AKA:
Gender identity disorder, being transsexual, being transgender
What is it?
- It's when someone feels they belong to the wrong gender. So a boy would feel that he was a girl trapped in a boy's body, and a girl would feel she was a boy trapped in a girl's body.
- Someone who has a lifelong conviction that they're trapped in the wrong body is called a transsexual.
- This is totally different from being a transvestite, where a person likes dressing up in clothes of the opposite sex but doesn't feel that they're in the wrong body.
How will I know if I have it?
- To be 'officially' diagnosed as having gender identity disorder, a person must strongly want to be, or believe they already belong to the opposite sex.
- A famous example of this is Nadia from Big Brother, who was born a boy.
- Some children and teens who experience gender dysphoria find that their feelings change as they reach adulthood and they no longer have feelings of belonging to the wrong gender.
Is it the same as being gay?
No. People with gender dysphoria can be gay, straight or bisexual, just like anyone else.
How common is it?
The Gender Identity Research & Education Society (GIRES) estimates that about 1 in 4000 of the British population is receiving medical help for gender dysphoria. Boys with gender dysphoria outnumber girls by about 5 to 1.
Are people with gender dysphoria freaks?
'Course not. It may be rare, but so is having one blue eye and one brown eye (like Hollywood actress Kate Bosworth: no one calls her a freak). The real freaks are those who are intolerant of anyone different.
What is the treatment for it?
Transsexual people can have 'gender reassignment', but until they're 18 they'd be unlikely to go further than step 1.
However, transsexual teens can be prescribed drugs to 'block' puberty.
- First the person must live as a member of the opposite sex, full time, for at least a year.
- After this, they would take either male or female hormones (depending on whether they wanted to become male or female) for at least a year - sometimes longer. These would soften body hair and cause breast development in men, and cause beard growth, a deeper voice and muscle development in women.
- After this, they could have surgery to become a man or a woman permanently: a 'sex change operation'.
Further help and advice
mermaids.freeuk.com (support group for people up to age 19 trying to cope with gender identity issues)
mind.org.uk
gires.org.uk (Gender Identity Research & Education Society)
gender.org.uk
Written by Dr Melissa Sayer
Last updated 17th June 2007
Previous article
PPP, 17
I always wanted to be a girl, im so glad im not alone. Thankyou Slink and everyone else for sharing your feelings
Nightwriter, -
I am relieved to find that there are some people that feel the way I do - thanks so much BBC!
Girl, I'd rather not say my age
Wow. There are people who feel just how I feel. I'm not alone!
Anon, 15
I used to be convinced I was, or at least should be a boy and although im trying to reform (long hair and clothes that vaguely fitted were a big step) i still freak out at over-feminine stuff, like when my friends try to do stuff with my hair. And all that time i thought i was just being stupid!! (Thanks slink)
david, 19
transsexual rock
Lesley, 17
I though transgender's were all stuck up as that is the way they come across on chat shows. My friend is a transgender and I find it very hard to talk to him about it because he is certain that he is a girl and never mentions when he was a boy, he even gets insulted and annoyed when people tell him he looks like a boy. They are still people though and at the end of the day it is not their fault that they feel that way so society should try to understand them rather than go against them
Jamie, 17
Gender identity is an individual preference. Its not fair that someone doesnt have a choice in their gender. For the sake of the sanity of some, they must go through this change in order to feel comfortable in their own body. And that is what society fails to understand. The public needs to drop this idea that being transgander isnt something caused by mental issues. As I said, it is their choice. Although saying that, some dont view it as a choice. If you are born that way then you do not chose one way or the other. This is a topic that needs to be viewed with a completely open mind to be fully understood.
Ryan, 18
I'm normal then? what a relief. Thanks Slink. xx
anon, 19
i thought that people who were transgender used to freak me out a bit but then i found out one of my friends was currently changing their gender, it really took me by suprise as i really wouldnt of guessed they used to be a girl before i was told, but now im totally supportive and am exactly the same around them than i was before i knew.
Saad Hussain, 18
Medical sciences may have become very advanced nowadays, being able to transform one gender to another, but it doesn't end by just performing the surgery, the main issue is that will they be accepted in a society already confused about topics like sexuality and gay liberalization. I think its best in mankind's interests not to mess with nature's toys as it will only create more disarray and chaos in our world
Holness, 14
I'd like to see what its like to be a girl, it could change my life
onelife
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