In a political climate that’s slowly becoming more accepting of different sexual orientations and gender identities, it’s also becoming less taboo to talk about topics like gender and sex change. For individuals who identify as transgender, the process of transitioning from one gender to another is complicated and usually involves extensive surgeries and hormone treatments.
So, can binaural beats change your gender? Though it would be great if the transition process was possible through all-natural means, it’s not possible to change your gender by just listening to binaural beats. However, binaural beats can help target the emotional and mental effects of transitioning.
In a world where people are afraid to talk about sensitive topics like sex and gender, people are also limited in what knowledge they actually have on these topics. In this first section, we’ll briefly overview what sex and gender are and how they influence us as individuals.
An Overview of Gender
One of the major misconceptions that society has is confusing the concepts of sex and gender. By confusing these two terms, it further complicates the accurate discussions that can be had about each of these topics.
Not only is it important to understand the difference between sex and gender, but it’s also incredibly helpful to learn about how gender is determined and how gender can actually be changed.
Gender vs. Sex
The terms “gender” and “sex” are often used interchangeably but actually are two entirely different concepts. Here’s a breakdown of what these two terms really mean.
- Gender: For the most part, gender is a social construct. That means gender is actually a concept that was developed by society and is not based on an individual’s assigned sex at birth. When we talk about gender, we’re actually referenced masculinity and femininity. Society creates social norms for both men and women and your gender is usually which of these two “roles” that you best fit into.
- Sex: Your sex is determined by your genitalia and secondary sex characteristics. This is what sets apart males and females. Sex is an entirely biological concept and is not as fluid of a concept as gender is. It’s much more difficult to change your sex than it is to change your gender.
As of 2020, it’s entirely possible to change both your gender and your sex. The actual processes of each are extremely different though.
Gender Determination
Cisgender is a common term used to identify a person whose gender matches their sex. This term would accurately describe the majority of people. For example, a cisgender male is a male that identifies as a man by society’s standards.
Gender isn’t determined by biology as much as it’s determined by you. That means whether you identify as a man or a woman is entirely dependent on which role you best fulfill and how you best identify yourself.
No surgeries or intervention methods are required to change your gender.
Changing Your Gender
When a person identifies as transgender, it means their sex and gender aren’t the same. For example, a person born male that now identifies as a female would be considered transgender.
So, why does a person’s gender change?
Well, that’s complicated.
When a child is born, they’re either male, female, or intersex. An individual’s sex is pretty straightforward and predetermined at birth.
When a person begins to develop gender dysphoria, it means they’re beginning to recognize that their actual gender may not align with the sex they were assigned at birth. At this point, the person has a few options they can pursue to help align their gender and sex.
- Hormone Therapy: This is usually the first step of formally transitioning. When hormone therapy begins, you’ll be boosting the hormones associated with the gender you identify with. When these hormone levels rise, you’ll experience the effects associated with them, including becoming more masculine-looking when you boost testosterone and more feminine-looking when you increase estrogen.
- Additional Surgeries: Before the official gender confirmation surgery, most transgender folks will elect to have other types of surgeries to help them look more like their gender identity. This includes breast reductions and augmentations as well as facial surgeries that can provide more masculine or feminine features.
- Gender Confirmation Surgery: This is the big surgery that involves removing a person’s genitalia and replacing it with the genitalia that aligns with the gender they identify as.
Binaural Beats & Gender
Binaural beats can be used for practically any reason, but they absolutely cannot be used to change your sex or gender. However, if you’re struggling with your gender identity, binaural can help target the emotional and mental effects that come along with this process.
There are plenty of things binaural beats can do and there are plenty of things binaural beats can’t do when it comes to gender identity and sexual orientation. By learning about each, you’ll know what to reasonably expect when you listen to binaural beats.
What Binaural Beats Can’t Do
The most important thing you need to know is that binaural beats cannot change your sex or gender no matter how often you listen to them or which frequencies you listen to.
It’s completely impossible to alter the physical aspects of your body or change your gender identity simply by listening to different sound frequencies.
Binaural beats can influence the release of estrogen and testosterone in your body. However, which of these hormones is actually released will depend on your assigned sex.
That means males who listen to binaural beats will not experience an increase in estrogen just as females won’t boost their testosterone levels.
What Binaural Beats Can Do
Though binaural beats won’t help you formally transition, they can prove beneficial when it comes to the mental and emotional aspects of being transgender and transitioning.
Here’s what they actually can do.
- Boost mood. When a person realizes that their gender and sex do not match up, depression is often pretty common. Imagine having to force yourself to live the life of a man or a woman when you don’t feel like that’s who you really are.
- Reduce stress. Being transgender comes with plenty of stress. Not only do you have to deal with living in the wrong body every day, but there’s also the added stress of loved ones not being as accepting and beginning the seemingly endless pursuit of intervention methods.
If you’re beginning the transition process or you’re questioning your gender identity, one of the best things you can do is consult a mental health professional to help you tackle the stress, anxiety, and depression that comes along with transitioning.
Though it’s absolutely clear that binaural beats will not make your transition possible in the way you might hope, they can be useful to help ease your mood and stress during your transition.
Conclusion
Gender and sex are both very complicated concepts. When a person realizes that their sex and gender do not align, there is often an internal need to change their sex to match their gender. Binaural beats can help you during this process, but there are plenty of limitations for what binaural beats can actually do for you.
Here are some things to remember.
- There is absolutely no way that listening to binaural beats can change your sex or gender.
- Binaural beats can help improve your mood and reduce your stress during the transition process.