Adequate Training and Multidisciplinary Support May Assist Pediatricians in Properly Handling and Managing Gender Incongruence and Dysphoria

Abstract

What we call “sexual identity” refers to the complex relationship between biological sex, gender identity and role, and sexual orientation.1 “Gender identity” means the unified and persistent perception of oneself as belonging to the male or the female gender or ambivalent. For many, gender identity coincides with sexual identity; traditional culture has long provided for the definition of only 2 genders, corresponding to the 2 biological sexes. The person with gender incongruence experiences a disharmony between biological aspects and gender identity, with the constant awareness that he or she belongs to the opposite gender and is imprisoned in a body that does not represent him or her.