I can't really speak for trans mascs as I'm not one. for trans femmes, it's a scalding iron, joining with societal voices to reinforce in our own heads that we are in fact men. that belief, that we are actually men, is the root of dysphoria. it means something obviously true about the world - that I am a woman - is false and the cognitive dissonance is existentially painful. it's difficult to articulate what this pain is like because there's no real comparison with the things you might experience day to day. dysphoria precedes thought and emotion - it warps my perception of the world and my responses to it before I'm even aware that I've even perceived something. that is, every single other person in the world can look at me and see a woman and I'll still look in the mirror and see a man - literally hallucinate things into existence or out of it - just because I've allowed my dysphoria to grow out of control. I have to remind myself every time I look in the mirror that I can't trust what I see, good or bad, because my senses will straight up lie to me depending on factors entirely out of my hands. have I gotten misgendered or deadnamed recently? 0% chance I see anything but a disgusting wretch of a man. I have a single point of control - to remove all the factors my dysphoria might anchor on from my body and my life well before I look in the mirror. and to fail too often means returning to the zombie-like existence I eked out prior to transition - something I cannot tolerate.
Part of what youre describing sure sounds passingly similar to the experiences of cis people seeking out surgery. Or HRT.
Don't get me wrong, trans experiences of dsyphoria are different than cis ones, especially because of the intensified scrutiny society places on us.
But,,,
I think it is a mistake to conceptualize gender dsyphoria as a unique experience of trans people because
a) IME it is not, I've had cis people describe similar feelings and experiences
b) on a larger level, it others trans people. Dont get me wrong. There are many ways that our lives are different than the lives of cis people. But when it comes to dysphoria like you're describing, the variation is on how and to what degree we experience it, not that we experience it.
And when it comes to the Musk thing
c) rhetoric against cis cosmetic surgery is inevitably turned against us
gender dysphoria is unique to trans people but not because cis people can't experience dysphoria -- but rather that if you experience gender dysphoria, you have a place somewhere under the trans umbrella. there are certainly other kinds of dysphoria but I'm not aware of any attempt to unify those experiences under a single tent. that is, I don't think anyone is trying to find commonality of cause between the various dysphorias.
But when it comes to dysphoria like you’re describing, the variation is on how and to what degree we experience it, not that we experience it.
this is actually a really fraught position within the trans community. there are a sizable minority of trans people who report that they do not experience any kind of dysphoria and I think we just have to take them at their word. some people try to square this circle by redefining their experiences to show that they must include dysphoria but I think fundamentally we just need to accept what people say about themselves - they'd know best, after all.
c) rhetoric against cis cosmetic surgery is inevitably turned against us
yeah, the only position available to us is that people should be able to modify their bodies how they please and without justification to anyone.
gender dysphoria is unique to trans people but not because cis people can’t experience dysphoria – but rather that if you experience gender dysphoria, you have a place somewhere under the trans umbrella.
I think it is reasonable to define a lot of cis body dsyphoria as gender dysphoria. I think the distinction between some cis body dysphoria and trans gender dysphoria absolutely is in how society categorizes it and not because the experiences are sufficiently distinct to warrant the separation.
this is actually a really fraught position within the trans community. there are a sizable minority of trans people who report that they do not experience any kind of dysphoria and I think we just have to take them at their word.
Let me clarify, I meant the distinction between cis people and trans people who experience gender dsyphoria is how and to what degree they experience it, Im not saying all trans people have gender dsyphoria.
I can't really speak for trans mascs as I'm not one. for trans femmes, it's a scalding iron, joining with societal voices to reinforce in our own heads that we are in fact men. that belief, that we are actually men, is the root of dysphoria. it means something obviously true about the world - that I am a woman - is false and the cognitive dissonance is existentially painful. it's difficult to articulate what this pain is like because there's no real comparison with the things you might experience day to day. dysphoria precedes thought and emotion - it warps my perception of the world and my responses to it before I'm even aware that I've even perceived something. that is, every single other person in the world can look at me and see a woman and I'll still look in the mirror and see a man - literally hallucinate things into existence or out of it - just because I've allowed my dysphoria to grow out of control. I have to remind myself every time I look in the mirror that I can't trust what I see, good or bad, because my senses will straight up lie to me depending on factors entirely out of my hands. have I gotten misgendered or deadnamed recently? 0% chance I see anything but a disgusting wretch of a man. I have a single point of control - to remove all the factors my dysphoria might anchor on from my body and my life well before I look in the mirror. and to fail too often means returning to the zombie-like existence I eked out prior to transition - something I cannot tolerate.
Part of what youre describing sure sounds passingly similar to the experiences of cis people seeking out surgery. Or HRT.
Don't get me wrong, trans experiences of dsyphoria are different than cis ones, especially because of the intensified scrutiny society places on us.
But,,,
I think it is a mistake to conceptualize gender dsyphoria as a unique experience of trans people because
a) IME it is not, I've had cis people describe similar feelings and experiences
b) on a larger level, it others trans people. Dont get me wrong. There are many ways that our lives are different than the lives of cis people. But when it comes to dysphoria like you're describing, the variation is on how and to what degree we experience it, not that we experience it.
And when it comes to the Musk thing
c) rhetoric against cis cosmetic surgery is inevitably turned against us
gender dysphoria is unique to trans people but not because cis people can't experience dysphoria -- but rather that if you experience gender dysphoria, you have a place somewhere under the trans umbrella. there are certainly other kinds of dysphoria but I'm not aware of any attempt to unify those experiences under a single tent. that is, I don't think anyone is trying to find commonality of cause between the various dysphorias.
this is actually a really fraught position within the trans community. there are a sizable minority of trans people who report that they do not experience any kind of dysphoria and I think we just have to take them at their word. some people try to square this circle by redefining their experiences to show that they must include dysphoria but I think fundamentally we just need to accept what people say about themselves - they'd know best, after all.
yeah, the only position available to us is that people should be able to modify their bodies how they please and without justification to anyone.
I think it is reasonable to define a lot of cis body dsyphoria as gender dysphoria. I think the distinction between some cis body dysphoria and trans gender dysphoria absolutely is in how society categorizes it and not because the experiences are sufficiently distinct to warrant the separation.
Let me clarify, I meant the distinction between cis people and trans people who experience gender dsyphoria is how and to what degree they experience it, Im not saying all trans people have gender dsyphoria.
oh, yeah, I completely agree.