Immediate Emotional Effects
Identity invalidation: Misgendering directly challenges how someone perceives themselves, diminishing feelings of authenticity, self-esteem, and identity cohesion, while increasing stigma.
Heightened dysphoria: Especially for those experiencing gender dysphoria, misgendering intensifies discomfort with one's body or appearance.
Social anxiety and shame: Repeated misgendering can lead to social withdrawal, anxiety about interactions, and embarrassment in public or professional settings.
Long-Term Mental Health Consequences
Depression and anxiety: Frequent misgendering correlates with lower self-worth, appearance-based self-esteem, and overall identity strength.
Isolation: Many experience disconnection from social circles, feeling misunderstood or disrespected.
Trauma-like responses: When chronic and/or combined with other forms of discrimination, this may mimic or contribute to trauma symptoms.
Sustained mental health harms: Research links misgendering and other identity invalidations to depression, anxiety, suicidality, disordered eating, and impaired social functioning – for nonbinary individuals particularly – framed through the gender-minority stress model.
In essence, misgendering is more than linguistic missteps –it significantly undermines mental health, emotional wellbeing, and social belonging for trans and gender-diverse people.