Transgender Body

Transgender Body
Medically Reviewed by Smitha Bhandari, MD on May 20, 2021
Transgender is a general term that describes people whose gender identity, or their internal sense of being male, female, or something else, does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. By contrast, the term cisgender describes people whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth.
According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, there are about 1.4 million transgender people in the United States, who fall into several categories. A transgender woman was labeled as male at birth but has the gender identity of a female. A transgender man was assigned female sex at birth but identifies as male. Some transgender people don’t identify with one gender exclusively. Their gender identity may combine both female and male elements, for instance, or they may not feel like either gender. These transgender people are often described as being “non-binary.” Another term that is sometimes used to describe people in this category is “genderqueer.”
Transgender people may be gender non-conforming, meaning that they adopt customs and habits that are not typically associated with their assigned birth sex. That is, they may express their gender identity through the way they talk, act, dress, style their hair , and other behaviors. Choosing a new name that better suits one’s gender identity is common, too. Some transgender people, though not all, elect to undergo medical treatments that change their bodies to make them more compatible with their gender identity. Treatments can include hormone therapy, surgery, and other interventions.
The term transgender does not describe a person’s romantic and sexual preferences. That’s because gender identity is not the same as sexual orientation . The latter term is used to describe a person’s innate preference for romantic or sexual relationships with men, women, or both sexes. Heterosexual (“straight”) people are attracted to members of the opposite sex. Homosexual people (gays and lesbians) are attracted to people of the same sex. Bisexual people are attracted to both men and women. Transgender people may be straight, gay or lesbian, or bisexual.
While these terms are often confused, they do not mean the same thing. A transgender person is typically born with a body that has unambiguous sexual characteristics (either male or female) but they don’t match the person's gender identity. By contrast, an intersex person is born with a body that is not clearly male or female. For instance, a baby with male chromosomes may have genitals and other sexual characteristics that appear female. The opposite can be true of babies born with female chromosomes. In some cases, an intersex person’s reproductive anatomy may combine male and female characteristics. Between one in 1,500 and one in 2,000 babies are born with a mix of sexual characteristics.
A transgender person may also be intersex, and vice versa, though that’s not usually the case. An intersex person may live in a way that’s in accord with the sex he or she was assigned at birth. For example, an intersex baby assigned female sex at birth might be raised as a girl and continue to behave, dress, and groom in a traditionally feminine manner for life. However, some who were raised as one sex later embrace the gender identity of the opposite sex, making changes to their appearance, behaviors, and bodies similar to those made by many transgender people.
For some transgender people, the mismatch between the sex they were assigned at birth and their gender identity may cause a medically recognized form of psychological distress called gender dysphoria . Adolescents can develop gender dysphoria, though the condition may not arise until adulthood. People with gender dysphoria feel an intense and persistent desire to be rid of the sexual characteristics they were born with and become another gender. Feeling rejected by family and society increases the risk for social dysphoria. Treatment involves working with a supportive psychotherapist and may include taking steps to “affirm” one’s gender identity through various forms of expression, from changing one’s name to seeking body-altering medical therapy.
An additional source of psychological distress for transgender people is the stigma they face in everyday life. Advocates point out that few states offer legal protections to prevent discrimination against transgender people, making them vulnerable to unfair treatment when they look for a place to live, a job, or medical treatment.
American Psychological Association: "What Does Transgender Mean?" "Definitions Related to Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity in APA Documents."
Johns Hopkins Medicine: "Glossary of Transgender Terms."
National Center for Transgender Equality: "Frequently Asked Questions about Transgender People."
Intersex Society of America: "How Common is Intersex?"
American Psychiatric Association: "What Is Gender Dysphoria?"
American Journal of Public Health: "Homicide Rates of Transgender Individuals in the United States: 2010–2014."
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Some people feel that the sex they were assigned at birth doesn’t match their gender identity, or the gender that they feel they are inside. These people are often called transgender.
Transgender is a term that includes the many ways that people’s gender identities can be different from the sex they were assigned at birth. There are a lot of different terms transgender people use to describe themselves. For example, sometimes the word transgender is shortened to just trans, trans*, or trans male/trans female. It’s always best to use the language and labels that the person prefers.
Transgender people express their gender identities in many different ways. Some people use their dress, behavior, and mannerisms to live as the gender that feels right for them. Some people take hormones and may have surgery to change their body so it matches their gender identity. Some transgender people reject the traditional understanding of gender as divided between just “male” and “female,” so they identify just as transgender, or genderqueer, genderfluid, or something else.
Transgender people are diverse in their gender identities (the way you feel on the inside), gender expressions (the way you dress and act), and sexual orientations (the people you’re attracted to).
When people’s assigned sex and gender identity are the same, they're called cisgender.
Gender dysphoria is a term that psychologists and doctors use to describe the distress, unhappiness, and anxiety that transgender people may feel about the mismatch between their bodies and their gender identity. A person may be formally diagnosed with gender dysphoria in order to receive medical treatment to help them transition.
Psychologists used to call this “gender identity disorder.” However, the mismatch between a person’s body and gender identity isn’t in itself a mental illness (but it can cause emotional distress), so the term was changed to reflect that.
People often confuse gender identity with sexual orientation. But being transgender isn’t the same thing as being lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Gender identity, whether transgender or cisgender, is about who you ARE inside as male, female, both, or none of these. Being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or straight describes who you’re attracted to and who you feel yourself drawn to romantically, emotionally, and sexually.
A transgender person can be gay, lesbian, straight, or bisexual, just like someone who’s cisgender . A simple way to think about it is: Sexual orientation is about who you want to be with. Gender identity is about who you are.
Passing describes the experience of a transgender person being seen by others as the gender they want to be seen as. An example would be a trans woman using the women’s bathroom and being seen as female by those around her.
Passing is extremely important for many transgender people. Passing can be emotionally important because it affirms your gender identity. Passing can also provide safety from harassment and violence. Because of transphobia , a transgender person who passes may experience an easier time moving through the world than a person who is known to be transgender or looks more androgynous .
But not all transgender people feel the same way about passing. While passing is important to some people, others feel the word suggests that some people’s gender presentation isn’t as real as others. They may feel that passing implies that being seen by others as cisgender is more important than being known as transgender. Some transgender people are comfortable with and proud to be out as trans and don’t feel the need to pass as a cisgender person.
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Acknowledge that you are curious. If you are seriously wondering whether or not you might be transgender, you're probably not fully gender conforming. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you are transgender, but it could. It may also mean that you are gender variant in another way. [3]
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Research source

Ask yourself why you are curious. If it's persistent discomfort with your assigned gender, or attraction to the image of yourself as a different gender, you may be transgender.
Consider the possibility that you could be nonbinary
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