Gender Dysphoria In America

Gender is something that is often misunderstood. In a feature article from the magazine Teaching Tolerance, it states ¨Gender may seem simple, but the myths surrounding this concept mask its true complexity…Summed up, the myth goes like this: Every person is either male or female, and the distinction is based on that person’s anatomy¨ (Kilman). Many people don’t realize that gender includes more than just male or female and is separate from a person’s biological sex. In reality, it is a complex idea. Red, a person who identifies as genderqueer, stated in an interview that “[they] want people to know that there are those of us out there — we exist — whose gender is more complicated and less familiar, but that we are no less deserving of respect.

Starting to think about gender as being a more complicated — and more interesting, frankly — topic might seem scary to a whole lot of people” (Conlan). Non-binary genders (those outside of male and female) are typically underrepresented in society and are therefore confusing to many people. Regardless of how a person chooses to present themself, they are as human as anyone else, and are deserving of the same courtesy.

Everyone experiences their gender uniquely. It can be viewed as being partially an understanding of oneself, and partially a social construct. A journal comic created by Higu/Sampson Rose entitled My Gender is a Triangle illustrates gender as a personal aspect. It describes the person’s gender in terms of shapes, textures, and experiences. Part of it goes: “my gender is a void which I inhabit, alone. You are not invited”. The comic demonstrates how that person’s gender is their own and arises from a deep understanding of themself. But gender can also be defined in terms of society and gender roles. Dr. Zuleyka Zevallos’s blog about sociology states that, compared to a person’s biological sex, “Gender is more fluid... More specifically, it is a concept that describes how societies determine and manage sex categories; the cultural meanings attached to men and women’s roles... Gender involves social norms, attitudes and activities that society deems more appropriate for one sex over another”. Masculinity and femininity stem from these gender roles that society determines. These roles change over time and act to shape our idea of what it means to be a man or a woman.

Something that is commonly experienced by both binary and non-binary transgender people is something known as gender dysphoria.

Sophia Gubb describes her experience of gender dysphoria on her blog: “[Prior to shaving] I have the strong, gut-level sensation that whoever is behind the mirror is not me… My reflection in the morning feels like a mirage, feels alien, unreal, and very very distant”. Gender dysphoria involves distress or discomfort with oneself in regards to how they appear. People who are transgender experience differing levels of gender dysphoria, with some not experiencing it at all; this may come as a surprise to people who do not understand. The belief that dysphoria is necessary for a person to be transgender can be harmful and invalidating: “The problem with the dysphoria narrative is not with dysphoria itself, or those who experience dysphoria, but the necessity of having dysphoria. We become boiled down to something that is separate from our identities. We become identified by pain, by hurt, by suffering. We are not able to love parts of ourselves in fear of it revoking and making us less than...The problem resides in the fact that we are policed and dictated into existence through this pain, which is simply not true. We are not trans because of our dysphoria” (Clark). The belief that dysphoria is necessary takes away from what it really means to be transgender, and that is simply not identifying with the gender one is unwillingly assigned at

birth.