Crisis Issues Facing Transsexuals During Transitioning

For the transsexual population, the period of transitioning from male-to-female or female-to-male and re-emerging as the gender you have always identified with vs. your biological gender presents as a major crisis. Transsexual people suffer from a lifelong conflict diagnosed as gender identity disorder (GID) or gender dysphoria, in that they do not feel that their sexual identity matches their assigned gender. Many transsexuals demonstrate traits and behaviours opposite of their biological sex. Society may view the transsexual individual as someone who is changing their sex, where the transsexual individual sees it as “correcting” their gender to match their identity.
Transsexual men and women want to be able to blend in with other people of their new sex, but may not choose to reveal their past, in an effort to blend in as a male or female and avoid the stress and stigma of being identified as a transsexual. Within the transgender/transsexual community this practice of nondisclosure is known as stealth and is seen as an individual choice that the person must make, while outsiders of the transgender/transsexual community view this behavior as being dishonest because they feel that a person should be honest about his or her past. The fear of rejection and the loss of respect and trust are major factors. Deep stealth is sometimes used for those that have completely isolated themselves from their past, their birth families, the medical professionals directly involved in their treatment process, and from the support structures that may have helped them through transition. “The majority of the transgender/transsexual and transgender/transsexual community has learned to accept that people choose, for many reasons including political beliefs, religion, family responsibilities, career, perception of how well they