Transgenders : Gender Identity Disorder

Scholars have been critical of the medical establishment’s and state’s involvement in constructing and policing of transgender identity. These kinds of pressing issues have occupied the small existing literature. There is not much information and studying what is being done on transgender in traditional areas, family studies research, such as their dating behavior and formation of intimate relationships in adulthood. There is little research on the issues around being parents, their children’s experiences with having transgendered parents, as well as relationships in the family as a whole, and relationships in work and school.

Kidd and Witten define the term transgender vaguely, stating it “describe[s] people who transcend the conventional boundaries of gender, irrespective of physical status or sexual orientation” (Kidd & Witten, 2007, p. 36). This term is a reference for the ‘other gender’ that is not particularly male or female. Currently, within the American society, there is a growing awareness of individuals who are transgender. Much of this awareness comes from LGBT movements and

The United States is a divided society. We like to categorize ourselves according to political affiliation, race, and religion. We are members of the middle, low-income, or wealthy classes. We choose what seats to sit in during a football game according to the team we are rooting for. It is oddly comforting to know that you belong. All too often, however, transgender youth are denied that sense of ubelonging because they defy society’s categories of male and female. The gender binary divides society into two separate, unequivocal categories that marginalizes transgender youth and directly impacts their emotional health and well-being. Society’s collective response of demeaning, shaming, and violence further increases the divide.

Despite the transgender population’s small size, more people identify as transgender now than in any previously recorded time period. This is largely due to social movements that aim to improve upon and normalize LGBT experiences. As it becomes more common to think outside of traditional gender roles and the Western gender binary, more individuals discover that they do not psychologically conform to the genders they are assigned at birth and instead seek to make social and physical transitions that better align with their chosen gender identity. For many, the decision to transition is partly due to gender dysphoria, a feeling of unease in one’s body because it does not match their gender identity. This discomfort can be severe enough to cause

Every 8 seconds a new baby is born in the U.S. About 10,800 babies in a day, 75,600 every week, and close to 4 (3,931,200) million each year. However, out of those 4 million, 2 thousand, about 0.06% will grow up to identify themselves as transgender. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, they suffer from gender dysphoria, a condition in which there are incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender. This illness is accompanied by clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

Gender dysphoria is the formal diagnosis for people who experience distress over their assigned physical sex and/or societal gender. People who suffer from this are colloquially called trans men (female to male) and trans women (male to female) respectively. Often, a trans person will elect to undergo medical transitioning to better align their physical body with their mind. As one can expect, transitioning is an arduous process which can include a plethora of medical treatments, such as hormone replacement therapy, mastectomy / breast augmentation, masculinization / feminization facial surgeries, hysterectomy, etc. Trans people who physically transition are said to be transsexual, due to the change of their physical sex instead of simply the change of how they present themselves. Transitioning is often seen as the pentacle of a trans person’s life, and it is a significant, political issue in the LGBT community.

To many people, gender, or a persons sexual orientation, is something that should not be changed, and if one does attempt to change your gender by a surgical procedure, it is believed to be wrong. In most English dictionaries, the word gender is defined as the state of being male or female. According to the Oxford Dictionary, being a male is defined as “the sex that produces small, typically motile gametes, especially spermatoea, with which a female may be fertilized or inseminated to produce offspring,” and female is defined as “the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs, distinguished biologically by the production of gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes.” These definitions are accepted by and believed to be correct

“Before I knew I was transsexual, I went through years of pain... It’s only now that I’m living as a woman that I finally feel comfortable with myself” (“Real Lives - Three Transsexuals”). This quote, from a male-to-female transsexual individual who was living as a woman while waiting to qualify for gender re-assignment surgery (GReS), shows the pain that those who struggle with gender identity disorders (GIDS) undergoi while “trapped” in the physical and social constraints of living as their original gender, as well as the relief that comes with living as a member of their “true” gender. Some may argue that use of surgery for purposes of treating gender identity disorders is morally unacceptable since trans sexuality does not belong

The word “transgender” is a broad term inclusive of many subgroups. Currently there is no single universal definition. For the purposes of this paper, transgender is defined as an individual whose gender expression is different from their birth sex. Sex, for the purposes of this discussion, is defined as the physical anatomy that currently defines male and female. Gender identity refers to the individual’s internal sense of being male, female, both, or neither. Transgender individuals feel discomfort between what the gender they identify internally with and their outward physical sex characteristics. Gender expression refers to how an individual presents themselves to society. Sexual orientation the physical or emotional attraction towards another person, whether male or female. This is different than gender identity. Transgender individuals may be attracted to persons of the same sex or opposite sex. This paper will address specifically the transition of those individuals born anatomically male but identify their gender identity as female. Male-to-female transgender individuals are often referred to as MTF individuals.

Transgender individuals feel that they are in the wrong body. This feeling can be described as Gender Dysphoria. In an early research study, Devor (2006) wrote how gender identity starts at the age of eighteen months and they can understand that they are part of a specific gender grouping. He also writes, how children defer between gender based on physical attributes, and not biological traits, but as they get older, they start to understand more (Devor, 1992). Gender reassignment surgery holds a lot of controversy, especially when it comes to children. In a research study Kennedy (2015) wrote that some communities are opposed to having transgender students use bathrooms where they feel more comfortable. In his research study, he stated how advocates of transgender students want transgender students to be allowed to use the restrooms that correspond with their gender identity. Some schools are not allowing students with sex changes to attend their schools anymore. In Kennedy’s research, he wrote some public schools are starting to put unisex personal bathrooms on their property so that everyone will feel comfortable. Putting unisex restrooms as an option, will limit bullying and ultimately make a more inclusive

With the new age of technology and the incredibly fast ways anyone can access information, having conversations about controversial social topics is not uncommon. When talking about the grey area that is sex and gender, the argument of gender dysphoria and the surgery that goes behind it is questioned. Gender dysphoria, often the biological condition that goes behind gender reassignment surgery, is a health condition that emanates when one lives with ongoing feelings of being physically incongruous with his or her birth sex. The general public is divided in the situation, either against the surgery and the transgender population, or advocates of the medical advancements that society has achieved. There are an abundance of components and processes that goes into sex reassignment surgery (SRS), ranging from physical surgeries to the psychological and hormonal changes amid the various procedures and practices.

In recent years, a growing body of research and literature from a variety of professional organizations, such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), has attempted to better understand and meet the needs of transgender individuals and the clinicians who provide their care. This is reflective of a societal shift towards inclusion, as well as a growing number of transgender individuals on the caseloads of clinicians. The APA, for example, made changes to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 2013 to reduce stigma and improve clinical care available to the transgender community. Specifically, the DSM-5, “changed gender identity

Society is ever evolving, yesterday’s taboos are today’s norms. As technology grows, so does our awareness of things around us. The transgender movement owes much of its strength and approval due to this. Unlike past generations, today we are connected with the whole world, and as such, we begin to realize that individuals all over the world face similar daunting problems. The social construction of gender is being questioned now more than ever. The

Shortly after, Brian confessed a desire to crossdress. This graduated into transgender fantasies, which included anal & oral penetration via prosthetic penis while dressed as a woman.

Gender identity is one’s personal sense of identity within their own gender, which in most societies consists of membership in two groups: males and females (Carlson & Heth, 2009). In Western societies, gender binary exists, classifying gender and sex into the opposite, disconnected structures of masculinity and femininity (Garber, 1997; Rosenblum, 2000). This division of genders creates a barrier, discouraging individuals from crossing society’s idea of normal gender roles. All societies have individuals who do not personally identify with all aspects of their biological sex, and in 1965 these individuals were first classified as transgender (Oliven & A, 1965). Transgender individuals are those who