A growing transgender population: An analysis of medical and cultural drivers

Abstract

Over the past decade, gender clinics in the West have seen a significant rise in gender dysphoria and biomedical treatment-desire among young females. This thesis outlines overarching cultural and medical developments, and considers how these are implicated in the growing number of young females with gender identity issues. The depathologisation of transgender identities, the introduction of gender identity theory, and the popularisation of gender affirmative treatment seem to promote continued transgender identification and treatment-desire among young females. These developments have taken place despite lacking scientific knowledge and increasing reports of treatment-regret among young people.