What Is Gender Dysphoria?
With more awareness about transgender rights, many of us already have a basic understanding of what dysphoria entails. In case you don’t, here goes. Every human being is assigned a gender at birth, which are usually assigned female at birth (AFAB) or assigned male at birth (AMAB). People who grow up to have the same psychological sense of their gender as the one assigned to them at birth are known as binary or cisgender. Those whose sex assigned at birth does not match their gender identity are non-binary or transgender (terms like gender diverse are also used).
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), some people who are gender diverse experience gender dysphoria, which refers to the psychological distress that arises due to “an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity.” The APA reveals that though gender dysphoria mostly begins in childhood, some people may not experience it before they are well into their adolescence, when the body changes and secondary sex organs start developing. In some cases, gender dysphoria can even kick in during adulthood.
Whenever it does develop, gender dysphoria can lead to more than just psychological distress. The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) reveals that though gender dysphoria is not a mental illness in itself, some people may have a very intense sense of unease or dissatisfaction with the mismatch between their assigned gender and gender identity, which in turn can lead to many harmful impacts on their mental health, including the development of anxiety and depression.
The APA suggests that many transgender and gender diverse people find the resolution to their dysphoria through different kinds of gender affirmations. This could include:
• Social affirmations, like changing the name and pronouns.
• Legal affirmations, like changing gender markers on government-issued documents.
• Medical affirmations, like pubertal suppression or taking gender-affirming hormones.
• Surgical affirmations, like vaginoplasty, facial feminisation, breast augmentation, chest reconstruction, etc.
It is critical to note here though that not all people who are gender diverse may desire all kinds of gender affirmations. These are very personal and individual decisions, and each person may have a very different journey. Ron* agrees: “Dysphoria can’t be a universal experience. It has to be an intersectional experience. It is also deeply individual.” So, making assumptions about what every gender diverse person wants or needs, or creating new stereotypes to create a homogenous category for them, is simply not the answer to gender dysphoria.