Gender dysphoria

Gender dysphoria (known as gender identity disorder in DSM-IV-TR) is an overwhelming sense of being the wrong gender for one’s body. In such cases, a female feels like a male on the inside or a male feels like a female on the inside
. These individuals want their physical bodies (their exteriors) to match how they feel on the inside, and many desire a full sex change operation. Due to the high cost of such procedures, many individuals with gender dysphoria take less expensive hormone therapy to help alter some of their physical characteristics.
Gender dysphoria is not the same as homosexuality. Homosexuality is an attraction to others of the same gender and is not a discontentment with one’s own gender. In other words, homosexual individuals do not want to be a physically different gender, yet individuals with gender dysphoria do. In early editions of DSM, homosexuality was listed as a deviant sexual behavior but was removed in 1974. Gender dysphoria is listed in DSM not as a deviant disorder but in its own category due to the emotional distress of experiencing a mismatch between the gender that one is and the gender that one feels.
The stage and screen performer Cher has an adult son Chaz (formerly Chastity), who has been outspoken about his gender dysphoria. With hormone medication and surgical reconstruction, he has physically transformed himself from a female into a male. However, gender dysphoria is relatively rare both among the general population and even less common among the offender population because it is unrelated to criminal behavior.