Gender Dysphoria
Gender Dysphoria, sometimes referred to as just dysphoria, is a term that describes a feeling of discomfort, distress or self-hatred stemming from a disconnect between one's assigned gender at birth and one's gender identity.[1] The term dysphoria means a "state of feeling unwell or unhappy; a feeling of emotional and mental discomfort and suffering from restlessness, malaise, depression or anxiety." When combined with the term gender, it describes a "profound and persistent unhappiness related to one's physical sex".[2]
Dysphoria is typically experienced by transgender and/or transsexual individuals, most commonly associated with binary transgender individuals, though non-binary individuals can also experience dysphoria. Not all transgender individuals experience dysphoria, and some may feel dysphoria in different amounts, different ways, or toward different body parts.[3]
Gender dysphoria is recognized as a medical condition in the DSM-V, described as "impaired social and occupational functioning because of the marked difference between their expressed gender and their gender at birth".[4]
Types of Dysphoria
Body Dysphoria
Body dysphoria is a type of gender dysphoria that specifically relates to one's own physical body, especially towards their own sex characteristics. Many individuals with body dysphoria tend to either contemplate or pursue sex reassignment procedures. This may appear in the form of disliking or feeling out of place with one's own female breasts, or wishing to bind one's own chest in order to appear as a typical male chest.[5] Body dysphoria is sometimes used synonymously with the term gender dissonance, a lack of cognitive harmony experienced by transgender individuals due to a misalignment of their desired subconscious and current physical sexes.[6] The persistence of body dysphoria is medically described as gender incongruence.[7]
Social Dysphoria
Social dysphoria is a type of gender dysphoria that specifically relates to one's socially perceived gender. This may include experiencing discomfort when being called a particular gendered term such as a man, or woman. It can also extend into feeling discomfort when one is referred to by an incorrect set of pronouns, or feeling discomfort over false assumptions about one's gender role in society.[5]
Mind Dysphoria
Mind dysphoria is a type of gender dysphoria that specifically relates to one's own internal perception of gender. This may include feeling discomfort when experiencing emotions that have originated from one's premenstrual syndrome, feeling discomfort over the accidental misgendering of oneself, or experiencing internalized transphobia.[5]
Innerphoria
Innerphoria is an experience exclusive to system members for when one feels dysphoria when fronting. An example of this is a trans-man headmate who feels dysphoric fronting in a müllerian body. The term was created by Cryptocrew on the 26th of May, 2021.[8]
Outterphoria
Outterphoria is an experience exclusive to system members for when one feels dysphoria within the innerworld. An example of this is a trans-man headmate that cannot undergo medical transition, and thus feels dysphoria towards their innerworld body. The term was created by Cryptocrew on the 26th of May, 2021.[9]
Xenodysphoria
Xenodysphoria is a term used to describe gender dysphoria in a uniquely xenogendered or xenine way, or gender dysphoria that is unrelated to anthrogenders. The term and flag was possibly created by Nothoughtsnogender on the 20th of July, 2021.[10]
History
Gender dysphoria was popularised in the 1970s by U.S. physchiatrist Norman Fisk, who described the term as a distress over an individual's assigned gender or sex.[11]
In the DSM-V, Gender Dysphoria as a clinical condition was previously known as Gender Identity Disorder (GID) until 2013, when it was renamed to remove the stigma associated with the term disorder. Gender dysphoria as a medical condition is often criticized for stigmatizing groups of minorities that are expressing variation and culture. However, some argue for its classification as a medical condition, as removing it may jeopardize the availability of sex reassignment procedures and therapies as well as their insurance coverage.[4]
Related Terms
| Label | Relationship | Description | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender Disconnect | Similar | The feeling of disconnect between one's gender identity and their assigned gender at birth. | One may feel a disconnect between their gender identity and their AGAB without feeling distress. |
| Gender Dysmorphia | Similar | An obsessive focus on a perceived flaw in one's appearance regarding the physical attributes of one's gender and/or sex. | Dysphoria does not have to be directed at a perceived physical flaw, nor does dysmorphia have to be a result of dysphoria. |
| Gender Envy | Counterpart | A feeling of envy towards an individual's gender presentation. | Dysphoria is not necessarily related to the desire to present similarly to a specific individual. |
| Gender Euphoria | Opposite | The comfort or joy experienced when one presents as or is viewed as one's own gender identity. | Gender euphoria is based on joy and comfort, not distress. |
| Paraphoria | Counterpart | The state of being between or beyond dysphoria and euphoria. | One may not experience any dysphoria or may have a complicated relationship with dysphoria. |
| Quoiphoric | Counterpart | One who is unaware of their experiences of gender or sex sonance. | One is who quoiphoric may not know if they experience dysphoria. |
Prefixes and Suffixes
| Label | Prefix / Suffix | Flag | Description | Creator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dysphorifluid | -fluid |  [12]
|
Describes someone whose gender dysphoria is fluid.[12] | Nothoughtsnogender, RoseWatera |
| Dysphorifluix | -fluix |  [13]
|
Describes someone whose gender dysphoria is both fluid and fluctuates in intensity.[13] | heebiegebes |
| Dysphoriflux | -flux |  [14]
|
Describes someone whose dysphoria fluctuates in intensity.[14] | Nothoughtsnogender, RoseWatera |
| Dysphorijump | -jump |  [15]
|
Describes individuals who usually experience little to no dysphoria, but occasionally experience sudden spikes of dysphoria for a short amount of time.[16] | cherrybiirb |
| Dysphorispike | -spike |  [15]
|
Describes individuals who usually experience high amounts of dysphoria, but occasionally experience sudden spikes of no dysphoria for a short amount of time.[16] | cherrybiirb |
Flags and Symbols
The gender dysphoric flag was created by arco-pluris sometime before the 7th of June, 2018, and posted to Pride-Flags on DeviantArt.[17]
The dysphorifluid and dysphoriflux flag were possibly created by RoseWatera, and published by Wiki user Nothoughtsnogender on the 1st and 2nd of September respectively, in 2021. The dysphorifluid's red stripe represents fluidity, light red representing gender, off-white representing the transgender experience, green representing dysphoria, and blue representing expression.[12] The dysphoriflux's dark green represents gender, light green representing dysphoria, off-white representing the transgender experience, watermelon pink representing expression, and dark red representing fluctuation.[14]
The dysphorifluix flag was created by Wiki user heebiegebes on the 16th of October, 2021. The dark red and greyish blue represents fluidity and fluctuation, light red representing gender, off-white representing the transgender experience, light green representing dysphoria, watermelon pink and light blue representing expression, and off-black representing dysphoria.[13]
Resources
- ↑ Turban, Jack. “What Is Gender Dysphoria?” Psychiatry.org, American Psychiatric Association, Aug. 2022, www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria.
- ↑ “Gender Dysphoria Word Origin.” Etymologeek, 2023, etymologeek.com/eng/gender%20dysphoria/37655008. Accessed 27 May 2023.
- ↑ Galupo, M Paz et al. “"There Is Nothing to Do About It": Nonbinary Individuals' Experience of Gender Dysphoria.” Transgender health vol. 6,2 101-110. 16 Apr. 2021, doi:10.1089/trgh.2020.0041
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bryant, Karl. “Gender Dysphoria | Psychology.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 29 Nov. 2018, www.britannica.com/science/gender-dysphoria.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Gender Dysphoria". The Recovery Village, 25 May, 2022, https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/gender-dysphoria/.
- ↑ G, Helen. "TRANS 101". The F Word, 17 Mar, 2008, https://thefword.org.uk/2008/03/trans_101/.
- ↑ "Gender incongruence". ICD-11 for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics, Jan, 2023, https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en#/http%3a%2f%2fid.who.int%2ficd%2fentity%2f411470068.
- ↑ Cryptocrew. "Innerphoria". LGBTQIA+ Wiki, 27 May, 2021, https://www.lgbtqia.wiki/wiki/Innerphoria.
- ↑ Cryptocrew. "Outterphoria". LGBTQIA+ Wiki, 29 May, 2021, https://www.lgbtqia.wiki/wiki/Outterphoria.
- ↑ Contie. "Xenodysphoria". LGBTQIA+ Wiki, 21 Jul, 2021, https://www.lgbtqia.wiki/wiki/Xenodysphoria.
- ↑ Beischel WJ, Gauvin SEM, van Anders SM. "“A little shiny gender breakthrough”: Community understandings of gender euphoria". National Library of Medicine, 3 May, 2021, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9255216/.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Nothoughtsnogender. "Dysphorifluid". LGBTQIA+ Wiki, 2 Sep, 2021, https://www.lgbtqia.wiki/wiki/Dysphorifluid.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 heebiegebes. "Dysphorifluix". LGBTQIA+ Wiki, 16 Oct, 2021, https://www.lgbtqia.wiki/wiki/Dysphorifluix.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Nothoughtsnogender. "Dysphoriflux". LGBTQIA+ Wiki, 2 Sep, 2021, https://www.lgbtqia.wiki/wiki/Dysphoriflux.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 cherrybiirb. "the better flags". Reddit, 22 Mar, 2022, https://web.archive.org/web/20220322052448/https://www.reddit.com/r/cherrybiirb/comments/tjvo6c/the_better_flags/. Archived on 22 Mar, 2022.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 cherrybiirb. "more terms that i thought of". Reddit, 21 Mar, 2022, https://web.archive.org/web/20220321084626/https://www.reddit.com/r/cherrybiirb/comments/tj76hw/more_terms_that_i_thought_of/. Archived on 21 Mar, 2022.
- ↑ Pride-Flags. “Gender Dysphoric by Pride-Flags on DeviantArt.” Www.deviantart.com, 8 June 2018, www.deviantart.com/pride-flags/art/Gender-Dysphoric-748742395. Accessed 27 May 2023.
