Transitioning is the process that many transgender people go through to reflect and affirm their gender identity. This can include transitioning socially, legally, medically, or a combination. People who transition are typically on a journey to becoming visibly and socially recognizable as being of a different gender from what they were assigned at birth, but transgender people can express their gender identities in many different ways. How long someone takes to transition can also vary: some people transition slowly and some transition very quickly.
What is gender dysphoria?
People who are transgender and transitioning may have gender dysphoria. This is a diagnosis used by health-care providers to describe the distress, unhappiness and anxiety that transgender people may feel about the mismatch between the sex they were assigned at birth and their gender identity.
A person will need to be formally diagnosed with gender dysphoria in order to receive medical treatment to help them transition.
Social transition
Social transitioning is when a person changes aspects of their appearance, behaviour or way of interacting with others to affirm their gender identity. This may include:
- coming out as transgender to friends and family
- asking to be called by a different name
- asking to be referred to by the pronouns that match their gender identity (e.g., she/her, he/him, they/them)
- dressing or wearing their hair in ways that demonstrate their gender identity
- modifying their tone of voice
- using non-surgical options to modify their body (e.g., binding, packing, tucking, padding)
Legal transition
In some countries, including Canada, people can also transition legally by changing their name and/or sex designation on documents like their birth certificate, driver’s license, passport, social insurance number (SIN) and health card. If your child is under the legal age of adulthood and wants to change their name or sex designation, you may need to provide parental/guardian permission before they can legally transition.
Medical transition
Medical transitioning is when a person takes medications and/or has surgery to affirm their gender identity. This may include:
- hormone blockers, to delay the progression of puberty until they are old enough to make more serious medical decisions about their body
- gender-affirming hormones, to gain either masculine characteristics or feminine characteristics
- masculinizing hormones usually deepen the voice, increase facial and body hair, stop menstruation, increase muscle growth and redistribute fat away from the hips and breasts
- feminizing hormones usually decrease facial and body hair, decrease muscle growth, promote the growth of breasts and redistribute fat towards the hips and breasts
- laser hair removal
- chest reconstruction (removal of breast tissue) or augmentation (breast implants)
- tracheal shave (making the Adam’s apple smaller)
- facial feminization surgery (altering the face to create feminine facial features)
- removal of female reproductive organs (ovaries and uterus) or male reproductive organs (testes)
- • genital reconstruction (creating a penis or vagina using the genitals the person was born with)
Does everyone who is transgender decide to transition?
Every person who chooses to transition does so in their own way. Some people choose to only transition socially, and some people transition both socially and medically. A person does not have to transition in order to be considered transgender—each individual lives and experiences their identity differently. Transitioning can sometimes be a long, expensive and permanent process; so, deciding to undergo certain aspects of transitioning can be difficult. It is also important to remember that not all transgender people wish to change their bodies or the ways in which they express parts of their gender.
What does it mean to “pass”?
Passing is a term for when a transgender person is perceived as a cisgender person instead of the sex they were assigned at birth. Passing can be important for many transgender people to alleviate their gender dysphoria and to affirm their gender identity. Passing can also sometimes protect a transgender person from violence, prejudice and harassment by allowing them to go unnoticed by people who are unaccepting. However, the term “passing” can be seen very negatively. It can falsely imply that the goal of transitioning is to be seen as a cisgender person and that some people’s gender presentation is more real than others. It is important to remember that many transgender people are not trying to “pass” as cisgender and are comfortable as they are.
