Transgender is a very controversial topic in today’s society. Most people do not know what the word transgender even means. According to Bradford, Reisner, Honnold, and Xavier (2013), “ The term transgender has been defined as any individual whose gender-related identification or external presentation either violates conventional conceptualizations of ‘male’ or ‘female’ or mixes different aspects of male and female role and identity”. In simplistic terms, transgender individuals’ external appearance or behaviors do not fit with his or her biological sex. There are many characteristics that can contribute to defining transgender. Some of these aspects include the gender transitions, social discrimination, mental issues, and coping mechanisms
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In today’s society people are quick to judge a person by his or her gender appearance without gaining any information on the person. There are many definitions of gender, but what does gender truly mean? In a study done by Nuno Pinto and Carla Moleiro (2015), gender is present in evert aspect of our lives and defines almost all social interactions. After birth, the sex of a new born is determined by a simple evaluation of the genitals (Pinto and Molerio, 2015). Conversely, later on in life, individuals might notice that their sex does not match their gender identity. Gender identity is a person’s basic sense of being male or female. The realization of gender identity confusion could be at the age of 6 or the age of 30; there are no age limits with gender identity confusion. One may realize that his or her biological sex does not match up with their internal feelings of being male and female. In the research conducted by Pinto and Moleiro (2015), the researchers created a model of five developmental stages for individuals who are experiencing questions about his or her gender. However, only four out of the five stages pertained to transgender individuals. The four stages included gender confusion and gaining knowledge about gender differences, finding an explanation and a label for oneself, acceptance of the change, and the transitioning process (Pinto and Moleiro, 2015). The first stage is the process in which a person realizes that he or she is facing gender identity confusion. This causes gender incongruence. Gender incongruence will bring a lot of social discrimination from the outside world. Stage 2 is essentially about finding out that there is term called transgender. The explanation of the term transgender allows one to realize that the biological sex assigned and behaviors/actions of an individual may differ. This explains gender incongruence and the exploration of
In today’s society people are quick to judge a person by his or her gender appearance without gaining any information on the person. There are many definitions of gender, but what does gender truly mean? In a study done by Nuno Pinto and Carla Moleiro (2015), gender is present in evert aspect of our lives and defines almost all social interactions. After birth, the sex of a new born is determined by a simple evaluation of the genitals (Pinto and Molerio, 2015). Conversely, later on in life, individuals might notice that their sex does not match their gender identity. Gender identity is a person’s basic sense of being male or female. The realization of gender identity confusion could be at the age of 6 or the age of 30; there are no age limits with gender identity confusion. One may realize that his or her biological sex does not match up with their internal feelings of being male and female. In the research conducted by Pinto and Moleiro (2015), the researchers created a model of five developmental stages for individuals who are experiencing questions about his or her gender. However, only four out of the five stages pertained to transgender individuals. The four stages included gender confusion and gaining knowledge about gender differences, finding an explanation and a label for oneself, acceptance of the change, and the transitioning process (Pinto and Moleiro, 2015). The first stage is the process in which a person realizes that he or she is facing gender identity confusion. This causes gender incongruence. Gender incongruence will bring a lot of social discrimination from the outside world. Stage 2 is essentially about finding out that there is term called transgender. The explanation of the term transgender allows one to realize that the biological sex assigned and behaviors/actions of an individual may differ. This explains gender incongruence and the exploration of