The Supreme Court on Tuesday recognised the country's long marginalised transgender community as a third gender and, in a landmark judgment lauded by human rights groups, called on the government to ensure their equal treatment.
Here are
answers to some frequently asked questions about gender and some terms related
to transgender:
What does transgender mean?
Transgender
is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression or
behaviour does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which
they were assigned at birth.
Gender
identity refers to a person’s internal sense of being male, female or something
else; gender expression refers to the way a person communicates and gender
identity is established through behavior, clothing, hairstyles, voice or body
characteristics.
Why are some people transgender?
There is no
single explanation for why some people are transgender. Many experts believe
that biological factors such as genetic influences and prenatal hormone levels,
early experiences, and experiences later in adolescence or adulthood may all
contribute to the development of transgender identities.
What is the difference between sex and
gender?
Sex is
assigned at birth. It refers to one’s biological status as either male or
female, and is associated primarily with physical attributes such as
chromosomes, hormone prevalence, and external and internal anatomy.
Gender
refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and
attributes that a given society considers appropriate for boys and men or girls
and women. These influence the ways in which people act, interact, and feel
about themselves. While aspects of biological sex are similar across different
cultures, aspects of gender may differ.
What is the relationship between gender
identity and sexual orientation?
Gender
identity and sexual orientation are not the same. Sexual orientation refers to
an individual’s physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to another
person, whereas gender identity refers to one’s internal sense of being male,
female, or something else. Transgender
people may be straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or asexual, just as
nontransgender people can be.
Transgender
people usually label their sexual orientation using their gender as a
reference. For example, a transgender woman, or a person who is assigned male
at birth and transitions to female, who is attracted to other women would be
identified as a lesbian or gay woman. Likewise, a transgender man, or a person
who is assigned female at birth and transitions to male, who is attracted to
other men would be identified as a gay man.
How does someone know they are transgender?
Transgender
people experience their transgender identity in a variety of ways and may
become aware of their transgender identity at any age. Some can trace their
transgender identities and feelings back to their earliest memories. They may
have vague feelings of “not fitting in” with people of their assigned sex or
specific wishes to be something other than their assigned sex.
Others
become aware of their transgender identities or begin to explore and experience
gender-nonconforming attitudes and behaviors during adolescence or much later
in life. Some embrace their transgender feelings, while others struggle with
feelings of shame or confusion. Those who transition later in life may have
struggled to fit in adequately as their assigned sex only to later face
dissatisfaction with their lives.
Some
transgender people, transsexuals in particular, experience intense
dissatisfaction with their sex assigned at birth, physical sex characteristics,
or the gender role associated with that sex. These individuals often seek
gender-affirming treatments.
Is being transgender a medical disorder?
A
psychological state is considered a mental disorder only if it causes
significant distress or disability. Many transgender people do not experience
their gender as distressing or disabling, which implies that identifying as
transgender does not constitute a mental disorder.
According to
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the tome
used by clinicians worldwide to diagnose and classify mental illnesses, people
who experience intense, persistent gender incongruence can be given the
diagnosis of "gender dysphoria."
What should parents do if their child
appears to be transgender or gender nonconforming?
Parents may
be concerned about a child who appears to be gender-nonconforming for a variety
of reasons. Some children express a great deal of distress about their assigned
sex at birth or the gender roles they are expected to follow. Some children
experience difficult social interactions with peers and adults because of their
gender expression.
Parents of
gender-nonconforming children may need to work with schools and other
institutions to address their children’s particular needs and ensure their
children’s safety. It is helpful to consult with mental health and medical
professionals familiar with gender issues in children to decide how to best
address these concerns. It is not helpful to force the child to act in a more
gender-conforming way.
Transgender Glossary
Transsexual: People whose gender
identity is different from their assigned sex. Often, transsexuals alter or
wish to alter their bodies through hormones, surgery, and other means to make
their bodies as congruent as possible with their gender identities.
Transmen: People who were assigned
female, but identify and live as male and alter or wish to alter their bodies
through medical intervention to more closely resemble their gender identity
(also known as female-to-male or FTM).
Transwomen: People who were assigned
male, but identify and live as female
(also known as male-to-female or MTF).
Gender affirmation: Individuals who
transition from one gender to another prefer to be referred to as a man or a
woman, rather than as transgender.
Cross dressers: People who wear
clothing that is traditionally or stereotypically worn by another gender in
their culture. Cross-dressing is not indicative of sexual orientation. They are
usually comfortable with their assigned sex and do not wish to change it.
Drag queens: Men who dress as women for
the purpose of entertaining others at bars, clubs, or other events.
Drag kings: Women who dress as men for
the purpose of entertaining others.
Genderqueer: People who identify their
gender as falling outside the binary constructs of “male” and “female”. They
may define their gender as falling somewhere on a continuum between male and
female, or they may define it as wholly different from these terms.
They prefer
pronouns used to refer to them that are neither masculine nor feminine, such as
“zie” instead of “he” or “she,” or “hir” instead of “his” or “her.” Some
genderqueer people do not identify as transgender.
Source: Article was published in Hindustan Times.
