Author: Arono Ciprin  (ACET – Associazione per la cultura e l’etica transgenere).

Being a transgender person means perceiving one’s gender identity as different from the gender assigned at birth, which is based on the sex assigned at birth.

In other words, a transgender man is an AFAB (assigned female at birth) person whose identity is male. 

A transgender woman is an AMAB (assigned male at birth) person whose identity is female. 

A non-binary person has a gender identity that does not conform to the gender binary of “man and woman,” regardless of the gender attributed to the sex assigned at birth.

This dynamic of gender assignment, which overrides the self-determination of the individual, finds its root in the gender binary—the rigid distinction between what is male and female—from which stereotypes and expectations about the identity of others derive, along with cissexism. 

This is why the gender assigned at birth chains us to our bodies and consequently generates the stereotype that transgender people suffer from an alleged “wrong body.” However, gender is not based on biological or physical differences, but on social, cultural, and behavioural components, which is why there is nothing wrong with our bodies if stripped of the definitions of a society that is not yet fully capable of seeing the potential of differences and normalizing them.

The development of gender identity makes children aware of the difference between males and females around the age of 2. The only difference between those who are transgender and those who are not lies exclusively in the fact that transgender children will not be encouraged to express and investigate their gender, unlike their classmates, forcing them to repress their identity and feel ashamed of it.

The gender-affirming pathway is strictly personal, so it is not the same for everyone. Some transgender people may decide to affirm their gender by resorting to a medicalized process, but it is important to remember that there are no mandatory steps and not all transgender people want or can take hormones or undergo surgery. Our paths are not a journey from point A to point B; we talk about a pathway because it is a constant becoming, not a race toward a pre-established finish line.

The mainstream narrative of the transgender experience is often linked to the term “gender dysphoria,” in reference to a negative feeling. Consequently, the imagery created around transgenderism is that of a sad and suffering experience. However, on the other hand, there is euphoria. Gender euphoria is that feeling of joy that is a fundamental part of the transgender experience. Focusing on euphoria allows us to move away from the negative and pathologizing vision of transgender people, overturning the narrative.

Trans people are not sick or confused. We are people just like others, and we have the right to be happy. Our gender-affirming paths are proof of the love we feel for ourselves, despite the awareness of the hatred that being ourselves still evokes today.