gender transition

noun

plural gender transitions

: a process by which a transgender or nonbinary (see nonbinary sense c) person comes to live in accordance with their gender identity through changes to their appearance and presentation often with the aid of medical procedures and therapies

Note: While many associate gender transition with a process that involves hormone therapy, gender confirmation surgery and legal name change, the term is also applied more broadly, since what transition involves can vary a great deal from person to person. In some cases, for example, the term gender transition may simply refer to the adoption of new personal pronouns and/or a change in clothing, hairstyle, etc.

For transgender people who are insured, barriers to care can persist, as private insurers have historically excluded coverage for medical interventions related to gender transition.

—Jaclyn M. White Hughto et al.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires women who are transgender like me to complete 12 months of hormone therapy to suppress testosterone as part of their gender transition before competing.

—Lindsay Hecox

Examples of gender transition in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That leaves gender transition, which is easily caricatured and demonized by unscrupulous politicians aiming to rally their base against a wholly imaginary crisis. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024

And on Monday, the Vatican condemned gender transitions as threats to human dignity. —Azeen Ghorayshi, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2024

Which means that what is earnest and thoughtful about her drawings, many of them produced during her gender transition, is inseparable from what’s funny. —Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2024

The Kansas House and Senate voted Wednesday to approve a bill banning hormone therapy and gender transition surgery, often called gender affirming care, for anyone under 18. —Katie Bernard, Kansas City Star, 27 Mar. 2024

The vote to override the veto of House Bill 68 comes just days after DeWine signed an executive order banning hospitals and surgical facilities from performing gender transition surgery on minors. —Anthony Shoemaker, The Enquirer, 23 Feb. 2024

DeWine signed an executive order banning Ohio hospitals and surgical facilities from performing gender transition surgery on minors. —Haley Bemiller, USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2024

The new rule comes as many states have implemented strict limitations on abortions and gender transition medicine for minors. —Gabrielle M. Etzel, Washington Examiner, 11 Jan. 2024

DeWine vetoed the legislation in December, arguing decisions about gender transition care should be left to families and their medical providers. —Haley Bemiller, USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1983, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

gender transition

noun

: a process by which a transgender or nonbinary person comes to live in accordance with their gender identity through changes to their appearance and presentation often with the aid of medical procedures and therapies

Note: While many associate gender transition with a process that involves hormone therapy, gender confirmation surgery, and legal name change, the term is also applied more broadly, since what transition involves can vary a great deal from person to person. In some cases, for example, the term gender transition may simply refer to the adoption of new personal pronouns and/or a change in clothing, hairstyle, etc.

Gender transition can refer to social transition, physical transformation, or both. Many transgender … people do not seek medicalized assistance for transition, which can involve delays other than those created by medicine …

—Victoria Pitts-Taylor, Health

Studies examining the effects of hormonal gender transition during adolescence suggest that these transgender individuals experience decreased gender dysphoria, score more favorably on various psychological instruments than transgender people treated in adulthood, and function similarly to their peers.

—Deborah Coolhart et al., Journal of Marital & Family Therapy