What does it mean to be trans without dysphoria?

I am curious about this too I hope someone explains

 

Essentially, it's because of complications in the womb. When you're being made, everyone starts out as physically female. The thing that changes this is a sudden surge of testosterone produced by the mother, and this is decided by your chromosomes. You know, XX/XY. Transgenderism happens when the mother produces too much or too little testosterone. So if you're a male and your get too little testosterone, your brain doesn't fully develop as male. Some of it develops the same way a female's would and vice versa. And female and male brains are different. Studies between transgendered people and cisgender people show that transgendered people generally have brain activity that has parts of both genders, but not fully to one side.

So basically, if you're trans it may be because you didn't fully develop as a female/male.



This is how an online friend explained it to me when I was confused, hope this helps!

 

Um, then my best answer is that you don't have to be unhappy with your "real" gender, but you prefer the way of the opposite gender. Does that make sense? It's hard to explain...

 

I think the real confusion is that so many people have so many definitions for what dysphoria is.

Most people think of it as this deep hate towards our bodies and that the sight of it makes us want to die.

Of course this isn't true for all of us.

I could say "I don't see a female when I look in the mirror, I see a man despite all the parts that should scream female"
Me and others would describe this as dysphoria, but another trans person may not. To then it is simply how they are, and like me their female bits hardly bother them.
So you have some people who are male/female and they have been fine with that. They find its all they know. Then perhaps they dress as the opposite sex, start to pretend they are that sex. They've probably done this several times in their life, and each time they feel this sense of overwhelming joy and rightness. They were meant to be that sex, but they still don't mind being the sex they were born.

Some people have no gender dysphoria, but they do ha e gender euphoria when treated like the opposite sex. People forget this can be apart of being trans as well.

Some people are adaptable. They take what they are given and do the best they can. Sometimes that is enough to keep dysphoria at bay.

 

Listen to that guy ^ he's described it better than I could.

 

Someone's actual gender isn't the same as what they were assigned at birth, but they don't feel crippling agony towards their bodies. They're still capable of knowing what they're gender is, just like cis people who e actually thought about it (which isn't that many tbh) can say what their gender is.

 

CadutiMorte explained it really well, in theory this is the correct description but what is most important here is if there are actually people who feel like that.
It's like saying what is a unicorn? a horse with a horn. Horses exist and horns exist but not the combination of the two. I do believe there are people like that but I haven't heard of anyone who identifies as such, only people talking about it.

"Perspective from a mild/non-dysphoric trans person would be great as well!"
I agree, and it would actually be kind of helpful for me since I'm still questioning my gender.

 

TBH its not really the dysphoria you get before you transition, but the euphoria afterwards

 

For me, it's, like, looking down at my chest and just wondering why it's there. Or looking at my junk and thinking I don't hate you, I'm actually happy to stick with you, but you're not actually what I asked for and if given the chance to swap I would take it.

Sure, there are days when I can't stomach one or both and I wish I looked 'right'. But for the most part, it's just eh, you know? I think it's easier for me personally becusee I don't think of my body as wrong (most days), it's just something I need to fix a bit, and testosterone will help immensely with the majority of what I want fixing, so I don't feel like I'm stuck because I know one day I'll have what I need.

Some days I'm not particularly optimistic about gender clinics and transition with the NHS in the UK, but that's another story...

 

I don't believe it is possible to be trans without experiencing dysphoria. This is called transmedicalism. As I have said before in a previous post, I believe that gender identity is not defined by your body, personality, or society, but rather by the neural map of your body contained in your brain. Neurological studies show that transsexual people have brains that correspond to their preferred gender.

So, because a transsexual person's neural map of their body is different than their physical body, it causes alarm signals, which then emotionally manifest as anxiety and depression about the body. What's more, this dissonance can actually be physically measured, because studies show that tactile stimulation of incongruous body parts will cause an increase in electrodermic response where none is present in cissexual subjects.

So to me, trans people who don't experience dysphoria aren't actually transsexual, because the lack of dysphoria indicates that their neural body map matches their physical body. However, transgender people who are not transsexual might have personalities in which they express themselves like the opposite gender that they were assigned at birth or androgynously. To me, this shows that non-dysphoric trans people aren't unhappy with their bodies at all, but with how other people think of them and expect them to act because of their bodies. Non-dysphoric trans people are distressed with how society with its gender norms will see them because of the gender they were assigned at birth, rather than feeling physical and emotional distress because of a dissonance between their neural hardwiring and their bodies.

 

I spent 5 years wife out dysphoria, and it took gender euphoria for me to realize I was trans
But by your definition I am not trans.

 

Transsexual, no, transgender, yes (because that's an umbrella term). Your brain and your body match, that's why you don't have dysphoria. But when you are perceived as the opposite gender that you were born as, you experience gender euphoria, which illustrates what I said above - non-dysphoric transgender people are not transsexual because they don't have discomfort with their bodies, they have discomfort with how other people perceive them because of their bodies - and so some but not all non-dysphoric transgender people may pursue medical transition the same as transsexual people, not to resolve an issue with their bodies, but to change how people will perceive them.

 

What do you consider to be transsexual anyway? And what difference does it make to be a transgender person that isn't transsexual? From the definition I know, transsexual is defined by a transgender person that pursues medical transition.

Trans people that get discomfort with how people perceive them because of their bodies DO have dysphoria. I think the term you're looking for is social dysphoria.

 

Transsexual describes somebody whose neural mapping expects a different anatomy than the one they possess.
It is different from transgender because transgender is an umbrella term that describes all cross-gender expression.
Social dysphoria is different because it reflects on the discomfort of someone who doesn't conform to gender roles when they are perceived a certain way because of their body. It is different from the dysphoria a transsexual feels, which originated from the body itself.

 

Transexual = a transgender person who has sought medical transition

Transgender= an umbrella term for one who does identify as the gender assigned to them at birth.

I did have dysphoria as a teenager, I can remember and the suicidal thoughts that went along with. It from the experiences of then that allow me to say that in my current years I do not experience dysphoria, or if I do it is do mild I hardly notice it.
Why did my dysphoria go away? No clue, it could be a variety of things. One thing I know is that I have never really felt like a woman nor do I want to feel like one.
Why do I wish to transition? Because I can not achieve the body I want with the estrogen filled one I currently have. Breast, they are annoying and useless. I look down and don't understand why I have them, or why anyone should ever want them (though if someone does then that is fine).

The only time I care about how others view me is when it comes to a romantic relationship. I wish to be viewed as a guy with a guy.

This is what I meant when I said the problem lays within people's defention of words and what makes a person trans or not. What is dysphoria and what is not.

My lack of dysphoria might be dysphoria to some else. Your definition of transexual might not be the same definition someone else has.

As well there are three kinds of dysphoria

Social = the discomfort someone feels when viewed a certain way, which is what in assume is what you were talking about.

Physical= when the body is the source of distress/discomfort.

Mental= this one is harder to explain but I believe it is when one believes they should of been born a certain gender. That despite all evidence they know deep down they should if been born that way and keep seeing thenself as such.

 

From what you are describing about your feelings, it seems you DO in fact experience bodily dysphoria.
I was using the transmedicalist understanding of transsexualism, which is that transsexualism is a neurobiological condition in which the somatic neural mapping of the body in the parietal lobe is wired for a different body than the physical one.

 

I do understand that line of thinking. But I also know that it erases non-binary genders.

That's what I mean, to you I do have dysphoria, to me I do not. It is all in the eye of the beholder.