by sexual parts of the body. It’s also a shame to see the usual stuff repeated, such as “Mothers describe how from the moment their son could talk, he would wear his mother’s clothes and shoes”

All too often it seems that researches in this area are looking far too much at sex and ignoring social aspects. At least the “regretters” figure is put into context, with the percentage quoted (0.4%) rather than unnecessarily highlighting the very few out there who regret, some of whose stories do not stand up to scrutiny. (E.g. claiming to regret transition/surgery but later applying for a new birth certificate anyway)

“This is unusual because the Bible, on which the VU is founded, states in Deuteronomy 22:5-6: ‘A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.”