CHAPTER 4

DISCUSSION
The study sought to identify and to examine the factors which affect the gender identity
development of transgender individuals, particularly those who have experienced transitioning to
their preferred gender while living in the National Capital Region (NCR) in the Philippines. The
participants age ranged from 20-27 years; they were all articulate in English and Filipino; they
have attained at least an undergraduate degree; they possess awareness of the Sexual Orientation
and Gender Identification (SOGI) of transgender individuals; they have at least affiliated with a
support group which caters to transgender men or women, and; they have been undergoing
transition in terms of altering their physique, fashion and their names. On the other hand, the
research also collected the testimonies of their family members and friends to relate their
experiences with transgender individuals. The interviewed family members and friends were all
aware of their child or friends coming out and transitioning phases, and have acted as support
when these events have occurred.
Using Albert Bandura and Kay Buseys Social Cognitive Theory or SCT (1999), the
researchers were able to recognize at least key three influences which affect the gender
identification of six transgender individuals (four transgender male and two transgender female);
family and peers as the immediate background; community, work, and religion as the larger
setting. These influences have been included in the research questions; the first questions
features where the individual is asked on how these factors affect his or her gender expression.
The second research question examines how the individual copes with the influence of different
social environments when identifying with his or her desired gender. The last research question
highlights the transition of the individual as his or her resolution in gender identification despite
external influences. The study was able to produce three major themes which all examine the
conflict between the individual and the environment as a process: 1). Suppression of Gender
Identity, 2). Coping Mechanism 3). Transitioning.
The SCT explains that the individual is able to form his or her gender identification by
observing and modelling after acquiring influences from the social environment. Gender roles
are reinforced within the individual through rewards and punishments for exhibiting what is
appropriate and inappropriate in his or her gender assignment. This theory is crucial to the

examination of transgender individuals who are outside of the heteronormative classification of

gender; without the societys proper awareness and treatment to the transgender classification,
the individuals under this category do not conform to social norms and are likely to receive
pressure and discrimination.
Suppression of Gender Identity
Transgender individuals, being unable to comply under heteronormativity embedded in the
Philippine setting, suffer from discouragement from his or her social environments. Suppression,
from the responses of transgender participants, refers the act of keeping secrets and hiding their
gender expression to avoid discrimination, bullying and mockery from people who possess little
knowledge about transgender as a classification. There is also a low tendency for transgender
individuals not to manifest their gender expression in the public because there is a deficiency in
role models, icons and influential figures who promote the acceptance of the said gender in the
country. Participants in this study, particularly transgender men, recall their role figures and
inspirations from watching YouTube videos of foreigners who are documenting their transition
while undergoing hormone therapy. Feelings of alienation and feeling different from other
individuals were also encountered by the transgender participants in recounting their pretransition stage.
Social Pressure. The reinforcement of male and female as the only accepted genders are
present in the society, as recounted by the participants, in restrooms, in clubs, in presenting valid
documents, in academic and religious institutions. One of the participants recounted that he was
not allowed to exhibit in his school as a male as long as his identification card shows that he is
still a female. Society reinforces the gender dichotomy by presenting individuals to limited
choices, where biological sex is affiliated and more prioritized.
Peer Persuasion. As the SCT recognizes the role of friends to be the perpetuators of the
societys norms and values, the transgender individuals recognizes peers as a source of support in
being able to express their desired gender identity. Peers can also act as role models of
transgender individuals. The persuasion from peers usually involve convincing the individual not
to stray from the accustomed beliefs and systems, acting accordingly to the system they were
introduced to. From the interview, transgender individuals recall how they have lost friends over
the course of transitioning and coming out to avoid questions, conflict and scandals.

Familial persuasion. As the family upholds the virtues and ideals of the society, the parents, as
the first authorities to be conceived by the individual, are seen also role models in exhibiting
gender roles. From the SCT, the individual learns to identify gender roles with the same-sex
parent. This becomes problematic as transgender individuals do not conform the expectations of
their parents in matching their sexual orientation to their gender identities. Transgender
individuals in the interviews were also keen in coming out to their parents as a measure of
seeking their approval to exhibit their gender expression in their household or in family
gatherings. The parents also hold social power over the transgender individuals because they
provide basic needs, influence over the individuals siblings (if any), security and protection
from the larger environment.
Siblings also act as perpetuators of the parents values and beliefs, which might further hinders
the individual on showing his or her gender expression.
Coping Mechanisms
From experiencing discouragement from their immediate environments and the society,
transgender individuals were able to react by exhibiting coping mechanisms. The coping
mechanisms related by the participants of the study refer to methods of relieving stress, after
learning that their family and friends cannot realize their desire to alter their bodies to match
their gender identity. While seeking ways to transition, the behaviours related by the transgender
individuals were measures of reconciling the internal and external pressures of oneself against
the environment.
Avoidance. Most of the transgender participants refer avoidance as distancing oneself from
others who cause stress, anxiety and fear while they find themselves. By being unable to
perceive and communicate the people who act as stressors, the transgender individuals focus on
altering their current gender expression to their preferred gender identity. Moving out of the
house, limiting contact with family members and friends, breaking ties with friends who are
unable to understand their situation, and changing workplaces to avoid scrutiny were some of the
methods related by the participants. It is important to note that while they are avoiding the
stressors, they find support groups, romantic affiliations, and advocacies to strengthen their
knowledge of transitioning.

From the SCT, the responses of transgender individuals show that avoidance becomes a
necessary tool to avoid the social sanctions imposed against their gender identification. By
changing occupational paths and their imposed environments, transgender individuals exhibit
self-regulation by pursuing their desired gender, motivating oneself to meet his or her standards,
and achieving willpower to monitor oneself in the course of transition.
Conflict resolution. In identifying oneself as transgender individuals, the participants needed
measures to resolve their decisions with the impositions set by their various social environments.
The participants were able to reach negotiations, most especially, with their family members or
parents, when coming out as transgender. Parents, who have little understanding about this
categorization, often impose measures to know the health risks and safety of their children. Most
of the participants parents disapproved transitioning through hormone therapy and surgery.
Friends of the participants also recounted how they suggested lesbian, bisexual and gay
categorizations rather than opting for the transgender.
Transitioning
Transitioning refers to the process of change transgender individuals undergo to fulfil the
desire to match their physical appearances and behaviours to their gender identity. From being
unable to come out to their family members or friends, transgender individuals learn transition
from their role models and mentors to imitate their appearances, lifestyles, behaviour and values.
The participants from this study mention transition as a symbol for liberating oneself against the
heteronormative construction of gender in the society.
In the process of transition, some participants who have completed the interviews are able to
come out to their parents, siblings and friends, only to find acceptance. It should be noted that
other participants who were recruited in the study were unable to continue their collaboration
because they have not yet come out to their immediate environment. Most of the participants
who were unable to continue were transgender females.
Hormone Therapy. Hormone therapy refers to the injection of testosterone or estrogen to aid
the transition of transgender individuals in matching their gender identity. During hormone
therapy, participants who related the experience also undergo changes in their mood,
temperament and personality; they become irritable, moody, anxious and emotional as to relating

their intake to being like adolescents. Hormone therapy in aiding physical changes brings about
the changes in voice pitch for both male and female, changes in the growth of facial hair,
changes in the definition of bone structures (i.e. jawlines, hips), and changes in the growth of
acne. Changes for transgender men also include decrease in the blood flow during their
menstruation. Most of the participants acknowledge the health risks in using injections to aid the
construction of their gender identity. One of the participants related that if one does not know
how to inject the hormone properly, there is a risk of dying in the process.
Hormone therapy becomes a sociocultural opportunity for transgender individuals to return to
the society in matching their gender identity according to the norms of being either male or
female. They assimilate physical appearances and behaviour according to the two genders.
However, the current society is conservative and prefers the immediate gender assignment of
individuals, transgender men and women suffer sanctions by being unable to come out openly to
the public that they have undergone hormone therapy to be able to achieve their gender identity.
Alterations on Physique and Fashion. Transgender men and women construct their gender
identification by expressing the opposition of their body appearances. For transgender women, it
is important to alter the body by adding on breasts to imitate the female body. It is also ideal for
them to remove or hide their phalluses. From the interviews, it was noted that the transgender
women as participants put on make-up to accentuate their femininity. The researchers also took
notice that their fashion was exhibiting feminine, from their hairstyles to the clothes that they
wear.
For transgender men, body building becomes an important tool to alter their feminine bodies.
They exhibit their masculinity by accentuating muscles and putting on masculine clothes. During
the process of body-building, transgender men are able to hide their feminine figures. One of
the participants also related that body building is a measure to monitor his hyper masculinity.
Removal of the breasts is an important measure for transgender men as the breasts always
remind them of their feminine bodies. One of the participants see the removal of breasts as
liberating.
Affiliations with Support groups. Support groups or communities which cater to the concerns,
education, and recognition of transgender individuals have become an important aspect in

transitioning. Transgender men and women are welcomed to the society by these support groups
and they have found this constructed environment wherein they can express coming out as a
transgender and can perform their gender identity without any sanctions and implications.
Support groups such as the ATP or Association of Transgenders Philippines and FTM or
Female to Male group have been able to let transgender individuals prepare for their return to the
society, and to their immediate environments. Transgender individuals who have joined support
groups have reported to be confident in coming out and are motivated to achieve their desired
image through constant monitoring of hormone therapy and physical alterations. The support
groups rewards these behaviours in the form of giving acceptance and education. These
communities also fight for advocacies in the recognition of transgender individuals in the society,
from the family, to the institutions which hold power to influence over others such as the
government, religious groups, schools and businesses. Advocacies come in the form of same-sex
marriages, HIV-AIDS awareness, public and social gatherings for transgender individuals and
fighting against stereotyping and discrimination. From their responses, transgender individuals
are also motivated to fight for the support groups advocacies.

Interventions for Transgender Community

From the responses of the interviewees, their relatives and friends, certain themes were
extracted to examine how the social environment plays a key role in the gender identification of
transgender individuals, their transition and their coming out. Implications for certain
interventions were raised by how social circles contribute to the suppression and discrimination
of the transgender.
Education on Sex, Sexuality and Gender Transgender individuals related that most of the
conflict they encounter on expressing their gender identity comes to the lack of awareness on the
transgender, manifested by the majority, including their friends and family. This categorization is
often ridiculed and stereotyped to queer and aloof and even considered as just a passing
phase. Most of the participants advocate for the inclusion of education about sex, sexuality and
gender across institutions. They also express feelings of discontent on how conservative the
current society is, even if its neighbouring countries have already recognized the transgender as a
category. One participant also added that the education on sex and gender in the country is not

stressed enough that most people consider the terms as interchangeable. Sexual orientation and
gender identification are also terms unknown to the majority.
Public Policies. Because the society only caters to the male and female categorization,
transgender individuals, as well as their lesbian, gay and bisexual counterparts, suffer from the
limitations of whether they have the access to services and rights which belong to the
heteronormative identification. Affiliating with support groups raises the transgender individuals
awareness that these issues surface especially when they have come out in the society and the
options for their kind are not catered. Services include the access to use public restrooms, board
trains which promote segregation of men from women, fitting rooms in malls, and even products
available in the market.
Health Risks. As the transgender individual learns methods of transitioning, he or she
encounters hindrances in the form of biological risks; hormone therapy might cause hormonal
imbalance and erratic temperament while surgery can damage the bodys natural functions and
forms. Health risks are also found in sexual activities transgender individuals take part in.
However, participants in this study fight for awareness against the prejudice that they do not
know how take caution in the health issues they risk in order to construct their gender
identification. The right for a transgender individual to be educated about the health concerns in
belonging to this gender is also stressed by one of the participants in the study.
Institutions. Most of the participants in the study also promote the awareness of being a
transgender across different institutions, including the government, the Church, and the academe.
They see these institutions as the bearers of social power to influence the construction of gender;
to be able to acknowledge the transgender would mean opening sociocultural opportunities to
these individuals for them to exhibit their gender identity openly and not being seen as profane,
obscene or scandalous. Transgender community groups often engage in demonstrations,
seminars, celebrations and other events where the public is invited to know about them, their life
experiences and their gender identification.
Social Media. Similar to their foreign counterparts, transgender individuals seek interventions
in the social media to find a community which supports their choice of being a transgender.
Participants in the study recognize Facebook accounts, groups, and YouTube channels as
platforms of coming out and educating others about their experiences. Majority of the

participants also yearn to become role models for others as they document their transition in
taking hormone therapy, surgery and body building. Because there is little censorship in these
platform, transgender communities and individuals seize the opportunity to promote LGBT
issues and oppose discrimination set upon them.
Limitations of the study
Although the study offers a rich source of stories from six transgender individuals, with
verifications from their relatives and friends, the purposive sampling set upon the methodology
will not be able speak across all experiences of transgender individuals who have acknowledged
the role of their social circles. The researchers consider the emergence of the transgender as
widespread across the country, only to be affected various aspects of gender construction like
language, location, religion and situation. The researchers were also fortunate that they have
gathered participants from Metro Manila and these individuals can easily understand English and
Filipino, the medium exercised across the interviews. The researchers note that the testimonies of
the transgender male or females relative or friend can only act as supplement on the narratives
of the six participants narratives.
The narratives in coming out of the transgender individuals were also found to be convenient in
analysing the data due to the positive feedback which they have received. The participants
relatives and friends who were interviewed were not shocked nor angered, although they have
persuaded the individual before he or she came out; they have maintained a positive connection
with the transgender individual. Such positive experiences cannot be said to other transgender
individuals who still face discrimination and avoidance by their immediate environments.