Gender Dysphoria: A Study of Living Smile Vidya’s Autobiography I am Vidya: A Transgenders Journey

Abstract

Gender Dysphoria, earlier named as gender identity disorder, is a discomfort and incongruence marked between an individual’s experienced and assigned gender. The rigid and traditional binary roles of being a male or a female causes a cultural stigmatization, stopping individuals experiencing a turmoil with their gender identity to correlate to it. Familial rejection, stigmatization, social exclusion, prejudice causes poor self-esteem, risk of self-harm and suicide, poor economic and living conditions among people experiencing gender dysphoria. Transgender are associated with gender dysphoria and are often a victim of discrimination and prejudice. Various treatments are available for the treatment of gender dysphoria such as hormonal therapy, behavioural therapy, and sex reassignment surgery (SRS). Existential crisis is often a result of the rejection and stigma faced by them and the constant struggle to attain basic rights and not limiting themselves to the boundaries of gender, thereby fighting transphobia.