Gender dysphoria occurs when a person feels strongly that the gender that corresponds to the sex they were assigned at birth does not match the gender with which they identify.

When babies are born, they are assigned a sex based on their anatomy. The sex often determines the behaviours and activities parents practice with their children. These behaviours are many times tied to one gender or another. For example, parents may buy dolls for a child assigned “female” and tech- or science-based toys for a child assigned “male.”

Over time, children may come to feel their anatomy is not the gender they view themselves as. For example, a person with a vagina may feel that despite their anatomy, they are male and wish to have a male body. They may adopt behaviours that are identified with males and dress in stereotypical men’s clothing. They may use a different name and prefer for people to use male pronouns when referring to them.

Some people will go to varying lengths to change things in their lives that will more closely align with the sex that they identify with. For example, some may ultimately undergo a medical transition with hormone therapy and sex-change surgery. The level of transition for each person is different.

People with gender dysphoria feel anxiety or dissatisfaction with their gender. Some people may never openly admit to this discomfort. Some individuals do not report their feelings for fear of ridicule, shame, or abandonment.

Gender dysphoria was once called “gender identity disorder.” That name is no longer used because gender dysphoria is not a mental disorder. Likewise, “transsexualism” is no longer used to describe gender dysphoria. However, “transgender” may be used to describe someone whose personal identity and expressed gender are not the same as their assigned gender.

Gender dysphoria is the umbrella term used by the American Psychiatric Association to describe distress that often accompanies the difference between a person’s experienced or expressed gender and their assigned gender (that is, their initial assignment as male or female, sometimes referred to as “natal gender”). A variety of terms have been used over many years across and within a variety of disciplines to describe these differences.

Gender dysphoria vs. gender nonconformity

Gender dysphoria is part of a group of behaviours and conditions called gender nonconformity. This broader term defines a variety of behaviours that do not match society’s gender expectations. Some nonconforming individuals will experience dysphoria, but not all.

An example of non-conforming behaviour is a girl who prefers to dress in boys’ clothes. She may exhibit behaviours that are more culturally typical of boys, too. That does not mean the girl has gender dysphoria. It does not mean that she wishes she were male instead of female.

Gender dysphoria is not connected to homosexuality or homosexual behaviours. A homosexual is a person who is attracted sexually to people of the same sex. Sexual attraction is not a consideration in diagnosing gender dysphoria.

Key facts 

1. The change from gender identity disorder (GID) to gender dysphoria was primarily made, not because there was any new scientific evidence regarding GID, but rather it was to “reduce stigma against individuals who see and feel themselves to be a gender different from their biological sex.”
2. The focus of psychologists, counsellors, and psychiatrists is on relieving the distress experienced by those with gender dysphoria rather than aligning the mind’s perceived “gender” with their biological sex
3. Medical professionals are discouraged from treating gender dysphoria as a disorder or from treating it as something that can be overcome
4. Most young children confused about their sexual identity generally come to accept their biological sex as they grow up, in fact, 80 percent to 90 percent accept their biological identity upon reaching adulthood
5. The quality of evidence for a true benefit from hormonal therapy and cross-sex surgery for gender dysphoria is very low. 
6. The treatment of gender dysphoria using cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and sex reassignment surgery is founded upon ideology, not medicine.