Gender Dysphoria

From Encyclopedia of Sex and Sexuality

There are rare persons who experience an intense feeling of being trapped sexually in the wrong body—men who have a continual craving to physically be a woman, and women whose craving is to physically be a man. Gender dysphoria exists when a person maintains a deep conviction over many years that his or her gender, or inner identity, is incongruous with his or her sexual anatomy. This is distinct from transvestism, which is a form of role-playing in which a person wears the clothing of the opposite gender but finds this sexually exciting as a member of their own sex.

Gender dysphoria and transsexuality, however, overlap in meaning to some degree. A transsexual experiences the deep and uncomfortable feelings of gender dysphoria before seeking medical consultation and sex-change procedures. The transsexual who is now female although born a male (or vice-versa) has undergone the surgical, hormonal, and psychological therapy necessary to actually become a person of the opposite sex (see also androgyny).