gender dysphoria

noun

: a distressed state arising from conflict between a person's gender identity and the sex the person was identified as having at birth

I am a 24-year-old transgender woman, and I know gender dysphoria very well. My distress over my physical body, my feeling that it doesn't always match up with my gender identity, often lurks in some far corner of my mind. It doesn't matter how well I'm dressed, how much I brush my hair, how many compliments I receive, or how well my hormone therapy treatment is working. When gender dysphoria hits, it packs a punch.

—Serena Sonoma

also : a condition marked by such distress

The treatment for gender dysphoria is often multi-disciplinary, combining the efforts of several behavioral health and medical professionals. … Non-operative treatment focuses on implementing psychosocial therapy and/or medical management with hormone replacement therapy. Operative treatments range from small cosmetic procedures to much larger genital transformation surgeries.

—Danyon Anderson et al.

compare gender euphoria

Examples of gender dysphoria in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

All were diagnosed with gender dysphoria, according to court filings. —Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 13 Feb. 2025

Both of the students named in the lawsuit have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and now identify as transgender females. —Emily Hallas, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 12 Feb. 2025

The memo from last Friday bars people with gender dysphoria from joining the military and pauses treatment for transgender troops who require medical treatment. —Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY, 11 Feb. 2025

The lawsuit at the center of Tuesday’s ruling was filed on behalf of three transgender women who have been housed in women’s facilities and given hormones for gender dysphoria. —Shaila Dewan, New York Times, 5 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1973, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

gender dysphoria

noun

: a distressed state arising from conflict between a person's gender identity and the sex the person was identified as having at birth

Nonbinary people may or may not use medical approaches to align their identities and physical bodies, and, like transgender people, some nonbinary people experience gender dysphoria while others do not.

—Elizabeth Kukura, Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics

also : a condition marked by such distress

Scientists have no conclusive explanation for what causes some people to feel dissonance between their gender identity and aspects of their anatomy. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association updated its manual, replacing the term "gender identity disorder," with one that is less stigmatizing, "gender dysphoria."

—The New York Times

compare gender euphoria