Both: Is gender dysphoria a mental illness? & Is being trans a mental illness?

submitted by peakingatthemomentTranssexual (natal male), HSTS from self.GCdebatesQT

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[–]theory_of_thisan actual straight crossdresser 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

My understanding is what I call the "dynamic component model." That's how I navigate it.

"Mental illness" can be sort of another way of side stepping what exactly is going on. It depends on what you mean by mental illness.

By component I mean aspects of gendered behaviour like expression, body image and attraction.

By dynamic I mean the different combinations have dynamic results rather than perfect averages.

[–]nausicaa 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

I gotta say, I think your perspective is really interesting & it's certainly given me food for thought. Thank you.

[–]theory_of_thisan actual straight crossdresser 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks. It's not a settled topic so everyone gets to comment and have a take.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It took a bit for me to understand what you are saying, but I think maybe now I do (sorry, I'm often a bit dense!)

Is mental illness included in your dynamic component model? I think I understand what you mean by that, like what the concept is that you are formulating, and it seems like it would be, but you're saying not always and not entirely--Is that what you are saying? I'm really sorry, I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, I just want to be sure I understand you

[–]theory_of_thisan actual straight crossdresser 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

ha yeah no my ideas, are just my ideas and theories. I don't think "sex" "gender" are settled topics so we can all speculate. I'd probably need to write an essay to explain all my thoughts.

I'd relate gender issues to homosexual issues. At least the appearance in societies is similar. A constant pattern, of a small percentage, that relates to gender norms.

I think "gender divergence" and "homosexuality" are related. An extension of "gender" and "sexuality" are deeply related.

How do we categorize homosexuality?

I don't think it's completely a spandrel.

It's so common, so pervasive, so regular in pattern in nature I think it might be more like a basic DNA error checking function of sexual reproduction. More like a side product of the code that keeps the code healthy, in a population.

It would be interesting to see what the lives of mammals that have no homosexuality are like.

It might also be repurposed by evolution in different ways. Nature is like that.

Would that be called a mental illness?

Psychopathy is a recurrent pattern in human behaviour, sometimes it is advantage, sometimes it is a hindrance. It appears in a competitive equilibrium with other behaviours. Is it a disorder? Only when it becomes a problem for an individual or a society.

Regarding gender "component." Possibly breaking down gender into components like gender expression, orientation, physical aspects.

I know that sounds like the dreaded ginger bread person of GC nightmares but the components seem to manifest in society. They are there. We are only debating what they mean.

How many components are there? I don't know. Does that sound like a weak aspect? Yes. But they patterns remain even if I can't name them all. I'd limit to as few as possible.

For instance gender expression covers lots of things. It varies by society but the pattern remains. I think gender expression is likely to effectively be "sexual display in humans." Sexual display is super common in animals. Especially where both sides exhibit sexual choice. Both sexes "peacock."

If someone has one cross gender component they are more likely to have others.

Regarding the "dynamic." I mean that the mix of cross gender elements does not create a perfect average.

So attraction to men is a natural component in women. The same component can appear in men. However males have a component that makes them more sexually driven than women. On average. So the androphilia does not express, on average, in exactly the same way.

There are women that are as sexually driven as men but it's rarer in women. But straight women are a larger percentage.

Similarly the female gender expression component in a man might be expressed differently than in a woman. Even if there is some overlap. The mixture of components creates non average forms.

lol but I would say that as a crossdresser. I have to rationalise things somehow, everyone does.

Here's another component. Romantic feelings. People really do report a difference between sexual feelings for a sex and romantic feelings for a sex. It exists outside of trans theory. Again a small minority but it does appear.

Does that make sense?