Gender Dysphoria

Gender dysphoria - Characterised by strong, persistent feelings of identification with the opposite gender and discomfort with one’s own assigned sex. People with GD desire to live as members of the opposite sex and often dress and use mannerisms associated with the opposite gender. Also referred to as transgenderism or gender identity disorder.

Biological explanations

• Brain sex theory suggests that GID is caused by specific brain structures that are incompatible with a person’s biological sex - dimorphic areas of the brain

  • Areas that take a different form in males and females

  • Ning Zhou et al. (1995)

    • The bed nucleus of stria terminals - assumed to be fully developed age 5 and around 40% larger in males than females

    • Post-mortem studies of six male-to-female transgender individuals, the BSTc was found to be a similar size to that of a female brain.

    • Follow up study: Frank Kruijver et al. (2000) - number of neurones instead of volume - six transgender individuals showed a sex-reversed identity pattern - avg. BSTc neurone number in female range

• Genetic factors

  • Evidence suggests that GID may have a genetic basis

  • Frederick Coolidge et al.