Gender Dysphoria Essay

Why Treating Gender Dysphoria with Hormone Therapy is a Bad Idea

Gender dysphoria is a psychological condition that stems from confusion regarding one’s gender. While sex is biological and gender conceptual, gender is essentially the psychological awareness and acceptance of one’s biological sex. A person who is gender dysphoric is confused on this matter. Conception of a third gender in one’s mind does not mean a third sex has developed. The misalignment between gender identification and sex can lead to mental illness and physical illness if hormonal therapy is introduced, puberty suppressed or other chemicals used to help the person alter his or her sense of sex so as to promote the gender identity.

Suicide ideation, attempts at suicide, depression, anxiety—all of these are short term affects of gender dysphoria (Delgado-Ruiz et al.). Individuals who engage in hormonal therapy to help themselves to transition to the gender with which they identify though with which they do not biologically align can have long term effects, such as loss of bone mineral density, hormone imbalance, and immune deficiency. Other outcomes include “crippling levels of depression and, in some instances, suicidal thoughts” (Ashford). As Ashford notes, “people who have had sex reassignment surgery are approximately 20 times more likely than the general population to die by suicide.” Yet, if gender dysphoria is not treated with hormone therapy, 80% of children who experience gender dysphoria eventually develop into adulthood and no longer feel any discomfort with their bodies; in other words, if left to allow their natural biology to develop on through puberty their gender dysphoria will gradually wane and dissipate (Ashford). Those who elect to have transgender operations, however, set themselves up for a lifetime of physical and mental health issues.

Works Cited

Ashford, B. “ The Ugly Truth About Sex Reassignment the Transgender Lobby Doesn’t Want You to Know.” Daily Signal, 2017. https://www.dailysignal.com/2017/10/30/ugly-truth-sex-reassignment-transgender-lobby-doesnt-want-know/

Delgado-Ruiz, Rafael, Patricia Swanson, and Georgios Romanos. "Systematic Review of the Long-Term Effects of Transgender Hormone Therapy on Bone Markers and Bone Mineral Density and Their Potential Effects in Implant Therapy." Journal of clinical medicine 8.6 (2019): 784.