What is Gender Dysphoria?

The term gender dysphoria is a condition that is expressed by the person’s biological sex, that is, the inconsistency in the sex he / she lives in and is defined as a disorder. While someone born with male genital organs and physical features may experience gender dysphoric disorder, they may feel like women, while women with sexual organs and physical features may feel like men. Dysphoria is defined as a deep discomfort or dissatisfaction. This article contains information about gender dysphoria.

Gender dysphoria is a strong feeling that the actual sex of the person is different from the biological sex assigned at birth. Children, adolescents, and adults can experience dysphoria in the sex. Gender dysphoria is not a mental illness and gender dysphoria has no effect on a person’s sexual preference. Until 2013, gender dysphoria was called “gender identity disorder”. Due to their differences from gender norms, people with dysphoric disorder face great difficulties in equality and social acceptance. According to the researches, it is determined that this situation is accepted more socially today.

Gender dysphoria used to be called “gender identity disorder”. However, this suggested that there was a mental illness without gender confusion. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) “Diagnostic and Statistical Handbook of Mental Disorders” was intended only for the person’s health he renamed it to become a medical condition if it really affects his well-being and his name as gender dysphoria. Although gender dysphoria is a recognized medical condition, it is important to understand that this is not a mental illness.

Gender Dysphoria Examples

Children, adolescents, and adults can experience dysphoria in the sex. For example, young biological girls may prefer to wear men’s clothing, participate in men’s activities, act like boys, and express their desire to live as boys. Similarly, young biological boys can say that they want them to be girls or they can say they will be women. They can adopt the behavior, dress code and norms of that gender by choosing the gender that they see closest to them by not accepting treatment (congenitally) in order to comply with the gender concept defined by the society.

Language of Gender Identity

Understanding the true meaning and range of the gender dysphoria spectrum requires knowledge of some frequently confused terms. According to current (2013) APA guidelines, some definitions that are valid and need to be known are as follows:

The term gender describes the biological differences between a person’s biologically innate sex organs and the chromosomes (internal and external) between women and men. According to the generally accepted cultural or social masculinity or femininity perceptions of a person, men, women express their feelings of being a mixture of both or none of them are internal. These personal feelings of masculinity or femininity constitute one’s “gender identity”.

Transgender refers to people whose sense of gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth. For example, someone whose biological sex is male (with a penis) but feels like a woman is a trans. Trans people often think they were born in the wrong body. Transsexuals’ feelings of identity of the opposite sex are so strong that they refer to gender dysphoric people who have taken steps to take on the characteristics and gender-based roles of people of the opposite sex. Transgender people may seek medical help, such as hormone replacement therapy or a sex change operation, to effectively change their physical appearance or gender.

Gender refers to individuals whose gender identity and sometimes sexual orientation change throughout their lives. Variable gender is valid for people with different gender identities at different times. The word gender is valid for people who define individuals who have no gender definitions. Cisgender, on the other hand, identifies people whose gender identity or sexual expression is in line with the gender assigned to them at birth.

Gender Dysphoria and Sexuality

Many people incorrectly associate gender dysphoria with the same sexual attraction, assuming that all transgender people are gay. This is a dangerous and potentially harmful misunderstanding. People with gender dysphoria live normally, homosexual or bisexual, just as their gender identity aligns with their biological sex. Basically, gender dysphoria has no effect on a person’s sex.

A Brief History of Gender Dysphoria

Definitions of gender dysphoria from the anatomical sex of the person were first revealed in the medical literature in the mid-19th century. Until the 1950s, gender incompatibility and same-sex relationships were almost universally recognized as a socially objectionable heresy. This negative perception began to change in late 1952 when Christine Jørgensen was the first American to appoint a gender reassignment. After his secret surgery was recognized, he became one of the oldest advocates for the rights of transgender people.

In 1957, sexologist John William Money did not recognize and advocate the concept of gender as a separate entity from gender. According to the study of the leaf of Money, the confusion between anatomical gender and gender identity was classified as a mental illness defined by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1980 as “gender identity disorder”. This terminology contributed to stigmatization and discrimination. Today, transsexual and gender are still experienced by fluent individuals.

Finally, in 2013, APA realized that gender mismatch is not a mental disorder on its own, and reclassified gender identity disorder as “gender dysphoria”. This has become a medical condition only when it results in real mental or physical harm. Despite this turning point in understanding the medical community, transgender people continue to face significant challenges in equality and social acceptance.

Gender Dysphoria in Modern Society

Today, society always attaches great importance to gender norms, socially acceptable ways of (expressing sex and sexuality). Gender norms are passed from generation to generation by parents, teachers, friends, spiritual leaders, the media and other social institutions. Despite recent signs of better acceptance, such as legally required transsexual public baths and gender-independent university dormitories, many genders continue to suffer dysphoric people because of their emotions. According to the APA, doctors typically require transsexuals or transgender individuals who require hormone therapy or sex replacement surgery to be examined and referred by a mental health provider first.

Research conducted by the University of California in 2012 found that the rejection of the flat community where transsexual and transgender people live is significantly stiffer than what lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people experience. In addition, a study by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network in 2009 found that transgender and transgender students had higher levels of harassment and violence on campus than LGB students.

In a 2011 study conducted by the Institute of Medicine, perhaps the most important of the studies conducted, it was concluded that the state of gender dysphoric marginalization by the society had a negative effect on mental and physical health. For example, the study found that substance abuse, suicide and HIV infection intervention, and other medical problems are much higher in transgender and transgender people than in the general population.

Today, there are important signs that there is a more hopeful understanding and age of acceptance for gender dysphoric people. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is prohibited from any form of harassment and discrimination at workplaces, due to the gender identity of individuals with sexual orientation or transsexual status. In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense is now allowed to serve openly in all branches of the army, as well as transsexuals and gay and lesbian individuals.