Service Categories: Individual

Gender Dysphoria

Gender Dysphoria is a term used to describe the condition of feeling that one’s emotional and psychological identity as male or female is not the same as their biological sex. Some individuals identify as Transgender which means that one’s sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with one’s birth sex. Some individuals “choose not to choose” when it comes to gender or sexual identity, and feel as though the language that we have available does not best describe how they feel about themselves, and this is normal too. Gender Non-Conforming (GNC) refers to an individual who does not identify as either Male or Female, and therefore feels more comfortable with the label of Gender non-conforming, or Gender Fluid (GF), or Gender Queer (GQ).

If you are in need of support or help with a required letter for medical treatment we can help.

Helpful Terms:

Pre-op: A transgender person who has not had surgery to alter his or her body, although he or she may want to.

Post-op: A transgender person who has had surgery.

Non-op: A transgender person who does not intend to have surgery.

Hormone therapy: Synthetic hormones are taken to affect things like body shape, hair growth patterns, and secondary sex characteristics.

T: Shorthand for the hormone testosterone, which is taken by some individuals who want to masculinize their appearance.

Gender confirmation surgery: Sometimes mistakenly called a “sex change operation,” and more recently “sex reassignment surgery,” this involves physically changing one’s sex through surgery. It is often accompanied by hormone treatments.

Genderqueer: Genderqueer refers to people who do not adhere to strictly male or female identities and roles. A genderqueer person often chooses to present as neither clearly male nor clearly female, but rather as a gender-free individual whose identity may shift and change over time.

Gender identity: A person’s inner emotional and psychological inclination as being male or female.

Gender expression: The gender an individual displays to the world and to those around him through things like dress, hairstyle or mannerisms.

Sexual orientation: This term addresses whether an individual is sexually attracted to men, women or both. It’s not the same as gender identity, which focuses on the gender a person identifies with.

LGBTQQI Affirmative

My practice is affirming of all sexual orientations and gender identities, even including those that don’t identify yet and may be questioning, or curious. The acronym LGBTQQI refers to both sexual orientation and gender identities: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning or Intersex.

Although not everyone fits perfectly into a cookie cutter shape, and you shouldn’t expect that you will too, many people often feel ashamed of not fitting into expected gender or identity roles and stereotypes. In fact this issue of not “fitting in” is much bigger than most people realize and it has been a major source of trauma experienced by many people all over the world.

Some individuals “choose not to choose” when it comes to gender or sexual identity, and feel as though the language that we have available does not best describe how they feel about themselves, and this is normal too. Gender Non-Conforming (GNC) refers to an individual who does not identify as either Male or Female, and therefore feels more comfortable with the label of Gender non-conforming, possibly Gender Fluid (GF), or Gender Queer (GQ). Medically this is referred to as Gender Dysphoria. If you are in need of support or help with a required letter for medical treatment we can help.

Here are some helpful terms defined:

Lesbian- A woman who is sexually attracted to other women.

Gay- A man who is sexually attracted to other men.

Bisexual- Sexually attracted to both men and women.

Transgender: someone whose gender identity does not match their anatomical sex at birth.

Queer: (sometimes Questioning)

Intersex: an individual who is born with external/internal genitalia and/or secondary sex characteristics determined as neither exclusively male nor female.

Ally: someone who doesn’t identify as, but supports LGBTQQI.