ELI5: Why don't transgender people simply get counseling on their feelings and learn to accept their bodies as they are, rather than getting life altering surgery to fix their mental state?

I'm not asking you to get offended, I'm asking you to answer the question I've asked twice now. I guess it's a coincidence that you still don't have an answer for it?

Hell, from your own links:

The groups did not differ in age or education, and no significant difference was detected between HeM and MtF-TR in sex hormone levels (Table 1). No gross anatomical abnormalities were found as judged by an experienced neuroradiologist.

...

Differences between HeM and HeW were found in several regions (Table 3, Fig. 1). The GM volume in the lingual gyrus, the cerebellum, right putamen, and left amygdala and perirhinal cortex was larger in HeM. HeW, on the other hand, showed larger GM and WM volumes in the precentral gyrus. None of these differences were reproduced when comparing HeM with MtF-TR.

...

Contrary to the primary hypothesis, no sex-atypical features with signs of “feminization” were detected in the transsexual group.

The principal feature of gender dysphoria is a strong and persistent identification with the opposite sex and a strong discomfort with one’s birth sex, often with a feeling of being trapped in the wrong body (Becker and Mester 1996). There is no evidence that this feeling is caused by a general sensory deficit in transsexual persons.

...

However, it is difficult to explain how such disintergration can be linked to a dysphoria restricted to the own body’s sex characteristics. Moreover, even if a link exists, it is uncertain whether the here observed morphometric features in transsexual patients underpin their gender identity or are a consequence of being transsexual.

Emphasis my own.

None of that supports the idea that transgendered men know what it feels like to be a woman. Transgenderism is the feeling that your gender and sex don't match. All I'm asking is how it's possible to feel something within your brain that isn't there. How is it possible? I don't have the correct wiring to be a "woman" (at least according to you) so how can I possibly know what being one feels like without experiencing it? The answer is I can't.

Maybe if you just answered my question instead of being a SJW you'd spend less time being offended by shit you don't need to be offended by.

/r/explainlikeimfive Thread Parent