REAKSI MASYARAKAT DAN TINDAK BALAS INDIVIDU YANG MENGALAMI MASALAH KECELARUANIDENTITI JANTINA

Gender identity disorder is a social phenomenon originating from an individual s complication with his/her sexual category, characteristics, roles and behaviours. Individuals with gender identity disorder are labelled as non-conformist who deviates from social norms. As an effort to understand this phenomenon, a survey was conducted amongst 160 university students, who were assumed to come into conflict with their gender identities. The assumptions were made based on the students appearances and behaviours. The main objective of the study was to identify the reaction of public members toward this social group, as well as to examine ways in which the group responses to the community feedbacks. A set of structured questionnaires were used to gather primary data from the sample, which were selected using the convenience sampling technique. They were asked to self-administer the questionnaires. The study discovered that most of the respondents were either unacquainted or ambiguous with their identities. The reaction of community members towards this social group were found to be varied. Community members tend to label person with gender identity disorder with deleterious lexes and perceptions. Persons with gender identity disorder reactions were comparable to community feedback. Their act in response to the social labels can be categorized into either constructive or destructive; such as engaging with social activities that encourage one s identification about gender identity category, roles and behaviours, or act in a way that they were labelled.