Gender Identity / Sexual Orientation and Dementia / Alzheimer's

Wouldn't it be the other way round?
Like, forgetting they had a woman's body or forgetting that heterosexuality exists

 

You've brought up a very interesting and complex question! I think that if the person can recall things that happened when they were really young, then maybe the transmale would see himself as a woman because that's what he physically was when he was very young? That's what would 'make sense'... As to whether a gay person would think they're straight, I don't know! If someone discovered they were gay when they were in their 20s, then maybe they'd reach a point where they think they're straight. But people who have known that they're gay since they were really young probably never will hit that point?

I have no idea! I agree with your what you said... It's definitely a question of how much of our identity (gender and sexual orientation wise) is build up and how much of it is innate. I'd be curious to know if there are studies on the subject!

 

I suspect that a gay Alzheimer's patient may forget that they've come out, and could possibly feel themselves closeted or needing to be secretive with their sexuality.

For the transman, assuming he's transitioned, I could see him forgetting that he transitioned, thinking of himself not as female, but as in a female body, and therefore feeling a urge to transition (even though he's already transitioned). On the other hand, if he's transitioned (assuming at least socially and hormonally), then I don't know what the effects of the male hormones would be on his sense of self...I get the sense that testosterone is pretty strong stuff and could make it hard to forget you're male. I mean, he may be surprised and delighted, for instance, to find that he had a beard.

Interesting question for speculation either way...would be good to see some data on it.

 

so what, you think it's like more likely somehow that trans people can "forget" their true gender if Alzheimer's or sumthin comes about? i mean if we're gonna think that's possible, then we should apply it to cis people too

i'm certainly no expert, but i mean if Alzheimer's more on basically memory stuff, then i don't think it would really affect your sense of gender and sexuality...cuz that's more like...

i dunno at least with transgenderism/transsexuality i subscribe to the thing that the brain has a body map/brain sex. and i dunno i think that's really ingrained and it's not connected to memory stuff...

buuut i'm no expert these are just my thoughts i had...

Transsexual differences caught on brain scan - life - 26 January 2011 - New Scientist

^and i mean this, what it says about our brains bein basically closer to our true genders...i dunno if sumthin like that can be erased somehow cuz of Alzheimer's and stuff? cuz i mean if it can be, then it would apply to cis people too

 

Just my hypothesis depending my life experiences make me believe our gender identity more hard coded than memories.

Have to admit never been very close to an alzheimer paitent just what I heard or read gives me knowledge of situation, it seems they forget learned things. Never heard one who forget how to eat, breath or walk which is very similar to being gay for me.

 

Alzheimer's patients seem to get lost in time sometimes. It's as though they're living in their memories and they can start to forget people they love, important events, and basically everything about their daily lives. I don't know a lot about the mechanisms behind Alzheimer's so it's hard to say exactly what the patient is thinking and experiencing, but to witness it they seem to be disconnected from the present and awash in memories of the past. Perhaps because those memories are much move vivid as the disease progresses. They also don't always appear totally coherant. If you were to meet an otherwise "ordinary" person who had lost all memory of knowing you, they'd likely react with confusion and doubt.. but my experience is that when when you "remind" an Alzheimer's patient who you are, they just seem to accept it and go right back to what they were thinking of previously. Both of my grandfathers had Alzheimer's, though one also had Parkinson's which definitely affected his presentation of the disorder.

With all of that in mind I would think someone could indeed regress to a point where they forget they've come out. If they realized later in life they were gay or trans they may also think they are straight or cis. That's not to say those feelings would disappear entirely, but if in the moment they are in they felt they were straight, they would likely feel they were straight in the present too, because they are in a sense "reliving" those memories. People with Alzheimer's forget their children, they can forget loved ones have passed away, so yes, they can "forget" realizing their own orientation, too, I would think.

 

I cared for my Grandmother for 6 years through her Dementia and other various terminal illnesses, so I am not completely talking out of my arse here, ahaha.

I think there must be, to be honest. If dementia can make you believe you are a baby, or even forget that you are a person- that you are a being- it isn't too much of a jump to believe you are a different gender or sexual identity. Dementia and such can lead you to be very sexually inappropriate, or "honest", even to the point of hitting on family or children when the "true" person would never even consider doing such things. My Grandmother was sexually explicit but always towards her "healthy" sexuality, but I do believe and understand that in severe cases it can impact our own identity in that way. Even if it was as simple as it brought them back to the time where they were conforming with the "normal" gender or sexuality.

At the local Alzheimer's group there was an entire different group for LGBTQ people, both as the sufferer was queer and/or the carer. I didn't understand at the time why- perhaps because of this? Who knows.

I am sorry if I make no sense, I am on the verge of a migraine. >~<

 

(*hug*) Hope you get pass that thing fast. I hate migraine... especialy mine. :tantrum:

Bolded part sounds very interesting. Hope we can get more insight to that.

 

I hope your migraine has stopped by now...
I think all you said makes sense! Interesting though, I've never heard of different groups for LGBTQ people at the care center where my grandfather (who has alzheimer's) lives but I'd be curious to know if there are any... And I'd be curious to know if this is the reason too!