Gender Dysphoria Research Paper

The LGBTQ foundation is a group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning people who wanted their voice heard. Their roar was so loud that the people of this nation listened, and now we are living in a time of the outcome. Decisions were made, and laws were passed, but were the decisions made in haste? The research says so. Specifically when it comes to the transgender community. Those of the transgender community are categorized by a term called gender dysphoria. “...gender dysphoria (GD) (formerly gender identity disorder) is characterized by strong and persistent cross-sex behavior and identification…” (VanderLaan 213) Being gender dysphoric is a confusing and often scary part of an adult person’s life. Now image not …show more content…
Adults can make decisions at age eighteen that could change their lives forever and even make the wrong one because the brain has not fully developed yet. Sex reassignment surgeries are nothing to joke around with and not something to be taken lightly. The effects of them do not last as long as you are taking the hormones or however long you have to recover after surgery, but long into the future as well. Not only do they not understand the long term effects, but that just because you feel these confusing thoughts now does not mean that they will last forever. “... childhood GD is strongly associated with a lesbian, gay, or bisexual outcome and that for the majority of the children (85.2%; 270 out of 317) the gender dysphoric feelings remitted around or after puberty…” (Ristori 15) While, yes, growing up is a time of finding yourself and being comfortable in the body you have, most people who believe they were born the wrong gender tend to change their minds. Another source states that, “Indeed, studies show as many as 80 percent of children who express signs of gender dysphoria grow out of those feelings by adulthood.” (Dean) After taking the time to mature, and reason out this choice, these people knew in the long run this is not something they wanted for the rest of their lives. Take Miranda’s story for one. In an article written by Ashley Austin Miranda’s …show more content…
A boy can not play with barbies just like a girl is judged for having short hair. The society we live in has decided that girls have to be a certain way and a boy has to behave in another way. Girls must like the color pink, have long hair, be delicate and dainty. A boy must be tough, like to get dirty, play dangerous sports, and show little emotion. These are learned traits, not inherited. These learned traits are part of what is putting today’s youth at risk. Parents raise their kids to follow the social norms, and when the child does not feel right doing so they feel there is something wrong with them causing transgender thoughts to appear. “...the sex ratios for referred prepubescent children have always been in favour of natal men, which may be a direct effect of a difference in increased acceptance of masculinity in girls compared to femininity in boys…” (Ristori 15) While this quote states that men are affected more than females it still affects both genders in a way that should not. Children are not emotionally developed enough to know between what they should be and what they are. They should not think that they have to change because there is not an acceptance towards the person they want to be. This also shows that prepubescent children are not capable of complex thinking that allows them to see this themselves. A more matured, both physically and mentally, person could see that

Show More