What is Gender Dysphoria?
Gender dysphoria is the feeling of distress or discomfort because of the difference between a person’s gender (assigned at birth) and their gender identity. This applies to both males who are assigned a female gender at birth and females who were assigned the male gender at birth. People with gender dysphoria are normally transgender. However, there are cases of non-binary gender identities in which gender dysphoria is present.
Gender Dysphoria in Art
Gender Dysphoria has only became a more known of issue in the last few years, as it is a topic which is mostly related to the transgender community. For many people art is used to express themselves and speak out on issues that affect them. Especially in todays society to openly and bravely express yourself is something that holds an important and deep message.
The use of paintings, ceramics, sculptures, drawings etc to see through the lens of an individuals struggles , is an attempt to understand this complex condition further through the process of visualisation, using creativity to go beyond the bounds of everyday language, which can be as limiting as it is stigmatising.
Chella Man
Chella Man (born November 26, 1998 is an American YouTuber, actor, model, artist, and LGBTQ activist. He is known for sharing his experiences as a transgender, deaf, genderqueer, and Jewish person of colour.
Chella is of Jewish and Chinese descent. He was raised in a small town in Central Pennsylvania in a conservative community, where he "did not consider [himself] beautiful".He was assigned female at birth and experienced gender dysphoria during childhood. Man began to lose his hearing at four years old. By age thirteen, he was profoundly deaf, and the next year he received his first cochlear implant. At sixteen he had a second implant placed on his other ear. In 2017, after experiencing gender dysphoria throughout his childhood, Man began gender transitioning using testosterone. His use of hormone replacement therapy, along with top surgery, helped with his identity, self-esteem, and body image. |