۱- Aim

۲- Background

۳- Method

۴- Results

۵- Discussion

۶- Conclusion

References

Abstract

Gender Dysphoria is a condition with a strong and persistent incongruence between one’s experienced and assigned gender. The magnitude of disturbance is enormous, ranging from social isolation, rejection, segregation and exclusion from the society to some severe mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, self-harm and death. The condition been recognized across wide range of cultures around the world; however the degree of its expression and tolerance varies.
Art has long been used as a medium for expression as well as a tool for therapy. In this paper, the researcher has used the medium to highlight the challenges associated with Gender Dysphoria.

Background

Gender Identity Disorder (GID) or GenderDysphoria (GD)is a complex condition characterised by a strong and persistent cross gender identification and persistent discomfort about one’s assigned sex or a sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex. There is a preoccupation to live as a member of the opposite sex which may manifest as choice of dress, mannerisms or acquisition of the physical appearance of the other sex through hormonal and surgical manipulation. Individuals with this condition frequently experience isolation and ostracism as well as co-morbid anxiety, depression and personality disorders (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental disorders, 2000). It has been influenced by social, cultural, legal and political factors over the years (Meyerowitz, 2004), with various revisions of, and proposals for, diagnosticcriteria (Cohen-Kettenis and Pfafflin, 2010; Zuker, 2010; Lawrence, 2010). Historically art has also been influenced by social cultural and political factors (Campos-Bueno, 2010). Art making can be considered as form of inquiry – a learning process which is experiential and constructivist and in which creative image making helps construct knowledge, creates new insights and transforms perceptions. It follows a path from the mental image that lay down the “concepts” in our mind, to what’s out there in the world as visible images that shape our thought. Beside language, vision (visual image) has to be appreciated as cognitive modality with its own capacity to construct and convey knowledge (Marshall, 2007). How art has played a powerful role is in the progress of science over the past number of centuries is evident from “The anatomy lesson of Dr Nicholas Tulp” painted by Rembrandt in 1632, and the famous painting of “Opistotomos” by Scottish surgeonMr. Charles Bell in 1809. It also evidences the fact that scientists themselves became the protagonists of art (Campos-Bueno, 2010; Baljet, 2000). In the case presented the researcher has used paintings to both illustrate and develop their understanding of the concept of GID/ GD and through the medium of art has attempted to use this to help in teaching and informing others about the experiential and theoretical knowledge of this condition.