User:MFol2017/Minority Stress

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Stressors among Gender Minorities

Compared to their cisgender counterparts, gender diverse minorities face stressors created by the invalidation of their identities, as well as the way these identities are viewed socially and culturally. Riggs and Treharne, who developed the gender minority stress framework, theorized that instead of the minority stress framework's idea that distal and proximal stress are a series of loads held by an individual, the stressors on these individuals also stem from the way their identities are positioned in their society. These are stigmatized identities in popular culture and within society, so these individuals face a different set of stressors that are not addressed by the minority stress model, which was intended to address sexual minorities first and foremost. Because of the way these identities are juxtaposed against cisgender identities, they were more prone to negative mental illness classifications. Before the label of gender dysphoria existed to identify uncertain feelings about one's gender identity, these gender diverse individuals often fell under classifications such as gender identity disorder.