Stigma and Gender Identity Disorder; Impacts and Outcomes

Background an d Most people have behaviors appropriate for their biological sex. However، there are also people who have behaviors of the opposite sex. The latter group is known as transsexual، which means that they have a sense of intense conflict between gender and sex. As a result of social changes in Iran in recent decades، the presence and appearance of these people in public life and the media environment has increased. The emphasis in this paper is on the fact that identification of a person/group as a deviant may pave the way for gravitation of that person/group to deviant behaviors. This was a qualitative study. The sampling method was cumulative and the d ata were collected by interviewing، participatory observation، and in-depth interviews and analyzed thematically. The findings show that transsexuals suffer a mental adversity when hide their true identity and are exposed to stigma when reveal their desired identity. The stigmatization is in such a way that a transsexual gradually accepts stigma and gravitates to deviant position and roles. The main impacts of a successful stigma would be the continuation and expansion of deviant behaviors among transsexuals. Promoting public awareness can help in decreasing and preventing individual and social harms resulting from an unreasonable attitude towards this phenomenon by the people.