"BOY" - A Short Film about Gender Dysphoria

Today I attended a most enlightening seminar called, "Gender Dysphoria - Shifting Diagnostic and Treatment Paradigms". The presenter was Dr Fintan Harte who is a Consultant Psychiatrist at the Albert Road Clinic, Melbourne and until recently, Head of Unit, Gender Dysphoria Clinic, Melbourne. He is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University and Senior Clinical Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne. He is a founding member and current President of ANZPATH (Australian and New Zealand Professional Association for Transgender Health) and also a member of WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health). He has published a number of articles in peer reviewed journals and is a regular speaker on aspects of gender and sexuality, both nationally and internationally. Dr Harte is a medical graduate of Trinity College Dublin and completed his post graduate psychiatric studies in the United Kingdom. He has lived in Australia since 1985.

I am so glad to see the developments in the studies of Gender Dysmoria and the advancements made in understanding the fluidity of sexuality. Gone is the rigidity of thought that we are either male or female. The spectrum of gender identification is no longer the taboo, mental illness and/or criminal activity that it has been treated as in the Western world. There is still a very long way to go but we are on the right track thanks to the brave individuals who stood up for their truth, and those who listened.A topic that was raised at the seminar was the prevalence of children who develop the will to be a different gender for safety reasons. This is something that I experienced in my youth. I identified as "Jimmy" a boy who was free from the traumas that I perceived at the time, to be ones that belonged only to girls. This included sexual abuse and societies expectations that girls deserved less pleasure and more responsibility than boys. I communicated with boys or un-girly girls, rejecting the conformity that came with tea sets and dolls. I wore my hair short, played rough games, took physical risks and punched my way out of any argument. I was Jimmy and that was what I answered to. Once I reached puberty and developed an obviously female body, I was rejected by the boys as having "girl germs" which left me feeling rejected and unsafe. Later, in my teens I was once again welcomed into the fold by the boys but for completely different reasons, but that's another story. Unlike people who experience Gender Dysmoria, I knew that I was a female and resented this but was sure of my sexual identification. I can only imagine the anguish that is experienced by those who feel trapped in the wrong body. 

Live your Bliss Mairead