Both men and women are equally intelligent overall but they excel in different areas.
OK Sailfish, I found the info pic from Blanchard that I wanted to show you.
This here perfectly explains how TRAs misrepresent the available research:
This thread by an actual biologist on Twitter is worth reading in full (he lists all of his sources at the very end):
It is true that there are indeed no black and white "male" and "female" brains.
But this variation in brain differences does not mean there is no clearly defined 'male' or 'female,' because we define sex through one of two evolved reproductive anatomies.[7]
It is true that trans individuals may have specific structures in the brain that are similar to that typically seen in the opposite sex. As the author mentions, some specific regions in gay men are similar to straight women.
But these similarities do not change one's sex.
The existence of subtle brain similarities to the opposite sex does not mean that such individuals ARE the opposite sex. It just means that one might have specific structures that are atypical.
This does not change your sex anymore than other atypical physical differences.
Using brain similarities and differences to argue that someone IS the opposite sex is akin to using sex differences in height to argue that a short male who falls in the typical female range IS a female.
Variation does not make someone 'less male' or 'less female'
For example, a male who has less T than the average male does not become 'less male' or 'more female.' He is still a male, as his body is organized around small gametes.
Other variations in physiology and anatomy do not disprove the binary, but rather show the variation within.
Thus, you may notice a pattern in all three aspects: (1) genetics, (2) neurobiology, and (3) endocrinology.
In all three categories, variation does not mean sex itself is a spectrum, but rather, that sex-related traits are bimodal--an avg for males and an avg for females.
The author does not go wrong in presenting basic scientific facts about the variation of sex-related traits.
Where they go wrong is arguing that because variation of genes, brain structure, and hormones, that male and female cannot be reliably defined.
"The science is clear and conclusive: sex is not binary, transgender people are real," they write.
The problem is that sex on the reproductive level IS binary. There are only two reproductive functions, and thus, two sexes.
The existence of trans people does not disprove this model, and it does not invalidate them. Rather, trans individuals represent the variation in biology, identity, and expression found within the sex binary.
We don't have to deny the fundamental reality of sex to accept them.
http://archive.is/cuE1P (list of sources saved separately)
Here's a blog article from someone who explains who TRAs consistently misinterpret and misrepresent the available medical research:
More relevant articles on this topic, written for a more pop-sci/lay audience:
Most people have a mix of male and female features in their brain, suggesting a person's cognitive skills can't be predicted by gender alone
www.newscientist.com
In 2015, one of us, Daphna Joel, led an analysis of four large data sets of brain scans, and found that the sex differences you see overall between men’s and women’s brains aren’t neatly and consistently seen in individual brains. In other words, humans generally don’t have brains with mostly or exclusively “female-typical” features or “male-typical” features. Instead, what’s most common in both females and males are brains with “mosaics” of features, some of them more common in males and some more common in females."
...
The notion of fundamentally female and male brains or natures is a misconception. Brains and behavior are the product of the combined, continuous interactions of innumerable causal influences, that include, but go well beyond, sex-linked factors.
Can We Finally Stop Talking About ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ Brains?
Recent research is making it clearer than ever that the notion that sex determines the fundamentals of brain structure and behavior is a misconception.
www.nytimes.com
“Neuroscientists in socially sensitive areas like gender should work under a burden of caution. Many studies are flawed, many are over-interpreted. But not many inspire in their authors and others the conclusion that innate differences in part lie behind our gender-stratified society.”
There’s no genetic reason women should be disadvantaged in the workplace – unless someone is looking for it
www.theguardian.com
Here is the article where TRAs themselves rejected the idea of trans brains because it's gate-keeping (read: if it was true it would be used to call them out on their bluff and as pathological lying narcissists they obviously don't want any objective criteria for determining gender dysphoria.)
We don’t need brain scans that cost thousands of dollars to legitimize or diagnose trans people; if we inform children about trans identities and remove stigmas that keep trans people marginalized, we can already validate the genders of trans kids free of cost simply by asking them who they are.
"Trans brain research and its recent coverage seek to measure trans people according to a cis standard — a standard that is itself a debunked fiction."
www.them.us
While taking HRT doesn't turn a man into a woman, it might turn him into a schizo though! (An increased brain ventricle is a typical sign of schizophrenia... lo behold, M2Fs have increased ventricles from taking HRT.)
Ventricular enlargement is one of the most consistent abnormal structural brain findings in schizophrenia and has been used to infer brain shrinkage. However, whether ventricular enlargement is related to local overlying cortex and/or adjacent subcortical structures or whether it is related to...
link.springer.com
TLDR, no, M2Fs do not have "female brains trapped in a male body", and no, taking HRT does not make a male brain more female. At worse, HRT will turn an otherwise healthy male brain into a schizo brain.