vijara:

definitely, i take issue w/ the idea of defining trans people on the basis of dysphoria for a lot of reasons;

• firstly because it equates being trans with distress + discomfort, suggesting that to be transgender is an inherently uncomfortable and undesirable experience, which is at best a very shallow understanding of trans identities and all that they encompass. there are parts of being trans that are heavy and difficult (these aspects mostly stemming from the reactions of society and cis people to trans people and not stemming from the experience of having a trans identity in and of itself), but it would be untrue to define transness as intrinsically shameful and miserable. being trans also encompasses the relief of discovering your most authentic self, the warmth and love of meeting others who understand and relate to your experience, and the comfort and groundedness that comes with living your truth
  
  
• secondly because basing transness on dysphoria sends the message that gender identity is something that outsiders can decide. if you’re telling someone that they’re not trans because they’re not dsyphoric, you’re essentially telling them that you know their gender better than they do. you’re telling them “you say you’re trans, but i don’t know if i believe you” which is the same thing cis people do to us all the time. members of the trans community need to be aware of the ways in which they’re policing the identities of others, especially within the trans community. imo this comes from internalized transphobia which, even for people who self-identify as trans can be hard to unlearn. but we need to do better and make that effort
  
  
• thirdly because it privileges some narratives over others and reinforces the idea that some people “aren’t trans enough”. saying that if you don’t have dypshoria you’re not “trans enough”  is divisive and invalidating. (this is something that nonbinary people experience all the time.) most trans people know exactly what it feels like to have their identity invalidated by others. it’s not a good feeling. trans people get enough of that from cis people, we don’t need it from within our own community too. we need to stand with and support each other instead of acting like being trans is some elitist club that you have to meet a certain checklist of criteria to get into. i’m not interested in the idea of some trans people being inherently better or “more trans” than others. there is no such thing as not being “trans enough”.  
  
  
• lastly (just b/c i’m tired, not because there aren’t a million more arguments for not defining transness on the basis of dysphoria), equating transness with dysphoria is a really western way of looking at being trans. there have been “trans” experiences in lots of cultures globally, long before the west had any concept of “transgender” (two-spirit, hijra, kathoeys, as an example, and they have a history that procedes ours.) transness has existed outside of the west (and for longer than the west), with its own definitions, language, insights, and experiences. trying to speak for all trans people by saying that transness is exclusively about experiencing dypshoria is an idea based in western understandings about gender and entirely erases indigenous and international identities and experiences 

TL;DR: you don’t have to experience dysphoria to be trans.