Earlier this month, the American Psychiatric Association decided to remove 
Gender Identity Disorder (GID) from the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual’s (DSM) list of mental disorders. GID was defined as a condition in which the person experiences dissatisfaction with the sex they were assigned at birth and with the gender stereotypes associated with that sex, often leading to dysphoria, or intense feelings of discontent.
This is welcome news, since GID is being replaced by the term “Gender Dysphoria,” which is less pathologizing since it does not signify a mental disorder or that something is “wrong” with the person who identifies as a trans man or a trans woman. Instead, the focus is placed on the distress experienced by the person undergoing the transition.
I’d like to talk ancient Greece this week (I promise I won’t be focusing solely on antiquity). I watched Hercules and Xena growing up and I was utterly fascinated with the models of ancient Greece and Rome they presented. Kick ass women! Lesbianism, or at least the appearance of it, totally accepted! There was even an episode where a transvestite won a beauty pageant.
