Trans without dysphoria?

A lot of these people confuse being transgender with not following gender roles. Others have just learned to cope with life so they appear to not have dysphoria "anymore".

 

In my opinion they probably mean no physical dysphoria, only the social one. "Any form", you said? Probably they have a mild social one so they manage to cope, I don't know... :/

 

You're overthinking this, FoxEars. It doesn't have to "work".

 

I've seen this question repeatedly in the several trans-oriented forums/sites I hang on, and have thought a lot about the topic.. probably way more thoughts than you asked for so apologies in advance for the long post. Also probably important to note that I do consider myself dysphoric, so any non-dysphoric folks hanging around, please feel free to correct me or comment on your own experiences.

In short I think a large part of it comes down to differing definitions of dysphoria.

Most dysphoric people seem to focus on the physical aspects, what I will term physical dysphoria. In short, being distressed by the physical primary/secondary sex characteristics of your body. How much physical dysphoria must one have in order to be considered dysphoric? How strong must the dysphoria be in order to be considered dysphoria? Someone who experiences low/weak levels of dysphoria, or is only dysphoric over a few aspects of their body, may consider themselves non-dysphoric.

A second consideration is social dysphoria. That is, being distressed at being referred to/seen as your birth gender, or over not being referred to/seen as your gender identity. What if someone mainly experiences social dysphoria? What if they experience no phsyical dysphoria at all, or, are unable to recognize their experience as being physical dysphoria? Such a person may consider themselves non-dysphoric, due to defining dysphoria as needing to include moderate or strong phsyical dysphoria.

Now, let's consider gender euphoria. In short, the feeling of happiness and rightness from presenting as, having the body of, being seen/referred to as your gender identity. Now, I know dysphoric folks know what this if you've taken any steps to transition-- however, you may think of it as "relief of dysphoria", "feeling normal" or something along those lines. This is the common explanation I have seen from non-dysphoric folks as to why they consider themselves transgender. They do not experience noticeable dysphoria, but do feel an innate sense of rightness or feelings of happiness and relief (euphoria) upon taking steps to transition.

If you check the DSM-V, having gender euphoria is in fact considered part of the definition of gender dysphoria. That is to say, under the medical definition, if you only experience gender euphoria, you may well be trans! However most non-dysphoric folks I've talked to would not consider this part of gender dysphoria. I, and apparently the DSM, would consider them dysphoric. But they consider themselves non-dysphoric. As I've said-- it comes down to a difference of definition.

Something I believe people also may not take into account is that dysphoria can present in a variety of ways. Some common experiences are a feeling of being unable to relate to peers of the same birth gender-- a feeling that you are somehow, inexplicably "abnormal" or "different" than everyone else-- being unable to imagine yourself growing old, and seeing no point or purpose to life-- inexplicable depression, anxiety, etc. which is promptly resolved upon taking steps to transition. I've seen all of these issues talked about by other trans folks alongside their more obvious dysphoria-- which says to me that if someone only recognizes such feelings, it's entirely possible they are trans. They may even be experiencing more standard dysphoria as well, and simply not realizing it. In fact the latter was exactly my case in early puberty before I realized I was trans, recognized the more obvious/typical signs of my dysphoria, and came to accept it. (Edit: I will note I have seen cisgender folks talk about similar feelings in other contexts. So I wouldn't personally consider this a strong indicator someone is trans. But since I've seen several trans people link such feelings to their dysphoria, it makes sense to me that this is one way dysphoria may present itself.)

Final related thought-- I have seen some non-dysphoric folks who, I personally believe, would be more accurately described as cisgender folks who are gender-non-conforming or simply unhappy with traditional gender roles. No offense intended to those people. I wouldn't personally consider such folks to be transgender. But, often gnc-type folks are grouped in with trans folks so I think it's inevitable and entirely okay that some of them are part of the discussion, even though they aren't dysphoric.

 

That was tongue in cheek. But there is nothing to understand, really. A person just identifies a certain way, period. No philosophy involved. They are just not transsexual. i consider this link between the body and how you identify really odd. I don't like to frame it this way, as dysphoria, as if there was something wrong with transgender people. In my modest opinion, there is something wrong with the society to constantly pressure people into tiny boxes and demand certain gendered behaviours. However, I think it can be argued that identifying as transgender implies social dysphoria. But then again, we're framing this as if the person in question was ill, when in fact is this person ill, or is it the sociaty causing the discomfort with its narrow-mindedness? Ah, and then we have the folk who are not exactly intensely unhappy with their bodies, but are happier transitioning.

 

This is a topic that is still debated a lot within trans circles, so there isn't really a definitive answer to your question. Personally, I don't really understand why someone would identify as transgender if they don't experience any dysphoria. I do think many people confuse gender roles with gender identity, and may be identifying as trans for reasons that are just due to gender roles, not gender identity. However, there are some people who claim to be trans without feeling any dysphoria, and yet when they describe their reasons for thinking they are trans, it sounds a lot to me like they do in fact have dysphoria. I think some people have a very narrow view of what counts as dysphoria, and think that if it isn't 24/7 crippling dysphoria, that they don't have it, when in fact dysphoria can present in many different ways beyond the standard narrative.

 

Well, I wouldn't call it information, it's certainly not facts. Just my personal thoughts on the matter... not even coming from a non-dysphoric person, haha. But most of the non-dysphoric folks I've talked to use their transition-related euphoria to define being transgender, in the same way you or I might consider dysphoria to define the exact same experiences. So I do think it just comes down to how each person defines the terms and relates each term to their own experiences.