Thus, not every trans person will experience body dysphoria, and that’s totally okay. That, on its own, will not predict the kind of relationship we have with our bodies. Ultimately, being transgender is not about our bodies, as much as it’s about how strongly we identify with societally created gender categories. I like to think that it’s the euphoria – not the dysphoria – that makes a person trans. That is, euphoria or happiness upon being correctly gendered, upon naming their identity, and being validated and recognized as their authentic self. Trans folks may have a lot of dysphoria or none at all – but most will have gender euphoria. And it’s not right or wrong – it’s just the way that they relate to their body. There are plenty of trans folks who experience dysphoria around sexed parts of the body, and plenty who won’t. I still experience body dysphoria, primarily around my chest sometimes our mental maps just work out that way. There is nothing gendered about elbows or noses – they simply are. It’s just a body part, like an elbow, or a nose. Consequently, I’m not uncomfortable with that part of my body – because I don’t consider it to be a contradiction to my gender identity. There’s not necessarily a correlation.īecause sex and gender are different, and everyone’s experience of sex and gender is different, you’ll find trans folks with a wide variety of understandingsaround their bodies.įor example, although I was assigned female at birth, I don’t consider my genitalia to be female. But the reality is that sex and gender are different. This gets confusing for some folks, who strongly associate gender identity with biological sex. And some trans folks experience neither body nor social dysphoria at all. Some experience social dysphoria, which is a discomfort with how they’re perceived and misgendered within society. Some trans folks don’t experience body dysphoria at all. Myth #2: Body Dysphoria Is Necessary to Being Trans That is: It’s best to let each trans person define their experiences with their bodies in their own words. It dismisses the complexity of our experiences in favor of a quick explanation of our existence so that real, nuanced conversations don’t have to take place.īut instead of oversimplifying, what we really should be doing is taking the time to learn about trans folks, and opening up real conversations – not shutting down conversation by explaining us away with a problematic stereotype. Often times the “wrong body” narrative is really just a shortcut so that cisgender folks don’t have to actually engage with or learn about the experiences of trans folks. If you mostly liked your house, but wanted a different wall color, you probably wouldn’t tear down the entire house and move somewhere else just to have green walls, right?Įveryone’s experience of dysphoria is different, so imposing the “wrong body” narrative onto everyone’s experience is far too large of a generalization to be accurate for every single transgender person. And many people, cis and trans, opt for dressing or modifying their bodies in a different way to make it more their own. Sometimes it’s not about the wrong body – it’s about needing modifications to feel more at home. Saying that our bodies are “wrong” can sometimes suggest that we’re inherently flawed – or that our being trans is a “mistake,” rather than a part of our identity. However, not every trans person with dysphoria believes that to be true. Some trans folks with dysphoria do sincerely believe that they were born into the wrong body and were meant to have an entirely different one. Myth #1: Body Dysphoria Happens Because You’re in the ‘Wrong Body’ So it’s about time that we unpack some of those myths. Those myths ultimately create two major issues: 1) Cisgender folks can’t understand our experiences, and 2) transgender folks begin to doubt their experiences because they aren’t considered “the norm.” A lack of real, authentic narratives only feeds into the myths that surround our experiences. Visibility is not always, by default, a good thing – especially if that visibility is so limited that it creates a very narrow idea of what the experience of being transgender is really like. It’s a very difficult part of my reality as trans – and the assumptions made about my experience can make it all the more painful.Īnd while it’s true that trans issues are more visible than before, some of the very basic myths around our experience (or lack thereof) of body dysphoria still prevail. I remember when an acquaintance naively asked me, “If you’re non-binary, you don’t experience body dysphoria, right?”Īs a trans person who experiences dysphoria, which is the distress or discomfort that occurs when the gender someone is assigned does not align with their actual gender, nearly every day, the myths surrounding it – like that one – hit me right in the feels.
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