If you’re a trans woman, you know that being a woman isn’t just about makeup, surgery or hair. It’s about who you feel inside.
Trans women often experience discrimination. Health programs should focus on psychosocial interventions that increase participants’ coping self-efficacy and support their social identity. They should also pursue anti-discrimination campaigns.
Gender identity
Gender identity is an essential part of a person’s self-identification. It is an umbrella term for a person’s sense of gender, and can be influenced by culture, religion, and family and friends. People can identify as male, female, transgender or intersex. Gender identity is different from sexual orientation, which refers to a person’s physical, romantic, or emotional attraction to others.
Many trans women have been victimized in relationships because of their identities, including being objectified or dehumanized. These experiences can have a negative impact on their mental health and well-being. For example, transgender people have a higher risk of depression, anxiety, self-harm, eating disorders, sexual risk taking, and substance abuse.
When dating a trans woman, it is important to respect her privacy and dignity. It is also important to respect her choices about when and how she will disclose her surgery status. Be aware that some women may not want to discuss genital surgeries at all or may use different terms, such as “sex change.” Likewise, it is inappropriate to ask a person about their genitals before getting to know them.
Gender dysphoria
Transgender people often experience gender dysphoria, which is an intense dissatisfaction with their assigned sex at birth or their physical sex characteristics. This can lead to mental anguish and distress. Some even attempt suicide. This is why it’s important to access gender affirming treatment as soon as possible.
Gender dysphoria is different from sexual orientation, which refers to the types of people a person is attracted to. In order to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a person must experience clinically significant distress or impairment in their social, occupational or other important areas of functioning.
Depending on your individual situation, gender affirming treatment may involve hormone therapy and surgery. It can also involve changing your name and pronouns, expressing yourself in ways that reflect your gender identity, and updating the sex on government-issued identification cards. Some people choose to skip medical treatments and instead seek support from local LGBTQ+ communities. Other people opt to begin treatment with a therapist who specializes in LGBT+ health.
Transgender health
Transgender health is the state of a person’s physical and mental well-being in relation to their gender identity. A transgender person’s health is dependent on their ability to access and use health care services, including preventive screenings and regular treatments for diseases like cancer and high blood pressure. Sadly, many transgender people do not receive the health care they need because of discrimination and stigma.
A recent study found that nearly half of trans adults report that their healthcare providers know “nothing” or only “a little” about caring for them. Moreover, a majority of the respondents believe that healthcare professionals do not respect them.
As a result, they may avoid health care altogether. This can lead to serious consequences for their health. For example, if they don’t get a Pap test or a mammogram, they might miss out on lifesaving prevention care, including breast and cervical cancers. This is why it’s important for transgender people to seek care from a doctor who supports their gender identity and affirms them as a person.
Transgender rights
Transgender people face discrimination and violence at higher rates than other Americans. They are also more likely to be victimized by those who do not understand their lives, and who often misinterpret their gender identity as a disease or mental illness.
The medical community agrees that transition-related treatments are necessary and safe for many transgender people, and they should be covered by private and public insurance. The refusal of these treatments is a violation of transgender rights and an attack on the right to access healthcare.
A majority of Americans say that a person’s gender is determined by the sex assigned to them at birth, but this view is less prevalent among men and those with lower levels of education. Despite this, some politicians still use the debunked “bathroom predator” myth to justify banning trans people from restrooms that match their gender identity. Republicans in Kansas fell a few votes short of overriding Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of this ban, which would block transgender people from using restrooms that match their gender at schools, prisons, and even domestic violence shelters.