Transitioning is the process of changing one's gender presentation and/or sex characteristics to accord with one's internal sense of gender identity – the idea of what it means to be a man or a woman, or genderqueer. For genderqueer people, their internal sense of gender identity is neither solely female nor male. For transgender and transsexual people, this process commonly involves reassignment therapy (which may include hormone replacement therapy and sex reassignment surgery), with their gender identity being opposite that of their birth-assigned sex and gender. Transitioning might involve medical treatment, but it does not always involve it. Cross-dressers, drag queens, and drag kings tend not to transition, since their variant gender presentations are (usually) only adopted temporarily.
Transition must begin with a personal decision to transition, prompted by the feeling that one's gender identity does not match the sex that one was assigned at birth. One of the most significant parts of transitioning for many transgender people is coming out for the first time. Transitioning is a process, not an event, that can take anywhere between several months and several years. Some people, especially genderqueer people, may spend their whole life transitioning as they redefine and re-interpret their gender as time passes. Transitioning generally begins where the person feels comfortable: for some, this begins with their family with whom they are intimate and reaches to friends later or may begin with friends first and family later. Sometimes transitioning is at different levels between different spheres of life. For example, someone may transition far with family and friends before even coming out at work.
Transitioning is sometimes confused with sex reassignment surgery (SRS), but that is only one possible element of transitioning. Many people who transition choose not to have SRS, or do not have the means to do so. Whereas SRS is a surgical procedure, transitioning is more holistic and usually includes physical, psychological, social, and emotional changes. Some transgender and non-binary people have little or no desire to undergo surgery to change their body but will transition in other ways.
Passing refers to being perceived and accepted by other people in a manner consistent with one's own gender identity. This can be one aspect of transitioning, though genderqueer people may choose to purposely not pass.
Going full-time refers to a person living one's everyday life as the gender one identifies with. One's passing can be limited by safety, legal or bodily restraints. For instance, someone who has worked at a job as female may feel they cannot safely present as male and may switch jobs instead. Mental health professionals who go by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People do not normally require a patient to go full-time for at least a year (a period of time generally referred to as the "Real-Life Experience" (RLE) or "Real-Life Test" (RLT), but mental health professionals who do not adhere to these guidelines do, before recommending surgery.
Going stealth means to live as a gender without other people realising a person is transgender. Trans people often go stealth in public but not with family, partners, or intimate friends. There have been many cases of people who have lived and worked as a gender identity different from their gender assigned at birth. See Category:Transgender and transsexual people for some examples.
A social transition is the aspects of transition involving social, cosmetic, and legal changes, without regard to medical interventions. People who socially transition may ask others to refer to them by their preferred name and pronouns, and some may legally change their name.
Detransitioning is the process of changing one's gender presentation and/or sex characteristics back to accord with one's assigned sex. Detransitioning has also been called retransitioning, though retransitioning can also mean transitioning again after detransitioning.
Transitioning is a complicated process that involves any or all of the gendered aspects of a person's life, which include aesthetics, social roles, legal status, and biological aspects of the body. People may choose elements based on their own gender identity, body image, personality, finances, and sometimes the attitudes of others. A degree of experimentation is used to know what changes best fit them. Transitioning also varies between cultures and subcultures according to differences in the societies' views of gender.
Social, psychological, and aesthetic aspectsEdit
The social process of transitioning begins with coming out, that is, informing other individuals that one identifies as transgender. From there, the newly out trans person may adopt a new name, and they may ask others to refer to them using a set of pronouns different from before; for example, a trans man would ask to be referred to as he rather than she, or a genderqueer/non-binary person might ask to be referred to as they or by a pronoun such as ze Personal relationships often take on different dynamics in accordance with gender; what was once an opposite-gender relationship is now a same-gender one, and vice versa. Gender roles and social expectations often change as the transition progresses. Aesthetics and fashion are also a common consideration for transitioning. Transitioning people often alter what types of clothing and accessories they wear, have their hair styled differently, and adopt new grooming or makeup techniques to enhance their appearance.
A person's ideas about gender in general also often changes, which may affect their religious, philosophical and/or political beliefs.
Transgender and transexual identified individuals view their identity as another aspect of human diversity. Transgender and transexual identity is not to be confused with a mental disorder. To best support individuals who are transitioning, one can start by deconstructing the binary gender system and embracing the wide spectrum of gender diversity. Transgender and transexual individuals identify outside of the heteronormative, traditional gender binary system.The Transgender Emergence Model developed by Arlene Istar Lev, lists the seven steps to support people who are transitioning.
The first step is awareness, which is important because the individual transitioning may not be fully aware of their identity and in consequence may not fully understand why they are experiencing depression, anxiety, and/ or body dysphoria (gender variance or gender dysphoria).
The second step is seeking information from support groups, group therapy, individual therapy with a gender affirming therapist. For a healthy transition, individuals find support from individuals or groups that affirm their identity and provide a safe place to explore what the identity means to them
The third step is disclosure and coming out with a healthy transition. In this step, individuals discuss how to disclose their identity to their loved ones in the support groups or individual therapy.
The fourth step is exploring Identities, which is when an individual is transitioning and thinking about what labels, if any, best fits the individual.
The fifth step is transitioning and body modification, which is when the individual pursues hormone treatment and/ or body modification on their terms. Dependent factors for transitioning and body modification include, health insurance (hormone access, surgeries, mental health services, etc.)
The last step is post-transition challenges, which may include adjusting to society with the new changes that the individual has developed. This may also include supporting relationships, while grieving characteristics of previous identity.
These steps do not happen in chronological order. Rather, it is common for them to overlap with each other.
Transgender people in many parts of the world can legally change their name to something consistent with their gender identity. Some regions also allow one's legal sex marker changed on documents such as driver licenses, birth certificates, and passports. The exact requirements vary from region-to-region; some require sex reassignment surgery, while many do not.
Grieving Gender IdentityEdit
Transitioning is a process that has no chronological order. When an individual is transitioning gender identities through hormone therapy or surgery, they are becoming their full selves. When transitioning gender identities, people that are close to the individual who is transitioning, may experience a sense of loss and a grieving process. This is also understood as an Ambiguous Loss, which is defined by the countering feelings that arise when someone you are connected to or related to, is transitioning. It is the feeling of grief where the item of loss is obscure. Feelings that arise are described as a way of seeing the person who is transitioning as same but different, or both present and absent.
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