See it wasn’t that hard to just ask, right?
Gender dysphoria is a very broad description of a number of emotional and physical distress. There really should be 3 or more different types of dysphoria but we are working with one definition for the time being. There are no criteria based on causation for gender dysphoria, only symptoms.
First, transsexualism (the people who medically transition) is intrinsic and caused by a medical anomaly. Similar to how a lot of intersex disorders form, fetal hormones influence the brain typical for the opposite sex while the brain is going through important development. At some point, the wrong signals are sent out and the structures of the brain develop in a way that it was not supposed to. (Of course it’s more complex than that but not my point atm).
If your brain develops normally, you will not have the same experience as someone who is transsexual. But some forms of trauma can cause people distress about their gender or sex in ways that can be similar to transsexuals.
I’m sure you’re familiar with this list of criteria for gender dysphoria. It’s important at this point, to point out the purposeful statement “shown by at least two…” of the criteria listed here. Two.
People with trauma involving childhood sexual abuse for example may experience the physical symptoms, 2 and 3, as well as possibly experiencing 4. Childhood sexual trauma can be psychologically complex and these children may internalize this trauma which may express itself as disgust with ones sexual characteristics. With this, it’s common to feel as though they wish to be rid of their genitals and with children, this could develop into the desire to change sex (or more specifically have the interpretation that they would like to be the opposite sex). This should of course never be treated medically and these people should absolutely seek therapeutic treatment.
People who grow up behaving atypically for others of their gender or who grow up gay can end up with emotional criteria 4–6. However the circumstances for this are more complex than just growing up playing with the “wrong toys” or something like that. For these feelings to present, the client would likely have experience heavy pushback or abuse from parents. The child may grow up resenting their identity and feel it would be easier to be the opposite gender and they may have even been told that they behave more like the opposite sex. Some of these people may seek to transition in many ways including medically in order to fit in to the role they may feel better suited for. Under extreme abuse, they may feel it would be better and make them acceptable because at least they wouldn’t be gay. Of course this was more common in the past, but still occurs today especially in less progressive countries or countries where homosexuality is highly frowned upon or even illegal.
People who were abused as children by parents in a very specific way that shamed them for their gender or shamed them for the sexual characteristics may end up with a mix of the criteria depending on the abuse they faced. This is more common in women who may grow up in extremely oppressive households where they are treated as property or households with extreme standards for appearance or behavior. They may grow up with resentment for their gender or their body based on these factors and can believe they must change their body to avoid future abuse. Abuse can also be very psychologically complex.
There’s several other reasons one may end up feeling disconnected from their gender or feeling disgust for their sexual characteristics. These are all very clear examples of real gender dysphoria. As a reminder, you only need two of these criteria for a diagnosis.
You’ll probably think “well none of that makes someone transsexual” you’d be absolutely right. Know why? Because every one of those circumstances could have been different and that person would have come out of their adolescence feeling completely normally about themselves. Transsexual people can be brought up in a million different ways but will always have that dysphoria. In a good or bad household all the same.
Now maybe you’ll see that the problem isn’t with my view of dysphoria, but the lack of specialized types of gender or sexual dysphoria that would make this hella less confusing and probably lessen the amount of people who are mistaking their feelings for something completely different.
Another thing to add here is that you will never find a legitimate transsexual person only meeting two criteria. I personally experience every single one. As do just about every single other transsexual person I’ve met. Whether or not they’ve been necessarily aware of some of them since childhood is irrelevant.
Why are you so concerned with what another group of people says? Terfs could point out that humans are mammals, would you tell a biologist they’re using a common terf talking point if they said it too? I have a lot of common psychologist talking points too, why is that not meantioned too?
The thing that “terfs” get wrong in that instance is the assumption that because those examples exist, that must mean anyone claiming that their experience is inherent and not brought on by socialization must be mistaken. Just because many people do develop those feelings in those ways does not mean that’s the case for everyone. It’s perhaps the denial of medical circumstances of transsexualism that causes that misconception. If they don’t believe in brain sex, then the cause from their perspective must be social. Makes sense but is not accurate.
I am transsexual and I have known for as far back as I have memories. I wouldn’t go around propagating something that denies my own experience. What I am saying directly contradicts what a good amount of “terfs” are saying. If you still fail to see that, it is clear that you are simply not understanding what I’m actually saying here.
In summary: transsexualism is medical so the dysphoria those individuals experience is very different than those with similar feelings that are brought on by their life circumstances. Those without medical cause have no medical need to transition. Trauma should be treated therapeutically. The only medical treatment they should receive would be possible antidepressants supplemented with aforementioned therapy. Do these cis individuals with extenuating circumstances experience gender dysphoria? Yes a much more mild and less interrupting version, but yes. Based on current clinical criteria these individuals would be diagnosed with gender dysphoria but it is up to a trained clinician to know the difference and understand the differences in treatment. A transsexual individual will not be just given a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and sent on their way, they’ll likely be diagnosed with gender identity disorder, which includes a very specific symptom: you guessed it, gender dysphoria. GID and gender dysphoria are not interchangeable maybe that’s where you’ve been mistaken.
