Thanks for publishing my photos, Daily Dot, in Gender Dysphoria: Trans and Nonbinary People on How Dysphoria Feels

2013 Rally for Transgender Equality 21175
2013 Rally for Transgender Equality 21175 (View on Flickr.com)

Thanks for using my photographs to illustrate this very meaningful post, @DailyDot.

I read the piece and I recommend it to others.

Obviously, gender dysphoria is not something cisgender people, those who identify with their assigned gender, often understand or experience. They don’t know what it’s like to go for a casual walk and worry about whether you look presentable enough so not to be faced with transphobic street harassment. Or to worry about how cis-passing you look for a job interview before ever thinking about the interview questions.

Or as it was once carefully explained to me, which I explain to others – I will never, ever, ever know what it’s like to be transgender.

I have in turn explained this to colleagues, and it’s very clarifying, because then people look around and realize that there is no one at all with lived experience consulting on policies that affect them.

Thanks again, also, Daily Dot, for being an exemplar publication in using proper language and terminology. What you permit, you promote.

2017.06.26 WERK for Your Health, Washington, DC USA 6935
2017.06.26 WERK for Your Health, Washington, DC USA 6935 (View on Flickr.com)

When gender dysphoria hits, the feeling that your gender identity doesn’t match your physical body manifests itself differently in different people.

Source: Gender Dysphoria: Trans and Nonbinary People on How Dysphoria Feels

Ted Eytan, MD