I won’t go into the DSM-V Gender Dysphoria criteria. The involvement of Kenneth Zucker was enough to keep Gender Dysphoria under mental conditions, and people keep weaponizing that decision. They keep doing so even though a lesser known statement by the American Psychiatric Association that clears up that transgender identity is not per se the mental illness, BUT xyz. They screwed us over on purpose and then it was revealed Zucker had vested interest in continuing his own thing.
I am talking about the WHO’s ICD-11 Gender Incongruence which is outside mental illnesses but it is still under Sexual Health related conditions. I find this odd, because I don’t think being transgender is a sexual thing, despite overlapping with sexual health a lot, but I still think is a misclassification and our enemies gleefully take the chance to weaponize this as well. In fact, reducing transness to a “sex thing” is a main line of attack for right-wing strategies, for instance saying “trans stripper” for drag queen story hour, or Project 2025 equating LGBTQ people with “pornography”, especially trans people. Using this argument for book bans etc.
So I got myself thinking, it is not the mind that is wrong it is the endocrine system. After all the gonads are operators for the endocrine system. The intervention is at the endocrine system. So why not start thinking of transness as an endocrine condition primarily?
Now, I start thinking I might be on the asexual spectrum, so I put the fact on the table. But this is not to undermine my proposal, I just think many people might not be seeing that because for most people sex is an important part of life and the overlap between “who you are”, “who are you going to bet with”, and “who you are going to bed as” is bigger. But of the three, I only see “Who you are” relating to gender identity, “Who you are going to bed” as sexual orientation, I don’t see much theory in the latter “going to bed as sth”.
So I think that the classification is in error, and it is motivated by erroneous constructs we tried to shake away by replacing “Transexual” with “Transgender” to focus more on identity and biosocial aspects of gender identity. So I don’t think that gender incongruence belongs in Sexual Health organically, I believe it is primarily and inherently an endocrine condition (your system does not produce the right hormones for you) treated with endocrine interventions (suppress the production of, or remove the organs that are the producers of the wrong hormones, or correct the results of exposure to wrong hormones). Sex hormones for sure, but hormones. The important thing here is the Self. We agreed against conversion; we preserve the Self, fix the hormones, not the other way round. It is an endocrine condition.
i agree that the categorisation seems wron and harmfull, but i also think it is a mistake to reduce transness to ones body producing the wrong (amounts of) hormones. many trans people do not even care about their hormones. many care about other things related to gender and their bodies as well. i think it is a social and personal phenomenon, than can include or cause people wanting changes to their bodies, like their endocrine systems. the endocrine systems part therefore imo fall under a category such as “wanting/needing to change ones body (for social or personal reasons)”, while being transgender should imo be classified as a social/identity thing, the same as cis gender. thats my thoughts on it :3
That’s a given. Even for the DSM-V they published this statement which says “not all trans people have gender dysphoria” and that the diagnosis exists so that those who need healthcare can have some type of code to use in the system. We are talking about the latter use. What this means is the simple question “What are we treating this person for?”
It is the same with the ICD. I don’t think I anywhere equated transness with either condition. I have been vocal about this distinction for many years. We are talking about the diagnostic class with which you get into a public health system to get care.
What category you put that under? There is no conflation of being trans with the diagnostic category.
Perhaps an aspect of your response could mean that this would reduce CARE resulting from this condition, for example justifying therapy sessions or other forms of psychological and social support. But these exist for any number of other physical conditions. They largely fall under the umbrella of “Health Psychology” or even “Community Psychology” or “Social Work”.
Much like people with other endocrine conditions, or chronic pain for that matter, it is in the discretion of the appropriate committees to say that these aspects of psychological and social support are suitable for trans people.
This does not mean that being trans is pathological. There isn’t anyone arguing such points in this space. It just mean if you can get these types of support from within the healthcare system. If you want to. Bottom line is that in the US “Gender Dysphoria” is used ubiquitously and it is plainly listed under Mental Disorders.
So the existing situation is already much much worse in the very aspect that supposedly is problematic with the endocrine approach.