The Happiness brought upon by Gender Euphoria

Many studies talk about how gender dysphoria causes transgenderism. But today, we’ll be discussing something that has not so much stemmed from scientific studies, but a feeling that many individuals from the trans society share, gender euphoria.

Before we get to the nitty-gritty of the gender euphoria definition, understanding what dysphoria and euphoria mean will provide you a jumpstart in grasping the fairly new semantic gender euphoria.

Dysphoria (noun)

A state of unease or generalized dissatisfaction with life.

Example: “adolescents with depression, dysphoria, mania, and anxiety disorders”

Synonyms:

• Blues
• Dejection
• Depression
• Despondence
• Doldrums and more

Antonyms:

• Euphoria
• Euphory
• Happiness and more

Euphoria (noun)

A feeling or state of intense excitement and happiness.

Example: “the euphoria of success will fuel your desire to continue training“

Synonyms:

• Elation
• Happiness
• Joy
• Delight
• Glee and more

Antonyms:

• Dysphoria
• Sadness
• Depression and more

What is Gender Euphoria?

Now that you know what dysphoria and euphoria are, it’s time to be specific with the gender euphoria meaning. To simplify, gender euphoria is a state whereby an individual is very happy with their gender identity. Not only that, this happiness extends, so much so that they are compelled to parade and translate their inner happiness outward.

This joy can manifest through a transmasculine individual wearing a binder to flatten their breasts. Or a transfeminine individual getting secondary sexual characteristics such as getting through breast augmentation surgery.

The Gender Euphoria Wiki Definition

Gender Euphoria is a psychological condition which consists of comfort or even joy when thinking about one’s true Gender identity, often accompanied by a strong desire to change one’s sex to better match their identity or to be called the correct gendered language.

Euphoria can be focused upon bodily attributes, treatment from others. It is possible for nonbinary people to feel gender euphoria too, for much the same reasons as binary transgender people.

There are many examples to describe what gender euphoria is for transmasculine and transfeminine people. In this section, we’ll divide the hypothetical scenarios into two.

A Transmasculine’s Gender Euphoria Experience

• Being addressed as sir or mister.
• Called a traditionally masculine name instead of the traditionally feminine name they were assigned with.
• The feeling after taking medication from female-to-male hormone replacement therapy.
• Witnessing the masculinizing effects of female-to-male hormone replacement therapy.
• Shopping for masculine clothing.
• Wearing masculine clothing in public.
• The feeling after getting a mastectomy done.
• When a transmasculine AFAB (assigned female at birth) gets their ovaries removed.
• After getting a gender reassignment surgery.

A Transfeminine’s Gender Euphoria Experience

• Being addressed as mam, madam, miss, etc.
• Called a traditionally feminine name instead of the traditionally masculine name they were assigned with.
• The feeling after taking medication from male-to-female hormone replacement therapy.
• Witnessing the feminizing effects of male-to-female hormone replacement therapy.
• Shopping for feminine clothing.
• Wearing feminine clothing in public.
• The feeling after getting a breast augmentation done.
• When a transfeminine AMAB (assigned male at birth) gets their testicles removed.
• After getting a gender reassignment surgery.

There are a lot more examples of how people get euphoric when they’re able to live with their true gender identity.

Studies about Gender Euphoria

Different psychiatric groups and universities have studied and conducted surveys about gender euphoria. It is to measure the common scenarios that help reinforce that gender is not something that can be controlled by other factors, people, and scenarios, but only by oneself.

26 Health Organization

One powerful testimony about gender euphoria came from a middle schooler. Alex Caddel, shared his experience and some anecdotes from his testimony. Here’s an excerpt from when he discussed gender euphoria.

Something that has given me a ton of gender euphoria is actually school. It might sound shocking since middle school is kind of like a nightmare for a lot of people. But for me, school became the first place where I could actually be myself with surprisingly very little judgement.

person (around the 3rd quarter of the school year) and my teachers were very supportive. Very soon after that, everyone in school was calling me Axel and not my birth name. I was pleasantly surprised that support came from a place where I least expected it. Honestly, it almost felt like a dream. It’s made me have this weird love-hate relationship with school. I don’t really like the environment there, nor do I love the teaching styles that some of my teachers have, but I finally have a place other than the internet where I’m openly trans.

The Daily Beast

Another powerful testimony of gender euphoria was shared by Sydney Bauer with The Daily Beast. In it, she shared,

This is where I found myself earlier this summer biting the bullet and buying a summer romper because I saw a friend had bought one and it looked good on her. After some shipping delays it finally came, and—to my surprise—it fit perfectly. Even more so, I’ve been able to wear it in public and not face confused stares by strangers who try to parse my gender in the moment leading to an awkward exchange for everyone that only serves to heighten my anxiety more.

The more I wore the romper the more I enjoyed being, well, myself. I get excited when I take it out of the wash knowing that it is clean to wear again. I enjoy going out as myself in public when wearing it.

This phenomenon is known to trans people as “gender euphoria,” the polar opposite of gender dysphoria.

Will Beischel’s Study for UVIC

From a study that was shared online for the UVIC by Will Beischel, they’ve come up with the summary that Gender Euphoria is conceptualized as a powerfully positive emotional experience related to one’s:

• gender identity
• gender expression
• sexed body
• and gendered social life

This result was made by recruiting participants on social media like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Participants had to be familiar with the term gender euphoria to participate. We ended up with 47 participants, who generated about 500 data excerpts, which allowed us to get at a breadth of people’s experiences.

They had a wide range of gender/sexes, including those with nonbinary identities, cis and trans women, cis and trans men, and additional gender/sexes including men and women who did not identify as cis or trans.

They were fairly young with a mean age of about 26. Most were non-heterosexual, including the cis women and men, so almost all participants were LGBTQ.

85% were white, with a few who were African American, Latinx, and multiracial . The sample was also highly educated, with 96% having completed at least some college.

the study cites.