[MissC]

MissC, you misunderstand. I don't think there's anything wrong, but the fact is, there is a mismatch. The mismatch causes the dysphoria. You can say it shouldn't, but it does, and those who suffer from it deserve to be treated for their condition, if possible, like any other congenital "defect".

Unless I am greatly mistaken, the part there in bold is directly contradicted by the rest of your post. I'm pretty sure that's what that arrangement of words means, so it appears to me to be cognitive dissonance.

Help me out here with what I'm misunderstanding....

What I'm trying to tell you, and everyone else, is that it's all just a bunch of nonsense. It probably started as one crossdresser's excuse to his wife as to why she caught him in her undies. Gender uh... dis... dysphoria... hah that's it! Then the joke got picked up and run with, added to the DSM, and lo and behold, profit for the shrinks! I'll bet a fresh Benjamin that's how it happened.

For crying out loud, why can't people just be honest with themselves, let alone each other?

But the "experts" tell you sweet little lies, and you believe them. They explain you, don't they? Isn't that what you're striving for, answers? So you jump on the first answer bandwagon that comes by... one that doesn't sound as clinical as "transvestic fetish disorder" or whatever "GID" used to be called.

I don't have a disorder. I've never had a disorder. But let me tell you, I've been through a very large part of the same stories other people tell, right here on this forum. I am not so different. I've walked through hell. If I told my story to a shrink, I'm certain I'd be "diagnosed" with "Gender Identity Disorder". I'd get myself some prescriptions for pills and a permission slip to have my genitalia surgically rearranged.

Because my mind and body weren't matching? Genital mutilation is the solution?

Wrong.

Getting your head straight is the solution. It may not be easy to do... changing the mind, changing one's worldview -- no small tasks. But ya know what? It's much easier and healthier than the alternatives.

Was there something wrong in my mind? Yep. There was a lot of baggage as a result of a religious upbringing. There's no recognition of what I am(two-spirit) in Judeo-Christian dogma. That's it. That's all. I wasn't born in the wrong body, or with the wrong set of junk... I was born into the wrong church. I'll bet that's what's behind over half of you here.

There are people who can help one fix this. But the gatekeepers of the drugs and the surgeries are not the healers of minds. When all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail.

I dunno... I'm probably wasting my breath. Most people would rather pay doctors and pop pills than to do the work of healing themselves.