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I am an eighteen year old girl and for as long as I can remember; being female didn’t seem right to me. I felt like I was trapped in a body that wasn’t mine and I still feel that way today. The gender I identify with is the opposite of what people perceive me to be. It is like someone played a nasty trick on me and now I am forced to be something I am not.
When I was little I hated getting dressed up for holidays, parties, or any other kind of occasion. My mom would buy me these dresses and insist that I wore them. I started refusing to wear them and would not go anywhere if I had to. I went to a catholic school for a little while where it was required for me to wear a dress. Eventually my mother had to transfer me to public school because I was refusing to go. I preferred to hang out with my brother and the other boys on our street and play sports with them like football and hockey. I just identified with boys more and felt more like myself when I would hang out with them. I would get my clothes from the boys section and would always keep my hair very short. I remember hating Christmas because I would never get anything I asked for. I would get Barbie dolls and makeup, while my brother would get everything that I was asking for. At the age of thirteen my breasts started to develop and I hated them. I would wrap my chest up with an ace bandage to make them less noticeable. I didn’t want anyone to see them and I didn’t want them to be there.
I am not good at maintaining relationships. I never know where I stand in many relationships and what my role is. I have very few friends and I have never had a romantic relationship with anyone. I tend to stay to myself and don’t go out to many social events. I tend to stay at home and keep to myself. My parents were worried about me and sent me to see a therapist. After seeing him a few times he diagnosed me with Gender Identity Disorder.
What is Gender Dysphoria? A clinical definition may be, “The condition of feeling one 's emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one 's biological sex.” There is a growing amount of scientific research that suggests gender identity develops at a very early age. So, what are the ethical considerations of gender-reassignment treatments for minors suffering from gender dysphoria? Children can be diagnosed with GD as early as age five. Following, most girls start puberty when they are between the ages of eight and thirteen years old. Then, most boys start puberty when they are between the ages of ten and fifteen years old.
A transgender, 25 year old woman named Avery Edison travelling from London, England was detained at Pearson Airport by Canada Border Service Agency. According to her, the reason for her detention was due to an immigration issue involving her overstaying a previous student visa. Despite being identified as a female on her passport, Avery had male genitalia. Avery tweeted that she would be assessed by a nurse before being placed in a male or female cell. However, the fact that she had male genitalia resulted in her being sent to Maplehurst, Correctional Centre in Milton, Ontario which is a prison for males where Avery stayed for one night. In the article, it is stated that Avery had concerns regarding potential sex attacks towards her in the
Betsy Lucal, "What it means to be gendered me: Life on the Boundaries of a Dichotomous Gender System."
The American Psychological Association states that they recognize that gender nonconformity itself is not a mental disorder and what makes it a disorder is the presence of significant distress associated with the condition. As we have learned in class, something becomes diagnosed if it interferes with the patient’s everyday life. Gender Dysphoria has to be present for 6 or more months in order to be diagnosed and there must be a “marked difference between the individuals expressed/experienced gender and the genders others would assign him or her (DSM-V, APA).” Gender Dysphoria was added to the DSM-V as an effort to remove some stigma associated with the diagnosis. Previously called “Gender Identity Disorder,” Gender Dysphoria is “intended to
I always sensed that I was not a “girl’ and would partake activities such as sports and distancing myself from drama that is considered “girly”. I also have a niche for masculine things such as clothing and play video games, which are marketed profusely towards boys and men. At the same time, I did not feel like a “boy”. I was, during my early childhood, elementary, and pre-teen years labeling my as an “outsider” due to the perception of myself not fitting in. I went on to take on my persona as this “tomboy” while still having a distinctive identity that was not matching with the beliefs of how transgender people were in the
Puberty is a difficult time for any child, but for transgender teens, it can be the difference between becoming who they want to be or remaining in the wrong body. In June of this year, PBS Frontline released a documentary, entitled Growing Up Trans, which chronicled the lives of eight transgender and nonbinary children, from the ages of 9 to 19, as they navigated through the process of transitioning to their prefered genders. Some of the kids took hormone blockers to slow down their puberty, others were going through puberty at the time and wanted to transition before it was complete, and one had already gone through puberty and was still taking hormones to transition. The controversy revolving around the documentary focused on whether or
"A lot of people see gender as very one-sided, girl or boy, but in reality, even the choices of one, the other, both, or neither just don't feel right.” Many people don’t realize that there are more gender identities than just “male” and “female.” In June 2016, The Williams Institute at UCLA estimated that about 1.4 million US adult’s genders don't align with the one they were assigned at birth. One can identify as the opposite gender from their assigned sex, as no gender, as both, or as a unique identity not so easily categorized.
I was born on March 08, 1995 at roughly seven pounds. When I was extracted from my mother, I was given the gender of a male with the appearance of my male body parts. My mother used to say to me, growing up as a toddler that I had so much hair like former American Football player, Troy Polamalu. People had always assumed that I was a girl, therefore my mother had to correct them and say, “No, he is a boy”. Growing up a toddler, I was always wearing some type of jeans with a sports shirt and shoes that were mostly colored black or blue. As I grew older, I gained interest in baseball, wrestling, and the military. I always wanted to play with action figures such as GI Joe and wrestling celebrities in addition to imaginary flying in an apache helicopter or taking command in a battle tank. Advancing to my pre-teen years, I wanted to play baseball, which is considered to be mostly a boy sport. It was at this moment, that my gender was a boy. Progressing to my teen years, I started to observe my father and learn my gender on his roles as the man in our family. I noticed that my father was already taking charge in the house and giving me orders that I needed to complete. Going through middle school, most boys had some type of sports backpack while the girls
According to the DSM-5, gender dysphoria is “the distress that may accompany the incongruence between one’s experienced or expressed gender and one’s assigned gender” (American Psychological Association, 2013). Even though studies have shown that not every individual suffers from distress, it is still possible that an individual might suffers from distress due to the hormonal treatment or surgical procedure(s). In the past, gender dysphoria has been referred to as “gender identity”. However, gender identity, by the DSM-IV definition is “a category of social identity and refers to an individual’s identification as male, female, or occasionally, some category other than male or female” (American Psychological Association, 2000). Individuals that identify themselves with another gender tend to change their sex, which has been proven to be a hard and long process.
Clinically speaking, a person who was assigned female at birth but identifies and lives as a man is referred to as a transsexual man, or transman, or female-to-male (FTM); a male-to-female (MTF) person is a transsexual woman or transwoman (Glicksman). Some people drop the transgender label after they have transitioned to their new gender. However, they want to be referred to only as a man or a woman. But what if our gender identity, our sense of being a boy or being a girl, does not match our physical body? From a very early age we will start to feel increasingly uncomfortable. For some this is a mild discomfort, for others it is so traumatic they would rather die than continue to live in the wrong body. Unfortunately as transsexual people are a small minority of the population the condition has been labeled by Psychiatrists as "Gender Identity Disorder". With the transgendered, the disordered assumption is that the
When it comes to gender identity, one’s perception on which gender they would prefer has a sociological effect on them. The minor details in our environment can have a major effect on a person such as television shows, books, and many other things. What people are unaware of is this spectrum called a gender continuum that can help show the different ways people identify their selves; a gender continuum is an extension of the gender spectrum that includes various types of “genders”. Many people struggle with gender identity and they are thought to have gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is deemed as a mental illness in which a person feels distressed at the fact of them not being able to express their inner identity (web m.d.). Many people that suffer with this disorder go searching for a way to “treat” themselves, but there isn’t a treatment for GID. Psychologist often suggest the best way to help you deal with your gender identity struggles is to go have a talk therapy session with a therapist. It takes a conscious mind to deal with gender identification
There are several theorists that have presented models on sexual identity development. Many of the models have stages of sexual identity development suggesting that certain characteristics are present during a specific period. However, Anthony D’Augelli presents a model that suggests processes rather than stages. These processes take place over the span of one’s life and not necessarily in any specific order or fashion. D’Augelli’s (1994a) life span model of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) identity development takes into account “the complex factors that influence the development of people in context over historical time” (Evans et al, 2010). According to D’Augelli’s (1994) theory, identity formation includes three sets of interrelated variables that are involved in identity formation: personal actions and subjectivities, interactive intimacies, and sociohistorical connections. Personal subjectivities and actions include individuals’ perceptions and feelings about their sexual identities as well as actual sexual behaviors and the meanings attached to them. Interactive intimacies include the influences of family, peer group, and intimate partnerships and the meanings attached to experiences with significant others. Sociohistorical connections are defined as the social norms, policies and laws found in various geographical locations and cultures, as well as the values existing during particular historical periods (Evans et al, 2010).
Levine, S. B. (1990). THE STANDARDS OF CARE FOR GENDER IDENTITY DISORDERS. HARRY BENJAMIN INTERNATIONAL GENDER DYSPHORIA ASSOCIATION.
In today’s day in age, different sexualities and gender identities are quickly becoming more accepted in mainstream society. Despite this change, there are many people who believe that having a different sexual orientation or gender identity is a choice that is frowned upon. In order to refute this belief, research and biology of the brain is necessary. Researching the brain on the basis of sexuality is a fairly new topic of discussion because it is somewhat difficult and confusing. This paper will explore the different identities of gender, sex and sexual orientation and the main biological reasons behind these. There is also some validity of different sexual orientations and identities through the evidence of sexual disorders like Klinefelter’s and Turner’s Syndrome and gender dysphoria.
I define my gender identity as a female because I was born a female, look like a female, and act like a female. While a female usually has a curvy body, long hair, a soft face, a male is tall, muscular, and with short hair. A female shows off traits of being affectionate, nurturing, beautiful, delicate, and dependent, while male traits display strength and independence. Those who define themselves with a female identity must portray those traits and characteristics listed, just like male identities must show the inverse of whats listed above. My gender map was always consistent on the feminine side. As I look back at it now I notice that my gender map is even marked by a bolded pink font, which I believe was a subconscious connection to my