I recently had a conversation with a guy and I explained it like this:
He was saying that he is the "alpha male" type, but not arrogantly and aggressively. He knows he is definitely alpha and can walk into any room, look around at everyone, and know that he is the alpha.
I told him that it was wonderful that he knew himself so well. Now imagine knowing this with every fiber of your being. Then you look in the mirror and you do not feel that reflection is you. It is like someone else is staring back at you. How would that make you feel?
He said that would be scary and very uncomfortable. I said THAT is what Gender Dysphoria feels like. But it is not just a face in the mirror, it is also a body that we can't really relate to. It doesn't feel right. Some people can shrug it off. Others are deeply disturbed by it.
He agreed that he would find it deeply upsetting. So I asked him, "Would it be upsetting enough that you would try to change it?"
He said, "Yes, of course."
"Even to the point of having surgery?"
He said he was beginning to understand now. He pointed out that even cis-men disapprove of their appearance and do things like taking steroids, weightlifting, or getting hair transplants.
I said, now imagine that the government has decided for you to do that was illegal. What if you were stuck with staying exactly the way you looked when you were born? What if the government decided that if you were born a redhead, you must stay a redhead your entire life, even if people harassed you for it? What if the government decided that when you got married, your wife could not change her name, and that she had to keep the name she was born with under any circumstances?
These are the kinds of issues that we deal with in the LGBTQ+ community because some politicians have decided they know better about how we should live our lives.
