gender transition

noun

plural gender transitions

: a process by which a transgender or nonbinary (see nonbinary sense c) person comes to live in accordance with their gender identity through changes to their appearance and presentation often with the aid of medical procedures and therapies

Note: While many associate gender transition with a process that involves hormone therapy, gender confirmation surgery and legal name change, the term is also applied more broadly, since what transition involves can vary a great deal from person to person. In some cases, for example, the term gender transition may simply refer to the adoption of new personal pronouns and/or a change in clothing, hairstyle, etc.

For transgender people who are insured, barriers to care can persist, as private insurers have historically excluded coverage for medical interventions related to gender transition.

—Jaclyn M. White Hughto et al.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires women who are transgender like me to complete 12 months of hormone therapy to suppress testosterone as part of their gender transition before competing.

—Lindsay Hecox

Examples of gender transition in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the third case rejected Monday, an association of parents in the Eau Claire Area School District in Wisconsin challenged a policy by the school system that laid out guidance on supporting students going through a gender transition. —Justin Jouvenal and Ann E. Marimow The Washington Post, arkansasonline.com, 10 Dec. 2024

Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical of a challenge to Tennessee’s ban on gender transition treatments for minors. —Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 5 Dec. 2024

Advertisement In the past three years, Tennessee and 23 other states have adopted laws that forbid prescribing hormones and puberty blockers for those under age 18 for the purpose of gender transition. —David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times, 4 Dec. 2024

Minors can still access hormones and puberty blockers for medical purposes, as long as those treatments are not being used as part of a gender transition or to alleviate gender dysphoria. —Orion Rummler, Them, 31 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1983, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

gender transition

noun

: a process by which a transgender or nonbinary person comes to live in accordance with their gender identity through changes to their appearance and presentation often with the aid of medical procedures and therapies

Note: While many associate gender transition with a process that involves hormone therapy, gender confirmation surgery, and legal name change, the term is also applied more broadly, since what transition involves can vary a great deal from person to person. In some cases, for example, the term gender transition may simply refer to the adoption of new personal pronouns and/or a change in clothing, hairstyle, etc.

Gender transition can refer to social transition, physical transformation, or both. Many transgender … people do not seek medicalized assistance for transition, which can involve delays other than those created by medicine …

—Victoria Pitts-Taylor, Health

Studies examining the effects of hormonal gender transition during adolescence suggest that these transgender individuals experience decreased gender dysphoria, score more favorably on various psychological instruments than transgender people treated in adulthood, and function similarly to their peers.

—Deborah Coolhart et al., Journal of Marital & Family Therapy