Names and Gender

A patient of mine, late teens, is requesting to transition back to male after originally asking to transition to female earlier in their life.  When we talked about it they told me they had realised that all they really wanted was to not be judged by their sex or forced into gender defined roles.  They had experienced not being allowed to wear the clothes they chose, to be steered away from their favourite colours and bought toys they didn’t really have an affinity with or desire to play with.  They were directed towards subjects at school they had no interest in studying and when they expressed a desire for what they would like to learn they were turned away.  This led them to believe they were female rather than male.  It wasn’t until they were older they understood they were male but didn’t want to be forced into traditional male gendered roles and ideas.

In the 20th century when we are trying to establish equal rights for all is it really still a time to have gendered roles, judgements based on sex?  That gendered limitations are placed on people because of their sex to the point where they request to have major surgery to change their identity and in the case of this person then realise this was a mistake and want to change back.

I am not saying that all people who want to change their sex are mistaken or are doing so because of forced gender roles but surely no-one should feel they want to transition because society is dictating what they can and can't do based on their sex.

As a spin off from this I decided to make a list of unisex names just for the sake of curiosity of how many my friend Kathryn and I could find, please do add to the list (I realise some are spelt differently per sex but use your imagination).

Valery Hillary Leslie Taylor Aubrey Ashley

Devon Drew Jordan Kelly Kerry Robin

Marylin Tracey Gail Cameron Morgan Hayden

Charlie Stacey Darryl Harper Bailey Regan

Cody Frances Brooklyn Gabriel Ricky Jocelyn

Jude

I am sure there are many more.