While I agree that short, plain explanations are what works best, my experience has shown that the explanations given around gender dysphoria are not as accurate as they need to be. I am not transgender. You (all inclusive you) are not transgender. We have a medical condition called gender dysphoria. The ICD 10 and DSM list gender dysphoria as a medical condition. This has been proven. Continuing use of the term transgender is not accurate, and carries past prejudices and stigmas with it. I am also not "Switchgender". My gender was determined while I was in the womb. Unfortunately (to society at large and our culture) my gender did not correspond to my physical sex. Not my fault, nor my choice. Medical research has not yet determined a specific cause for gender dysphoria, but it has determined that individuals who have this condition have brains that have developed to the gender opposite their sex. An Australian study for example, showed that in individuals who were gender dysphoric, approximately 20 chromosomes showed significant variances from the same chromosomes in individuals who were not gender dysphoric.
In any reference or discussion to "transgender" I have seen in media, there is practically no reference made to the medical aspects. It doesn't have to be an in-depth discussion, I have found when I explain to people that basically all I have to cover is that it is a medical condition, possible causes of the condition and reiterating that this was the way I was born, it's not a choice.
I was not born transgender. I was born with a body that has the physical characteristic of one sex, and a gender of the opposite. Sex is what's between your legs, Gender is what's between your ears and in your heart.
This is turning into a fascinating discussion. I wish more people would add their 2 cents and then maybe we can make it up to a dollar. Peace and love.
Instead of deleting your reply, I rather give its own Platform DeAnn Burben. Your explanation has been something that I have been thinking about since I received your message the other day. I would like to know how others feel, is your explanation about being a non cis woman more acceptable than being referred to as transgender.
I am not in counseling at the moment, and this is something that troubles me every day, how do I accurately address myself. When I accepted that I was more than what my body says, Transgender was easiest for my to understand and yet harder to explain to others. And no here and now, I see your explanation could be a more suitable explanation. But I need more time to think on this but would like to see what others have to say about this.
**HUGS**
Hi DeAnn,
You do bring up a valid point and I have also read that the ICD11 has been released and modified - excerpt from a psychology today article;
The ICD-11 uses the term gender incongruence instead of the DSM-5 term gender dysphoria or the now-out-of-favor ICD-10 term transsexualism. Beyond the name change, the huge shift in ICD-11 is that gender incongruence is no longer classified as a mental disorder. However, it's important to realize that gender incongruence has not been removed from the ICD-11. It has simply been relocated from the mental disorders section to a new section on conditions related to sexual health that also includes sexual dysfunctions and sexual pain disorders. The idea is to destigmatize gender incongruence and highlight it as a strictly medical, rather than psychological, issue. Of course, debate continues over whether gender incongruence/dysphoria should be a diagnosable condition at all—but with access to hormone therapies and gender confirmation surgery typically requiring a gender incongruence/dysphoria diagnosis, transgender advocacy groups such as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) support maintaining such a diagnosis in ICD-11, especially given its reclassification as a condition related to sexual health.
This paragraph explains how I feel and even though I use transgender in my vocabulary I am not crossing genders. I am not male inside! I am female! My sexual genitals noted at birth made me male according to my birth certificate.
I do agree that our condition is difficult to describe and I also agree that we were pre-wired in the womb. I did not choose my sex but I did choose my gender at a young age of 7!
I am hopeful that this change to the ICD will torpedo that idiot in the White House and his bigoted plans. This is crucial for all of us that his changes not be made law. Since almost every hospital, medical facility, doctors office, and insurance company use these codes for billing and diagnostic reasons any change in law will go against all of the current processes which have been in place since 2015. All medical and medical billing software uses the ICD so all software would have to be replaced if the current administration gets this passed as law!
Henceforth I will use gender identity instead of transgender. My gender identity is female and proud of it. Love ❤️ and hugs 🤗
Danielle💋👠
Hi DeAnn,
...All medical and medical billing software uses the ICD so all software would have to be replaced if the current administration gets this passed as law!...
Not to detarct from your main point, but the software wouldn't have to be replaced, just the libraries of ICD codes that would be impacted.
Hi Deann, thank you for your article. This is a subject of correct naming and yes.......opinions change fairly often as we learn more about DNA and Chromosoms. I have studied this phenomenon back thru the first binary cell division up to the building blocks,hard wiring (programming of basic survival and operations parameters) of the brain and environmental impact of added data, until we are about 17. Fascinating stuff but hard to explain to those who have no experience with Physics. For me to add much more will take pages which most people won't grasp anyway. Environmental effects have changed chromosomes in the early stages and what we are seeing is xx, xy, xxx, xxy xyy. building blocks. This affects the brain and physical wiring in utero. 3 months in our "sex is determined", the genitilia can be male or female presenting with the brain having different parameters resulting in a human form that presents one way but basic thinks in the opposite....hence eventually coming up as a preferred opposite...ie......cross dressing, transgendering, gay, lesbian and so on. I bet anyone reading this is well confused by now.
Each generation coins a new phrase to describe a humans "presentation"......no wonder confusion exists. Sorry....I rambled on for about a dimes worth there. If anyone wants a further in depth most likely explanation....I can go one on one over the private chat line or my private e-mail. To truly know ones future and current configuration, one must know ones past. Genetics, Psychology/Psychiatry and Medical topics need to be read and studied....believe me .....it is a hard study but fascinating.
Dame Veronica
Hey Cloe, yes that is true only the ICD libraries would need updating and testing. Ensuring the coding matches the diagnosis and billing and that all ancillary software receives the correct diagnosis and codes too. With the work behind upgrading software in a Hospital environment there is always a lot of testing and pre production which makes the upgrade a major project requiring months of prep and working with the vendor to ensure the upgrade goes smoothly. The amount of $ spent would be in the hundreds of thousands maybe as little as $100k per hospital medical facility and insurance company. All of that expense to roll back the discrimination policy by the current administration in the White House. Anyway this could be a serious burden to smaller medical and insurance
Professionals. Love ❤️ Danielle 💋👠
First of all, I am me and I am who and what I am, human. This challenge given by DeAnn really made me dig deep. Thank you, sister. With my IT background I chose to use data decomposition techniques used for database design (I know TMI, so I'll stop here because this rabbit hole runs deep) to sort through my thoughts.
I know my gender is female. I know my sex is currently male. I'm also, in the absence of testing, sure my genetics are male. What drives me is that I am gender dominant, not sex dominant and cannot stand the fact that there is an incongruence. This is my dysphoria. This is why I am transitioning.
To better portray to the world how I feel about my current state and direction, I considered the following. The word convergent is defined as: tending to move toward one point or to approach each other. This is what I am doing. I'm moving toward a coherent gender and sex. I like it even more when I consider it does not indicate which of these two aspects of my humanity is moving. Am I changing my gender? No, my gender is still the same it has been since birth. Am I changing my sex? That's debatable. I can change my body, but I can never change my DNA with todays science. As a sidebar, this may actually be food for thought - do we need to abstract the physical from the genetic embodiment in our discourse of who we are? So I do not ever see being able to reach the gender, sex, genetic trifecta of being female at which point I could just call myself female with no helper adjectives to describe myself.
So, in these constructs I am a female gendered, female convergent transexual, genetic male. Good luck getting anyone to comprehend that in this instant gratification society. But, I really do think I could live with the following and like DeAnn asked, what do you think?
"a convergent female in the transgender spectrum"
Cloe! Nice reply! Is your reply more Existentialism or metaphysical? I sometimes get them confused. However I do love your reply. So anyone who is running away from who they are, in this context, would be divergent. Lol, you explained yourself very well and I had not thought about digging that deep into the realization of self. If you’ve watched Wayne’s World you will remember when they met Alice Cooper. That was the best scene although a bit dorky. Anyway sis awesome reply. Love ❤️ and hugs 🤗
Danielle 💋👠
