WHO removes trandergenderism from mental illness list
Chase Winter
June 20, 2018
The UN health body has recategorized transgenderism, saying "evidence is now clear that it is not a mental disorder." WHO's international classification is used globally as a foundation to identify health trends.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Suna
Advertisement
Transgender people should no longer be considered as suffering from mental illness, according to a new UN categorization.
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a new online international classification of diseases on Monday, categorizing "gender incongruence" under "conditions related to sexual health," instead "mental, behavioral and neurodevelopmental disorders."
The UN health body said transgenderism "is characterized by a marked and persistent incongruence between an individual's experienced gender and the assigned sex."
"The individual experiences a strong desire to be treated (to live and be accepted) as a person of the experienced gender," it said.
However, WHO said transgenderism cannot be assigned prior to puberty and "gender variant behavior and preferences alone are not a basis for assigning the diagnosis."
The reason for the reclassification of transgenderism was that the "evidence is now clear that it is not a mental disorder, and indeed classifying it in this can cause enormous stigma for people who are transgender."
It added that the health care needs of transgender people can best be met under the new classification.
Transgender models on magazine covers
Transgender models on magazine covers are no new phenomenon in an increasingly diverse world. These athletes and actresses have already hit the newsstands with a splash.
Giuliana Farfalla, German Playboy
A first for the German edition of Playboy: Reality television star and model Giuliana Farfalla made it to the cover of the magazine, published a week ahead of her appearance in the show "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!" The 21-year-old also appeared on "Germany's Next Top Model" in hopes to "encourage other transgender and transsexual people," she said.
Image: Playboy/Christopher von Steinbach
Caroline 'Tula' Cossey, Playboy
Playboy's first-ever transgender model, Caroline "Tula" Cossey, starred in a pictorial feature in 1981 (the above picture shows her on a later cover, from the 1990s). She, too, was fighting for recognition transgender rights. Hugh Hefner's son Cooper, now the creative director of Playboy Enterprises, said featuring transgender models was "the right thing to do."
Laverne Cox, Time Magazine
A trailblazer for the transgender community, Laverne Cox became the first openly transgender person to appear on the cover of Time magazine in 2014. Cox is known to a wider audience for her role as a trans woman prisoner, the hairdresser Sophia Burset, on the popular Netflix series "Orange is the New Black."
National Geographic special issue on gender
Featuring a nine-year-old transgender person on its cover, the January 2017 special issue looked at how young people from around the world, "old enough to have sage views on gender," are affected by gender issues. The issue also examined challenges for girls today — including anonymous bullying and body-shaming — and how "society makes a man."
Caitlyn Jenner, Vanity Fair
Former Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner publicly announced the name change to Caitlyn and her identity as a trans woman in a July 2015 Vanity Fair cover story. She also starred in the docu-series "I Am Cait," which documented her gender transition and subsequent new life as a woman.
Amelia Gapin, Women's Running
In July 2016, marathon runner Amelia Gapin was featured on the cover of Women's Running. "Being a transgender woman on the cover of a magazine dedicated to women says people like me are not just being seen, but being seen for who we are," she told the magazine in an interview. "It's a feeling of acceptance, inclusivity and being welcomed."
Hari Nef, Elle UK
Featured on the cover of Elle UK in September 2016, US actor and model Hari Nef would rather not be defined by gender. "'In an ideal world, I wouldn't have to change my body," she told the magazine. "I wouldn't have to do all this stuff, I wouldn't have to be pretty, or 'feminine' and people would respect that."
Valentina Sampaio, Vogue Paris
Vogue Paris put a transgender model on its cover for the first time in March 2017: Brazil's Valentina Sampaio. "The day when a transsexual poses for a magazine cover and it will be no longer necessary to write an editorial on the subject, we will know that the fight has been won," said the fashion magazine's editor-in-chief Emmanuelle Alt.
Ben Melzer, Men's Health Germany
Muscle-packed arms, a six-pack and a beard: Ben Melzer, the first openly male transgender model to star on the cover of Men's Health, also hopes he can change attitudes. He underwent the change from woman to man at age 23. He's now, he says, "the person I always wanted to be." He wants to be an example for others who feel they were "born in the wrong body," adding, "it is 100 percent worth it."
9 images1 | 9
Transgender Europe, an advocacy group, called the reclassification "a historic achievement the global trans community has been fighting for over many years."
"It is hoped that this shift will continue to give access to gender-affirming care while also ending a long history of so-called ‘conversion therapies,' forced medicalization, forced hospitalization, and forced sterilization for trans and gender diverse people," the group said in a statement.
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is used worldwide and is considered the basis for identifying health trends and statistics. It contains nearly 55,000 codes to provide a common standard for injuries, diseases and causes of death.
ICD is more than an esoteric code system. It is also used by some countries to determine where to invest financial resources in health. In the United States, for example, ICD codes play a key role in health care billing.
WHO's latest catalogue also includes a new chapter on traditional medicine, which is used by millions of people in China and other parts of the world. Gaming disorder has also been added to addictive disorders.
The new ICD will be submitted to the World Health Assembly in May 2019 for approval and will come into effect in January 2022.
In 1948, the ICD classified homosexuality as a mental disorder based on the assumption that sexual deviation from the norm reflected a personality disorder. Homosexuality was later removed from the ICD in the 1970s.
