Gender transition
Gender transition is the process of changing one's gender presentation 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,[1] or to be non-binary, genderqueer, bigender, or pangender, or to be agender (genderless). 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. 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 generally only adopted temporarily.
"Gender change" redirects here. For sex change, see Sex change.Transition begins with a 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 common parts of transitioning is coming out for the first time.[1] Transitioning is a process that can take anywhere between several months and several years. Some people, especially non-binary or genderqueer people, may spend their whole life transitioning and may 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 stages between different spheres of life. For example, someone may transition far with family and friends before even coming out at their workplace.
Terminology
Gender transition is sometimes conflated with sex reassignment surgery (SRS), but that is only one possible element of transition. 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.[2]
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 some transgender people may choose to purposely not pass. Not passing, in this case, can bring about a variety of negative consequences, including misgendering, violence, abuse, and refusal from medical professionals to deliver appropriate services.[3]
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. 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.[4] Mental health professionals who go by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care do not normally require a full-time social transition lasting a year before considering surgery, often known as the "real-life experience" (RLE) or "real-life test" (RLT). However, mental health professionals who do not follow these guidelines often require this full-time transition before surgery is recommended.[5]
Going stealth means to live as a gender without other people realizing a person is transgender.[6] 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.
Detransitioning is the process of changing one's gender presentation and/or sex characteristics back to accord with one's assigned sex.[7] Detransitioning has also been called retransitioning, though retransitioning can also mean transitioning again after detransitioning.[8]
Grieving gender identity
Over the course of a gender transition, people who are close to the transitioning individual may experience a sense of loss, and work through a grieving process.[14] This type of loss is an ambiguous loss, characterized by feelings of grief where the item of loss is obscure. Family members may grieve for the gendered expectations that their loved one will no longer follow, whereas the transgender person themself may feel rejected by their relatives' need to grieve.[15] Feelings that arise are described as a way of seeing the person who is transitioning as the same, but different, or both present and absent.[14]