Transgenders : Gender Identity Disorder

Topics concerning transgender can be very overwhelming for some. When one thinks of the term transgender, one may think of the process of an individual identifying as the opposite sex. The opposite sex of what he or she was born as. For some, this may involve undergoing surgical procedures or taken hormonal medications to fulfill their desire. However, when thinking of this process, one automatically thinks of transgender adults. This is rarely a topic that one would assume would be racing through the minds of young children, but in fact it is. More children today than ever, are either speaking out about their identity concerns, or displaying it in their lives. In fact, according to Date Line NBC, “The handful of American doctors who specialize

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.

In general terms, I have never given gender identity much thought prior to this reading. Yes, I saw headlines about various people undergoing surgery to change their gender, but I did not consider all of the implications, and how it affects many people, other than the person who is receiving the surgery. Gender dysphoria affects social, medical, and even cultural perspectives, Yarhouse points out, when a child begins to show behaviors similar to the opposite sex, it places a lot of responsibility on the parents to how they should handle the situation. This leads off into how companies treat their employees who identify as transgender, and at various other places such as schools at all levels of education (Yarhouse, p. 15). As well as to how

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).

When discussing transgendered people it is important to understand the difference between sex, and gender. “Sex is assigned at birth, refers to one’s biological status as either male or female, and is associated primarily with physical attributes such as chromosomes, hormone prevalence, and external and internal anatomy,” (APA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns Office). Sex is mainly important for medical reasons. A person can change their sex, through surgery and hormone therapy. “Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for boys and men or girls and women” (APA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns Office). Gender and sex can coincide or they can be in conflict with each other. Someone whose gender identity matches the sex they are born with is called cisgendered. Cis- is a latin prefix, meaning “on this side”. Contrarily, trans- is a prefix meaning on the “other side of”. A person who is transgender expresses

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.

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.

The transgender community makes up a controversial, growing culture in America. Promoting the idea of tolerance, self-love and acceptance, the Transgender community helps support a community that is statistically not commonly received well by the American people of 2015. Many view this uprising as a positive, revolutionary movement that aims to not only help the minority groups of America but progress mindset of all people from potentially

When people identify themselves as transgender, they are told they suffer from “gender identity disorder.” Gender identity disorder is defined as “a condition in which a person has been assigned one gender, usually on the basis of their birth, but identifies as belonging to another gender, and feels significant discomfort or being unable to deal with this condition” (Thomas, 2010). One of the leading symptoms of gender identity disorder is gender

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.

“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

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

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

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

Transgender, a term I was not too familiar with until I read the insightful book Luna by Julie Anne Peters. Before reading this novel I thought that if you were transgender that meant you wanted to change your sex, because you thought you were born as the wrong one; however, there is more to it than this. A person that is transgender goes through cycles of transformation in order to get to the point where they finally look the same outside as they do on the inside.