It is quite common in our societies to confuse gender, and gender identity to mean the same things. Gender basically refers to the legal and social status, a set of expectations of people in the society based on the characteristics, thoughts, and behaviors. Every culture in the society has particular ways on how people should carry themselves depending on their gender. Therefore, gender is more than just being female or male but it extends to the societal expectations on how people should act based on the sex. Gender identity, on the other hand, refers to the personal feelings within oneself and the expressions of an individual based on the behavior, clothing and personal appearance. It begins quite early in the life of an individual.
Gender is the complex interrelationships between the three dimensions of identity; body; and expression. Body dimension involves our own experiences and how society interacts with an individual based on the gender. This does not only express the male or female perception of the reproductive functions of an individual such as sex chromosomes, hormones, gonads or genitals (Oakley, 2016). It goes to the extent of perceiving femininity and masculinity in an individual based on the physical attributes of an individual. It greatly affects how people feel about themselves in the society.
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Gender identity is the internal naming and experience of the gender of an individual. For instance, a cisgender has a consistent gender identity from birth while a transgender may have inconsistent gender identity with the assigned identity at birth. Therefore, the most common gender identities in our societies are male and female. However, there are occasions where an individual identifies as both female and male in the society. This condition is referred to as non-binary gender identity or agender individuals (Oakley, 2016). The third dimension, gender expression is basically how individuals show their gender to the society through clothing and social activities in the society. It is important to note the gender identity disorder which involves persistent feelings of inappropriateness or discomfort in regard to the anatomic sex of an individual. The disorder begins in childhood with much problems of gender identity and gets manifested in adulthood or adolescence through clothing and activities of an individual based on the common cultural standards.
Gender dysphoria is a gender identity disorder that involves constant conflict between the assigned gender and physical gender of an individual with the gender that an individual identifies within the society ( Schneider et al, 2016) . People suffering from this disorder tend to be quite uncomfortable with their assigned gender, and even consider themselves unlucky to have born the way they are. This causes significant problems and distress functioning associated with the conflict between their own feelings of their gender and their physical or assigned gender. The condition differently affects people in the society. It can change the way people express themselves in social places and influences their self-image, dress, and behavior and even wish to medically change their gender through hormone treatment or surgery.
There are diagnostic criteria and associated features of gender dysphoria. For instance, most children manifest the disturbance through repeated insistence or desire to be the other sex; preference for simulating or cross-dressing female clothes on boys or much insistence of wearing only clothes perceived to stereotypical masculine; persistent and strong persistent preferences for more cross-sex roles in the society or making much advancements and persistent fantasies to be the opposite sex; constant desire to play stereotypical or pastimes games of the opposite sex; and constant preference for other sex playmates, and constantly seeking attention to be treated as the other sex, or simply convincing himself to typically possess reactions and feelings of the other sex ( Schneider et al, 2016) .
Besides, there are situations when an individual constantly shows discomfort in their own sex or the inappropriate feeling to perform the perceived roles of the other gender. For instance, little boys may find their penis or testes to be quite disgusting to an extent they wish they did not have it and constantly reject toys perceived to be for boys in the society, while little girls always try to urinate like her boys and constantly wish she could grow penis to urinate the way she wants ( Schneider et al, 2016) . Besides, adolescents can be seen to be much preoccupied with ensuring the get rid of their secondary and primary sex characteristics through surgery or constant belief that they were born in wrong sex.
It is important for adults with the condition to find more effective and comfortable ways of living with the condition that does not involve awkward situations in the society. This can either be done through seeking hormonal, surgical or psychological treatment. Alternatively, an individual can manage the condition through maturation and self-discovery in ensuring their self-comfort in whatever gender they believe in. This can be successfully done by offering a supportive environment for the individual, early diagnosis and comprehensive treatment that greatly respect the desires and wishes of the individual.
References
Schneider, C., Cerwenka, S., Nieder, T. O., Briken, P., Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., De Cuypere, G. & Richter-Appelt, H. (2016). Measuring Gender Dysphoria: A Multicenter Examination And Comparison Of The Utrecht Gender Dysphoria Scale And The Gender Identity/Gender Dysphoria Questionnaire For Adolescents And Adults. Archives of sexual behavior , 45 (3), 551-558.
Oakley, A. (2016). Sex, Gender, And Society . Routledge.
