Transgender IS NOT A MENTAL ILLNESS
One of the reasons why I still blog is for times like this. I saw a painfully amateur status update on FB yesterday where transgender people were being compared to people with mental disorders, and the comment thread actually devolved into one painfully misinformed person making the claim that the *entire* medical community considers this a mental illness. And that’s far from the truth. I’m no expert on this topic, but even I know that.
This is from WebMD…
Gender dysphoria used to be called “gender identity disorder.” But the mismatch between body and internal sense of gender is not a mental illness. Instead, what need to be addressed are the stress, anxiety, and depression that go along with it.
There you go.
If you don’t believe that one, here’s another…
People who identify as transgender should not be considered to have a mental health disorder, according to a new study from Mexico.
And if that’s not enough, I just saw this…
Denmark is set to become the first country to no longer define being transgender as a mental illness.
Government officials said classifying transgender people as mentally ill was “stigmatising” and they had “run out of patience” with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) work on the definition.
Obviously, it’s still a work in progress. You will find various links out there that do still consider it a mental disorder, but they tend to share the same kind of hooded rhetoric that classified being gay as a mental disorder, too. Or, as a criminal offense.
Imperfect by Ryan Field
Imperfect is my newest release for 2017. It’s another indie book pubbed with Ryan Field Press, and it’s part of my series of new adult romances. The series isn’t a continuing series with the same characters. It’s just all new adult romance. I read one definition of new adult once that claimed the characters are between 18 and 25 years old. I think it stretches to 30 years old. So, there are several definitions for new adult romance, as a genre, but I actually like the one at wiki the best.
New adult (NA) fiction, also rendered as new-adult fiction, is a developing genre of fiction with protagonists in the 18–30 age bracket. St. Martin’s Press first coined the term in 2009, when they held a special call for “…fiction similar to YA that can be published and marketed as adult—a sort of an ‘older YA’ or ‘new adult’.” New adult fiction tends to focus on issues such as leaving home, developing sexuality, and negotiating education and career choices.
Here’s the blurb for Imperfect, and the Amazon link is below. It’s available in paperback or e-book.
When handsome young Rider loses his job in journalism and his only alternative is to take a new job working with his ex-lover, Drew, he’s not sure it’s going to work out. It wasn’t an easy break up, and they haven’t spoken since. However, Rider wants to remain a journalist, and he needs the new job to survive and to pay off his student loans.
It’s not as though Rider isn’t aware of the fact that he was mostly to blame in the break-up with Drew, and he apologizes profusely time and again for sleeping with the plumber and the pizza delivery man at the same time. In spite of the apologies, Drew continues to hold a grudge and to slut-shame Rider every chance he gets. And Rider takes the criticism because he truly is sorry, he knows he was wrong, and he still has strong feelings for Drew that never disappeared.
When they travel to rural Vermont to cover a new feature story, Rider and Drew reach a professional agreement that seems to work for them. However, a young man named Sandler changes the dynamics, and an established gay couple getting legally married change their lives forever. Through pain there is growth; through heartbreak there is love. And absolutely nothing is ever the same again.
