How does one go about changing their gender?

So obviously a decision has to be made. But I mean.... HOW does it happen, fully?How does one go about changing their gender?
Transsexual people do not change their gender. They change their bodies to match their brain's gender identity.



A transsexual person is a person who was born with a brain-body mismatch; literally a female brain in a male body or vice-versa.



A transsexual woman is a woman who was born into a male body, but she was never a man.



A transsexual man is a man who was born into a female body, but he was never a woman.



You can read more about gender identity and transsexualism here:



http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/T





So the decision for a transsexual person is: Do I receive treatment for my birth condition or not?



The process of transition, well outlined by Gwennie, is long and expensive. But for the transsexual person it is very much worth it. Nothing beats living and being seen as your true self.How does one go about changing their gender?
It depends on the person. You can have surgery for one. Or you can live as the opposite gender without the surgery, or only partial surgery.
hormones and a sugery
You do not change your GENDER. You CAN however, change your SEX, and secondary sexual characteristics.
In order to change your sex (not your gender, but your sex), you have to go through a process:



* Realize you are trans.

* Go see a gender therapist so he/she can diagnose you with gender identity disorder/gender dysphoria.

* Live as your desired gender for either one year or even two as part of your ';Real Life Test'; to see if you can handle it.

* Be diagnosed with GID and get your rubber stamp of approval to start hormones.

* Find an endocrinologist or doctor to prescribe hormones. Undergo several medical tests to ensure you're healthy and safe for taking hormones. Then figure out the dosage that works for you. Start your hormone regimen.

* Begin saving up money for future surgeries.

* Start making legal changes.

* Research and meet with potential surgeons to do consultations; schedule.

* Undergo surgery/surgeries.

* Finish legal changes.



Of course, this is very rough. And what's more, not everybody does all of these steps, especially in terms of surgery, for example.
I don't understand why people are saying you can change your sex. You are not a ';sex.'; Sex is a noun referring to the act of mating, and a verb referring to the engagement in said act.



Gender is what identifies you as a male or female. There is physical (biological/genetic) gender, and mental (brain) gender. Your physical gender is based on your external appearance, your genitals, and your chromosomes. It is the way that doctors determine whether you are a girl or a boy, but the reality is physical gender is meaningless because your mental gender (how you identify internally), is based on how your brain was prenatally programmed by hormones. This is truly who you are, and how you perceive yourself, and nothing can override this. Once the brain develops as male or female, it's forever.



Some people are born with a condition wherein the brain develops in the opposite direction from the body - transsexualism. For people who believe your gender is based on external appearances, transsexualism is seen as a mental aberration. For people who believe your gender is based on your brain and self-perception, transsexualism is a physical aberration. Regardless of which definition you choose, the ONLY thing that can be done to help a person suffering from this condition is gender Transition. This is the process wherein the body is slowly transformed through cross-gender hormones and surgery to make it look like the gender that the person feels they are inside. When transition is successful, most people born with transsexualism go on to live relatively normal, happy lives.



It is a very difficult, costly, and painful process. The hormones induce secondary sexual characteristics of the opposite gender to develop, so taking them literally produces a ';second puberty'; that takes just as long as the first puberty (2-4 years.) For transsexual women, some things cannot be changed by hormones (facial hair, voice, skeletal shape/size) and these require additional procedures. For transsexual men, breasts will not go away without surgery. In addition, one has to learn all the nuances of behaving like the gender they feel they are, and this can be difficult.



The actual genital surgery is done after the person has been living full-time for a year as their correct gender, and is done by specialized surgeons. Currently, changing male genitals into female genitals is nearly perfect, whereas changing female genitals into male genitals is still problematic as the necessary tissue to produce an erection is not present. In both genders, reproduction after surgery is impossible. Hopefully, in the near future, stem cell research may allow us to grow the necessary organs to allow the new genitals full functionality.