Research Paper On Gender Dysphoria

Although gender dysphoria is a new term, it is not a new concept. Feelings of ‘being in the wrong body’ have existed since ancient Greek times; as the Metamorphoses myth explains a woman, raised as a man, who falls in love with another woman. She is transformed into a man before their wedding day and they continue their lives as nothing was different. However, this sense of self was considered taboo until he 1950’s (Zasshi, 2012). Gender dysphoria has been documented in medical works since the middle of the 19th century; however, the disorder did not gain attention from medical clinicians until the 1960’s (Zasshi, 2012; Zucker, 2008).
The first sex-reassignment surgery was conducted in the 1950’s by a sexologist, Harry Benjamin. He labeled …show more content…
Clearly, this indicates that our cultural norms are at a turning point, as the diversity of gender roles are now accepted and transgender is a medical designation (Zasshi, 2012). The history of aggression towards transgendered individuals is gruesome, not only to the individuals themselves, but also to political activists and medical professionals who fought for medical treatment (Castaneda, 2014). In addition, a 1999 film titled Boys Don’t Cry, depicts a true story of a 21 year old transgendered man. He was raped and murdered in 1993 after a group of his male acquaintances discovered that he was born a female (Zucker, 2008). A sample of 402 transgender cases found that over half of transgender individuals experience some type of violence and a quarter of them experienced violent incident directly (Lombardi, Wilchins, Priesing, …show more content…
As it starts in childhood, it is hard to establish the difference between a child who does not conform to gender roles, and one who is desiring to be the other sex. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health states that its Standards of Care separates medical treatment for adults and younger adults rather than focusing on an etiological explanation for gender dysphoria. There was a debate between gender dysphoria being a physical condition, that required specific treatment, and a physiological condition, that required psychotherapeutic intervention (Castaneda, 2014).
It is important to note that there may not be an explanation of the disorder at all. Some medical professionals argue that there are as many as nine different types of gender; this directly conflicts with our binary view of only two sexes. Therefore, people with gender dysphoria could simply fall in one of the nine types of gender, not directly feeling like a female or male and instead feeling like something opposite to their biological sex (Gijs & Brewaeys,