Gender Identity Disorder, History of

[Page 674]The term gender identity disorder (GID) applies to those individuals who are in distress or are incapacitated because of their transgender presentation and behavior. Such people are in distress because they behave in a gender behavior category that is incongruent with the one they were assigned at birth. Because of their presentation and behavior, family, community, and culture may reject them. For this reason, such people encounter social situations that are stressful.

Gender behavior category refers to the behaviors, norms, expectations, and rules defined by culture for that category. In most contemporary cultures, the assignment to gender behavior category is based on assignment of sex at birth. Sex pertains to the structure of body organs that are involved in reproduction. Gender refers to behavior. According ...