Do You Suffer From Gender Identity?


by MIKE SELVON - Date: 2008-07-23 - Word Count: 411 Share This!

There are two groups to fit into for those who are struggling with gender identity. One consists of people who have never felt comfortable in their own skin and the other consists of people who were physically altered early on. Together they are the transgenders of today and they pose many questions. If a boy is genetically a boy, then does that necessarily mean he is a boy? Could the way parents raise their children have an effect on identity problems with gender later in life?

Gender identity is basically when a girl, who is genetically a female, has decided she is not a female and feels the need to be a male instead. Why she feels this way may remain unknown to her or to anyone else in her life. The same goes for boys who don't feel they are supposed to be boys.

Some people struggle with this idea until they are older and then some of them undergo transgender surgery to "correct" the gender problem they face. Others opt purely for hormone therapy to create small changes in their outward appearance. Some parents indulge in their child's identity issue while others choose to ignore it; the problem can, and sometimes does, get worse.

While most people are born unmistakably as a girl or boy, there are instances when larger or smaller than usual genitalia raises a question of gender identity. The occurrence is rare and even more rare is the process used to "correct" the problem.

This process includes small procedures and hormones to create the appearance of a female in a male and vice versa. These people have grown up as part of the transgender groups that exist today, usually with extreme identity issues, among other things, due to the fact that they had no control over what was done to them at an early age.

Support groups for transgenders are available to help this particular group of people discover the identity they feel they truly are. Support is needed for all whether they became transgendered due to physical alterations early in life or they have just never felt comfortable in their own skin.

Gender identity issues are so much at the forefront of society today that some doctors boldly claim to be able to determine the presence of this issue in children as early as four years old. The recommendation is usually hormone therapy at the onset of puberty. Later, during adulthood, these same children may pursue transgender surgery.


Related Tags: gender, gender identity, understanding gender identity

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