Understanding Gender Dysphoria by Mark A Yarhouse

Author:Mark A Yarhouse
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9780830828593
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2015-06-22T04:00:00+00:00

Concluding Thoughts

As I bring this chapter to a close, we should recognize that gender dysphoria that rises to the level of a diagnosable disorder (Gender Dysphoria) is quite rare. People may experience gender dysphoria or a kind of gender incongruence along a continuum, and the prevalence estimates likely rise when we start discussing the experience along these lines. Any continuum might include gender-bending behaviors among adolescents and young adults, which may or may not reflect gender dysphoria, as well as gender variant expressions and identities and the range of experiences under the transgender umbrella, such as persons who identify as genderfluid, genderqueer, cross-dressers, drag kings and queens, transvestites, and intersex. As I noted in chapter one, not everyone who is in each of these categories (e.g., drag king) would consider themselves transgender, and not all transgender persons would count each of these categories of people as belonging under the transgender umbrella. Certainly not all experience gender dysphoria. However, as we think about prevalence estimates, recent probability studies suggest prevalence is much higher when people are given the option of selecting “transgender” as an identifier than when we base prevalence on those who are formally diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria or who present at specialty clinics.

Also, it should not be underestimated that gender dysphoria, insofar as it may be experienced to varying degrees by many different kinds of people who fall under the transgender umbrella, represents an issue within our culture that is hugely symbolic. In the context of the social and cultural discussions and debates (and political wars) surrounding sex and gender and ethics, it represents to some an opportunity to challenge structures of authority that they have experienced as oppressive. To others it represents an effort to deconstruct meaningful designations of sex and gender. To still others it may represent great pain and hardship that seem to offer few satisfying pathways to resolution.

The Christian community faces a unique challenge in rising above the culture wars and these symbolic dimensions as we think about how to engage both the broader culture and the individual who is navigating gender identity questions. There remains the theological challenge associated with thinking clearly about sex and gender, debates about essentialism and social constructivism, and theological anthropology and ethics. There also remains the pastoral challenge of how to translate that theological work into the practical necessities and pastoral accommodations associated with compassionate care for the persons who are navigating gender incongruence in their lives.

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