Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May 3;23(3):274-294.
doi: 10.1080/26895269.2021.1915223. eCollection 2022.

"A little shiny gender breakthrough": Community understandings of gender euphoria

Will J Beischel  1 , Stéphanie E M Gauvin  2 , Sari M van Anders  2   3   4
Affiliations

"A little shiny gender breakthrough": Community understandings of gender euphoria

Will J Beischel et al. Int J Transgend Health. .

Abstract

Background: Gender euphoria is an important experience and concept for many, especially transgender and/or nonbinary individuals, but has not received much attention from psychological and clinical research. In contrast to gender dysphoria, which originates in psychiatry, the term "gender euphoria" has been mobilized by some LGBTQ people to describe the powerfully positive emotions that can come from one's gender/sex. As such, researchers and clinicians may benefit from conceptual clarity as to what gender euphoria is and what kinds of experiences might result in gender euphoria.

Aim: We aimed to better understand how trans community members and others conceptualize the term "gender euphoria," including its relationship to gender dysphoria, as well as the contexts and behaviors that elicit gender euphoria.

Method: We administered an online qualitative survey to participants (N = 47) of diverse sexualities and gender/sexes (including transgender, cisgender, and/or nonbinary participants) who had heard of or used the term "gender euphoria." Participants answered open-ended questions about where they had heard the term being used, how they would define gender euphoria and gender dysphoria, the relation between these terms, and their gender euphoric experiences.

Results: Analyses resulted in five themes: (1) gender euphoria describes a joyful feeling of rightness in one's gender/sex, (2) gender euphoric experiences can be external, internal, and/or social, (3) "gender euphoria" originated in and circulates in online and in-person gender/sex minority communities, (4) dysphoria describes a negative feeling of conflict between gender/sexed aspects of one's self, and (5) the relationship between euphoria and dysphoria is complex.

Discussion: These results can inform qualitative and quantitative research, gender affirmative clinical practice, political fights for transgender rights, and understandings of gendered experiences for people of all identities.

Keywords: Gender dysphoria; LGBTQ; gender euphoria; positive psychology; qualitative survey; transgender.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Abed, E. C., Schudson, Z. C., Gunther, O. D., Beischel, W. J., & van Anders, S. M. (2019). Sexual and gender diversity among sexual and gender/sex majorities: Insights via sexual configurations theory. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 48(5), 1423–1441. 10.1007/s10508-018-1340-2 - DOI - PubMed
    1. American Psychiatric Association . (2013a). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Publishing.
    1. American Psychiatric Association . (2013b). Gender dysphoria.https://www.psychiatry.org/File%20Library/Psychiatrists/Practice/DSM/APA...
    1. Ashley, F. (2019a). Gatekeeping hormone replacement therapy for transgender patients is dehumanising. Journal of Medical Ethics, 45, 480–482. 10.1136/medethics-2018-105293 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ashley, F. (2019b). The misuse of gender dysphoria: Toward greater conceptual clarity in transgender health. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1–6. 10.1177/1745691619872987 - DOI - PubMed