If you have a nagging feeling that something is not right it could be anything. Especially with the current situation domestically and across the globe. But if your “feeling” is that there is something wrong between your body and your mind then what you’re feeling is most likely gender dysphoria. Body configuration and the gender of your spirit are not in sync. Today Claire Hall writes about how to cope with this condition, both before and after transition.
Today our Youth View contributor M writes about how their dysphoria has changed during the past few years. The word dysphoria means an extreme discomfort or a feeling of unease. It has manifested differently for M over the years. For example when M was 14 their Adams Apple and chest caused deep feeling of discomfort for them. Now they sometimes feel the dysphoria centered on the chest but because, due to hormones, their chest is getting more feminine. Read all about M’s dysphoria in today’s Youth View.
A teacher reads to her class from the Jazz Jennings’ book I Am Jazz and parents are outraged. A male student is allowed to wear dresses at school and the parents of another student remove their child from the school. If everything doesn’t comply with how people think it should be then they explode. Meanwhile the things that should create outrage are quietly ignored or swept under the rug. The Artist D! has a few words this month about the oppression of kids that comes from their parent’s expectations. And then there’s the outrage over those different colored crayons. . . .
The Artist D talks about understanding gender dysphoria in two ways. She/he has always felt like a gender outlaw and can present in either gender or none without being bothered by the shape of their genitals. But The Artist D had issues with body image regarding fat. No matter how thin she/he was they always saw themselves as to fat. The longing to be thin gave them some idea of the effect of gender dysphoria and that was enforced when they were around someone everyday who suffered with gender dysphoria.
