Is it dysphoria ?

[SmartAlex]

I know dysphoria is about the body but I'm wondering, could it be related to social role ?
I'm wondering because I noticed in my family (maybe that happens in yours ?) that in our gathering, mostly before the meal, there are 3 groups : men, women and children. Of course children play together, but men and women tend to separate themselves. I find it annoying because I should stay with women but I don't care about their "girls conversation", but I don't care either of the "boys conversation". When I was a child those family gathering didn't annoyed me (I was playing with the other kids) but now I grew up, I feel really uncomfortable in my family so I avoid gathering.
So could it be qualified as dysphoria ?
Don't feel at ease in group you're supposed to be.
Also, is it dysphoria to hate doing activities associated with your assigned gender (beyond sexism, I mean) ?

[CarlyMcx]

I may be wrong, but I think that is called social gender dysphoria.  To me at least, it sounds perfectly valid.

Growing up I never had any interest in any sports other than golf and bicycle racing, so I really couldn't talk about sports with guys.

I remember longing to talk with girls about "girl stuff" but the barriers were up.  Eventually I drifted into hanging out with geeky guys and talking about geek stuff -- alternative music and science fiction, mostly.  I also got into cars, but I was constantly turned off by the competitiveness of it.

So yes, this makes perfect sense to me.

[Jacqueline]

Smart Alex,

Do you prefer Alex?

Dysphoria seems to be pretty hard to pin down. Carly seems correct, I think there are other aspects of dysphoria that are not entirely body related. Looking at medical definitions, they generally point to an unease. Not comfortable. So these could certainly fit into those categories. Dysphoria, as I understand it tends to describe a collection of things that lead to than unease and depression. I like to think of it as the symptoms bubbling over from our brain not syncing up with our bodies(they pop up in social, psycological and many other ways). I think some psychologists would put the un-ease with social groupings there. I also think some would do that with the dislike of activities generally associated with your born sex.

I am beginning to believe that there are a lot of "symptoms" that are not really defined yet. Partly because the definition of dysphoria is so loose but also because there has been so little time (relatively speaking) to study and nail down our community. I think we may start to see other typical symptoms of dysphoria pop up. Just my belief, so far.

Don''t know if that is helpful but I hope it so.

With loving thoughts,

Joanna

[rachel89]

I definitely have it.

[synesthetic]

a lot of people, including myself, experience "social dysphoria". discomfort when you're called by your birthname, discomfort when you're grouped with people of your assigned sex at birth, or generally just gender-based discomfort in social situations.

sounds like what you're describing definitely could be dysphoria.

[suzifrommd]

Yes. That was my major source of dysphoria. I never felt comfortable with male friends but it was really difficult to make female friends.

[SmartAlex]

Thanks for all your answer !
I'm currently trying to look at my past in a "transgender view", to explain some awkward things that happened to me when I was younger, or explain some of my behaviour. It's kind of comforting.

[Asche]

I don't know if this is the same thing, but when I was a child, I knew I couldn't stand any of the boy stuff I was expected to be or do, and I could not relate to other boys.  I felt like boys and most men were aliens from another planet (or maybe I was the alien.)  I don't know if I would have related better to girls, because I didn't have any opportunities to interact with girls.  (It was a very sex-segregated society.)

I know I was miserable -- very miserable, but there were lots of reasons for that.  Although my not being able to be a proper boy was the source of a lot of it.  I don't know if this is true Gender Dysphoria(TM) or not.

[Dena]

By the time I was in grade school, the boys had gone there way and the girls went another way. I didn't want to hang out with the boys and the girls didn't want me around. As the results much of my life I have been socially undeveloped. Large groups or meeting new people for a long time made me uncomfortable. But yet I was comfortable in my new role because I was going places that I knew. After my surgery, my roommate started dragging me to places that set off the discomfort but over time, I lost most of that fear has faded. I still have to push my self for the first couple of seconds but by the time the greeting is over I am ready to do business.