Gender Dysphoria

Overview

The term ‘transgender person’ describes an individual whose sex assigned at birth (typically referring to external genitalia) fails to match their gender identity (which is their personal sense of their gender). Some transgender individuals experience ‘gender dysphoria’, a kind of psychological distress arising from a contradiction between their assigned sex and gender identity. While gender dysphoria often starts in childhood, it can also emerge during puberty or later in life. Transgender people may seek various forms of gender affirmation, including:

• Social affirmation: Changing their name and pronouns.
• Legal affirmation: Updating gender markers on official documents.
• Medical affirmation: Utilizing treatments like pubertal suppression or hormone therapy.
• Surgical affirmation: Undergoing surgeries such as vaginoplasty, facial feminization, chest reconstruction, or breast augmentation.

It’s important to recognise that not all transgender individuals will pursue every type of gender affirmation, since these choices are deeply personal and vary from person to person. Additionally, gender identity is distinct from sexual orientation, which refers to the genders towards which an individual is sexually attracted. Just like cisgender individuals (those whose assigned sex aligns with their gender identity), transgender people can have a wide range of sexual orientations.