Barriers faced by trans men (female to male transgender persons) in gender transitioning in Pakistan

Abstract

Introduction

In 2012, transgender persons in Pakistan were granted right for a legal third gender identity, and in 2018 the Transgender Persons (Protection) of Rights Act affirmed transgender people’s right for self-perceived identity. Further, gender affirming medical treatments were also legalized to support gender transitioning in transgender persons. The current study was conducted to explore barriers faced by female-to-male (FtM) transgender persons/trans men in accessing gender affirmative treatment for the purposes of gender transition.

Method

To achieve the objective, 11 trans men were interviewed who had Childhood Onset of Gender Dysphoria screened through Urdu translated versions of Gender Identity/Gender Dysphoria Questionnaire for Adolescents and Adults and Recalled Childhood Gender Identity Questionnaire. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted and grounded theory method was used for analysis.

Results

Analysis revealed medical, educational, social, legal, religious, financial, and psychological barriers that participants faced during the process of transitioning.

Conclusion

Findings are discussed within the cultural context of Pakistan and in light of the existing literature. The findings of this research would help clinicians, academicians, policy makers and other stake holders in raising awareness regarding problems faced by FtM transgender persons.

Keywords:

• Gender affirmative therapy
• gender dysphoria
• transition
• FtM
• female to male transgender persons

Acknowledgment

Authors are grateful to Danielle A. Espinoza, BA for providing help in proofreading the article and to all research participants for their time, co-operation and valuable contribution to this study.

Ethics statement

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards and approved by Advanced Studies and Research Board (AS & RB) of the institute.

Informed consent

Written and signed informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Arooj Fatima, upon reasonable request.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.