What Body Dysmorphia Can Look Like
by Andrew Adams
Body dysphoria can be personal and complicated. To clarify, body dysphoria is discomfort a transgender person experiences with their body because of the disconnect between their body and their gender. Body dysphoria, which I’m going to shorten to just “dysphoria” for this blog post, can be triggered by just about anything, can cause pretty bad mental distress, and is in general a bad time all around for the one experiencing it.
Dysphoria is also a deeply personal thing that differs from person to person, and no two people will experience and describe it in the same way. Similarly, no two people will have the same set of coping mechanisms, and not every coping mechanism I use will work for everyone or even anyone else.
One resource Matthew’s Place suggests is TransLifeline, which allows you to connect with a trained, trans peer to talk through your feelings, questions, and concerns about your experiences. Their information kits also can refer you to further resources. With that being said, here is how I deal with my own body dysphoria.
Style my hair and put on clothes I like:
My dysphoria often comes with a feeling of lacking control over my body and my feelings towards it. Changing what I do have control over, my hair and clothing, gives me back the sense of control that my dysphoria was taking away and gives me a much needed boost in confidence.
Watch shows or reading books with male characters that I relate to:
From an entertainment standpoint, watching role model characters helps me to have a solid distraction from my dysphoria. More importantly, however, when there is a character that I heavily relate to, I can almost imagine myself being that character, a cis man, and that helps my dysphoria.
Window shop online for prosthetics:
When I am experiencing bottom dysphoria, which is body dysphoria dealing specifically with the region below the waist, I like looking at the wide variety of prosthetics many companies offer to help transgender men alleviate bottom dysphoria. Doing this at the very least takes my mind off of my dysphoria, and I can imagine the liberation that having a product like that or bottom surgery would grant me.
Listen to music from trans artists:
Somehow, this really helps. The artist Cavetown is trans and his work is heavily influenced by his experiences with dysphoria and his identity, so his music is very relatable. You can find his work (and that of other trans musicians, like Jaime Wilson, Ryan Cassata, Peppermint, etc) on Spotify, YouTube, and other music platforms.
About the Author:
Andrew (he/him) is a transgender student at the University of Central Florida where he is studying psychology in the hopes of becoming a therapist. He is a peer mentor for at risk teenagers at Aspire Health Partners, and he enjoys gardening, taking care of several pet reptiles, playing the piano, and replaying Skyrim on X-Box. While he has focused on his own growth and wellbeing recently, he has previously worked or volunteered with The Trevor Project, Point of Pride, GLSEN, March For Our Lives, and for local political campaigns as an advocate for LGBTQ rights. Specifically, he also is the plaintiff in an ongoing legal battle against his high school who barred him from using the men’s bathroom due to him being transgender, and that legal battle is still ongoing (See Adams v. St John’s County School Board). Additionally, as an Autistic ADHDer with a connective tissue disorder, Andrew is an advocate for both neurodiversity and disability rights.
