Representative image for Gender.
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Gender transition is the term used to describe the process or the timeframe in which an individual’s gender is reassigned. This may or may not happen with surgical or medical treatments. Not everyone who goes through gender reassignment opts to undergo these treatments to alter their physical attributes. Gender transition is not an overnight process, and may take time, sometimes, many years.
Transition can also be a social one, wherein an individual comes out as a certain identity and uses a different pronoun and changes their gender expression publicly. This process is not a physical one, so there is no medical treatment involved.
When it comes to medical transition, the treatments include hormone replacement therapies (HRT), gender-affirming/affirmation surgery (GAS) or voice therapy. Voice surgery is also an option, wherein a surgical procedure lets one’s voice pitch to be turned into a masculine or feminine one.
Transitioning is not necessarily a male to female or vice-versa identity shift. It could also be transitioning to a gender-neutral/non-binary identity.
The transition process is a deeply private one, but also requires a lot of medical and psychological support and counselling. The same applies to social transition as well. Transitioning needs empathy and self-compassion, apart from support and understanding from one’s family, friends and community.
(Decoded is a column that demystifies gender concepts and breaks them down into easy-to-understand language.)