The difference between gender incongruence and gender dysphoria
When trans people tell you they don't have gender dysphoria it doesn't mean there not trans
Disclaimers
Before we get into this is want to say that i am trans so this isn’t a stupid cis person over speaking. I would also like to put a HUGE trigger warning here for mentions of gender incongruence and gender dysphoria.
Gender incongruence and gender dysphoria.
Gender incongruence and gender dysphoria have lots in common but have vital differences. These differences are why dysphoria is not needed to be trans now lets get started.
What are they?
"wtf is gender incongruence?"
gender incongruence is the disconnect a trans person feels between their mind and their agab (assigned gender at birth). Which may cause discomfort
"wait sorry then whats gender dysphoria?"
Gender dysphoria is the term to describe the distress and unease that may be caused by gender incongruence so intense that it may lead to anxiety and depression as a well as have a harmful impact on daily life.
So in simple terms gender incongruence is the disconnect that one may fell with their agab and gender dysphoria is distress that MAY OR MAY NOT be caused by it.
Why they are not interchangeable
"well how can disconnect exist without discomfort?" Well it can't but that's why the definitions of all these words are so important. The difference between discomfort and distress is the entire reason incongruence can exist without dysphoria.
"their is no difference between discomfort and distress." They are very very similar yes but when they are being talked about in this sense they have EXTREMELY important differences.
The word discomfort insinuates slight pain which is very very important when talking about this as it's almost on the opposite extreme when refering to distress. This is what comes with incongruence.
The word distress insinuates extreme anxiety, pain, or sorrow. This may come with gender incongruence but it may not, hearing someone is trans does not immediately mean they feel like this.
The reason this thread is needed
There has been a huge discussion over wether trans people need gender dysphoria to be trans people need gender dysphoria or not to be trans and so much of it is because of a misunderstanding of what it means. Trans people do not need to feel distressed about there body to be trans the only thing that's important is that they feel a disconnect between their mind and their agab. There is gonna be giant consequences if we don't learn the difference between the two. People have already started to cisplain this topic to trans people, have started to forget the meaning of gender incongruence, and have tried to blend it together with gender dysphoria but this subconsciously puts the idea that all trans people essentially hate themselves which is an awful thing to push into peoples minds.
Sources
The definitions of discomfort and distress can be found on google they are very standard terms.