Evolution and History of Law with Regard to DSD

Disorder of sexual differentiation or gender dysphoria has been put in a separate category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder V. This is important for the management of the patients who were previously labelled with a diagnosis of gender identity disorders. It helps to address the mental agony that one may undergo due to an asynchronization between the perceived and assigned gender. These disorders are less common in females than males, with a less common incidence in natal females. Adults and adolescent females present gender dysphoria at an early age. This is nearly always gynephilic when the assigned sex is female in such cases. In India, transgender is duly identified as the third gender. In spite of this, it seems to remain much under-reported in India and other nations for the stigma related to it and along with homosexuality, this issue more sensitively severe in the female population. Diagnosis of gender dysphoria continues to be the most intricate, myriad extremely sensitive topic that is most pervasive to the human life. This chapter is intended to be of benefit to almost all the strata of stakeholder professional population, wherein the authors traverse with conceptual and evolutionary genesis of the increasingly important and much sensitive issues of international concern related to gender dysphorias. With a prologue of landmark Judgment from the Indian context, the sub-topics that transcend through historical perspective in relation to gender dysphorias include but are not limited to the principles and theories laid down for gender identity (Yogyakarta’s), constitutional rights of an individual as per the country’s statute (including right to marry, respect to private and family life), offences of civil and criminal nature related to the person of transgender, role of specialist and non-specialist health care providers, finer nuances along with the sub-issues of sex-reassignment surgeries, approach to the management, and other variegated psycho-socio-medico-legal challenges faced by persons suffering from gender dysphorias. The authors also lay down notable cases from the world, and various statutory solutions that have been prescribed available to the persons suffering from gender dysphorias at the level of an individual and as part of various sub-systems involved within the Indian context.