On May 17, 1990, the World Health Organization (WHO) eliminated homosexuality from the list of mental disorders. This is a before and after in the society in which we live. Even so, currently there is still great discrimination in terms of gender issues, as in the case of homophobia and transphobia.
Transphobia is a relatively new concept, specifically it emerged in the late 1990s in the United States. However, the attitudes that this term describes have been present throughout history, despite the fact that we would not have conceived or understood it as we would today. Are you interested in knowing what it is about? Find out in this Psychology-Online article, in which we will delve into whatWhat is transphobia, its main characteristics and examples.
The meaning of transphobia refers to obsessive fear, revulsion, and aversion towards transgender people, transgender or transvestite. It refers to the irrational fear of those people who do not identify with the biologically assigned gender or simply tend to dress in the way that the opposite sex does. Transphobia is also known as cissexism, transprejudice, trans-misogyny
It is interesting to refer to the fact that the term transsexuality was introduced in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders[1] in 1980, around the same time the term homosexuality was dropped. However, this concept has been changing over the years in the different manuals, included in the DSM-5, which currently speaks of gender dysphoria. Dysphoria refers to the discomfort caused by the discordance between gender identity and the biologically assigned sex.
In addition, including the term transsexuality in the manuals of mental disorders it has not ensured that the healthcare that these people require is provided in many countries. In fact, in many parts of the world transgender individuals are persecuted, condemned and mistreated. This helps to understand that on theTransphobia there is an important cultural component. For example, in African culture the existence of transsexuality is repressed and denied.
Below are examples of transphobia in different areas in which this type of phobia occurs:
- Related to school: In educational centers there is a lot of violence of this type and, sometimes, this means that students drop out of school. This population frequently has self-esteem problems and other psychological problems. In addition, it is also important to note that cyberbullying or virtual bullying is very common among adolescents. This is important, as the abuse is no longer just limited to the school setting. Discover the different types of bullying and its consequences.
- Familiar scope: Another example of transphobia is abuse and family abuse tends to increase in the cases of transgender people. Many times this sexual identity is not accepted by families, who act directly or indirectly in a transphobic way.
- Labor sphere: Currently, in our country the unemployment rate of this group is around 85%. These data reflect that job placement for this population is very complex, since the business sector is usually not willing to hire them. This implies isolation and a certain degree of social exclusion, which affects their mental health. Transphobia also manifests itself through workplace harassment. In this article, we tell you what is workplace bullying and how to deal with it.
Unfortunately, transphobia is a major problem in our society. On many occasions we may not be aware that some of our attitudes may be transphobic. However, at present there are many associations that fight against transphobia and this is gradually impacting on a change in the mentality of the population, although there is still a long way to go. travel.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
