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Transsexual brain

RELATED STORIES

Sex and the brain
Martin Raff Scientist
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Okay, so this is a very recent interest of mine about sex and the brain and it was stimulated because I had a really unusually talented postdoctoral fellow, Barbara Barres, an American, and Barbara is now Ben Barres. So he is a female to male transsexual, now with his own lab in Stanford and a very successful scientist, but the first scientist I know who is a transsexual and came out while a very successful scientist.

So it got me interested in how this all happened and I’d been watching him because he had his ovaries removed and has been treated with the male sex hormone testosterone for about a year and a half now, and watching the change in him, you know, he now has a one-and-a-half inch black beard and looks absolutely terrific as a… as a guy and feels terrific. For the first time looks in the mirror and feels great, whereas before always made her want to weep when looking in the mirror.

Martin Raff is a Canadian-born neurologist and research biologist who has made important contributions to immunology and cell development. He has a special interest in apoptosis, the phenomenon of cell death. Recently retired from his professorship at University College, London, these stories were recorded in 2000.

Listeners: Christopher Sykes

Christopher Sykes is a London-based television producer and director who has made a number of documentary films for BBC TV, Channel 4 and PBS.

Tags: Stanford University, Ben Barres

Duration: 1 minute, 6 seconds

Date story recorded: 2000

Date story went live: 13 July 2010