Q: How prevalent are transgender people?

<p>It&#39;s estimated that there are <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/trans-adults-united-states/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1.4 million transgender</a> people in the U.S. This translates to less and 1% of the U.S. population. </p><p>However, because more people are embracing their gender identities and sexual orientation, the number of transgender people is expected to rise.</p>

Question 1

What is the definition of transgender?

Accepted Answer

Transgender is a collective term that refers to persons whose gender behavior or gender identity (the internal sense of being female or male) doesn't conform to the sex they were assigned at birth. “Trans” is often used as shorthand for transgender.

Transgender individuals express their identities in different forms. For instance, some can use their behavior, attire, and mannerisms to portray the gender that best suits them.

Others choose to have surgery and use hormones to change their appearance. Doing this helps match their body to their gender identity.

There is also a group that doesn't classify gender as being either 'female' or 'male'. Instead, they identify themselves as genderqueer, transgender, or genderfluid.

Transgender people have diverse sexual orientations and gender expressions (who you are attracted to). Therefore, a transgender person can be straight, lesbian, bisexual, or gay.

Being transgender isn't like being bisexual, gay, or lesbian. Who you feel on the inside — whether female, male, none, or both — is what constitutes being transgender. Who you feel drawn to sexually or emotionally describes being bisexual, gay, or lesbian.

Question 2

Is being transgender a mental disorder?

Accepted Answer

No, being transgender is not a mental disorder; however, mental health assessment and care is often an integral part of transgender care.

Transgender people often seek therapy for help in exploring their gender identity, or for mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, or substance abuse that may be related to societal discrimination and trauma, which are commonly experienced by trans people.

In fact, according to the APA, most transgender people are likely to have mental disorders due to how they are treated by society or others.

Unlike a majority of mental disorders, being transgender is present within an individual from childhood. For starters, transgender people have a unique brain structure from cisgender people. Their brain function resembles that of the gender they embrace on the inside. These differences in brain structure exist in all transgender people regardless of whether they have started hormone treatment.

Question 3

How prevalent are transgender people?

Accepted Answer

It's estimated that there are 1.4 million transgender people in the U.S. This translates to less and 1% of the U.S. population.

However, because more people are embracing their gender identities and sexual orientation, the number of transgender people is expected to rise.

Question 4

What is the difference between sex and gender?

Accepted Answer

Sex refers to physical attributes (notably sex organs) that are distinct for a majority of individuals around the world. However, gender is about femininity or masculinity (the composite of behavior and attitudes of women and men).

Secondly, sex is biologically predetermined—usually by hormones and genes during birth development. Gender, on the other hand, is perpetuated and learned through religion, education, and family. Gender is, therefore, an acquired identity rather than a biological identity.

While an individual can only turn to surgery to change their sex, gender is more fluid. A person can alter their gender depending on how they choose to identify. Gender is much more than just an individual's reproductive organs and encompasses a person's experience and perception of themselves and their roles in society.

Finally, gender is a socialized attribute, which means it can vary across cultures and through time. Sex, however, usually remains constant across cultures and through time.

Question 5

Why are some people transgender?

Accepted Answer

There is no definitive scientific answer to why some people are transgender.

Being transgender is not due to bad parenting, not going to church, or what a mother ate during pregnancy. All of these are misconceptions that the public leans on because they have little understanding of transgender people.

Gender identity, anatomical sex, and sexual orientation are determined while an individual is in the womb. Although the anatomy happens in the first six weeks, gender identity starts actualizing at around six months gestation. It is at this point that the brain feminizes or masculinizes.

A testosterone surge will stimulate the fetal brain to develop in a male direction. Without the surge, however, the fetal brain will develop towards a female direction. With transgender individuals, the genitals will not match the brain direction. Therefore, these individuals will feel trapped in a different body.

What is the definition of transgender?

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