Sexuality and Gender Dysphoria

Description

Sexuality includes an individual’s sexual feelings, thoughts, attractions, and behaviors toward others. One can find other people physically, sexually, or emotionally attractive—all of which are a part of sexuality. Sexuality, sexual behaviors, and sexual relationships are an important and necessary part of human development. Responsible sexual behavior, including delaying initiation of sexual activity, choosing caring and respectful partners, the use of safe sexual behaviors, and using effective contraception, are important personal and public health issues.

The terms transgender and gender incongruence describe a situation in which an individual’s gender identity differs from external sexual anatomy at birth: Those who have male genitals and facial hair but do not identify as a male or feel masculine, or those with female genitals and female breasts but do not identify as a female or feel feminine. Gender dysphoria is a concept designated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition , (DSM-5), as clinically significant, long-standing distress or impairment related to a strong desire to be of another gender, which may extend all the way to a desire to change primary and/or secondary sex characteristics. Most transgender or gender-diverse people do not experience dysphoria. Problems may arise, however, for adolescents who encounter disparity between their emerging sexuality and the sexuality that is imposed by families, peers, culture, and society.