Changing Minds: The Psycho-Pathologization of Trans People

Inch, Emma

doi:10.1080/00207411.2016.1204822

Cited by 26 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Co-occurring psychiatric disorders in gender diverse populations are unlikely to be simply related to the person's gender identity, and may instead reflect the response of the individual's familial and social environment to that identity and its expression (Vrouenraets et al ., 2015). It has been suggested that cisgender populations under the same incessant exposure to psychological stressors would in all likelihood experience comparable of rates of depression and anxiety as trans populations (Inch, 2016). Higher rates of anxiety among transgender adult populations have also been reported, and have been attributed to low self-esteem and poor interpersonal functioning (Bouman et al ., 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between negative life experiences and the mental health of trans and gender diverse young people in Australia: findings from Trans Pathways

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundTrans and gender diverse (TGD) young people worldwide experience high rates of poor mental health; however, these rates were unknown in Australia. In addition, how negative life events affect the mental health of TGD young people has been largely unexplored.MethodsThis paper reports on novel mental health findings of Trans Pathways, the largest study ever conducted in Australia with trans (transgender) and gender diverse young people (N = 859; aged 14–25 years). The study was an anonymous online cross-sectional survey undertaken in 2016. Logistic and linear regression models were used to test associations between mental health outcomes and negative life experiences.ResultsTGD young people in Australia experience high levels of mental distress, including self-harming (79.7%), suicidal thoughts (82.4%), and attempting suicide (48.1%). Three in four participants had been diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety (74.6% and 72.2%, respectively). Many TGD young people had been exposed to negative experiences such as peer rejection (89.0%), precarious accommodation (22.0%), bullying (74.0%), and discrimination (68.9%). Most poor mental health outcomes were associated with negative experiences. The strongest associations were found for precarious accommodation and issues within educational settings. For example, participants with a prior suicide attempt were almost six times more likely to have experienced issues with accommodation, including homelessness.ConclusionsThe current results highlight the urgent need for better mental health care and provide insight into areas for targeted mental health interventions. These findings are pertinent for clinicians working with trans young people and wider society.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between negative life experiences and the mental health of trans and gender diverse young people in Australia: findings from Trans Pathways

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The construction of lesbian women and gay men as sexual deviants has a long history (Conrad, 1992;Gonsiorek, 1982;Minton, 2002) and so this is not a new motif in the de-legitimization of sexual and gender minorities. Similarly, the pathologization of transgender people is well-established through the American Psychiatric Association's (2013) mental disorder category of 'gender dysphoria' and in popular representations (Inch, 2016). In this sense and at least at some level, deviance is characterized as an intrinsic component of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Risk of sexual violence against women and girls’ in the construction of ‘gender-neutral toilets’: a discourse analysis of comments on YouTube videos

Colliver

Coyle

2020

Journal of Gender-Based Violence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article considers how the risk of sexual violence against women and girls is topicalised in social media interaction about ‘gender-neutral toilets’. In particular, it examines how versions of the category of ‘transgender people’ are assigned a key role within the construction of sexual violence risk. A discursive analysis is presented of 1,756 online comments in response to ten YouTube videos relating to gender-neutral toilets. The analysis focuses on one theme entitled ‘Gender-neutral toilets as a site of sexual danger’ and its constituent sub-themes. The phenomenon of gender-neutral toilets was responded to with a limited set of gendered tropes that constructed and positioned stakeholders in culturally recognisable ways. Women and children were constructed as vulnerable to sexual violence, at risk from men (including versions of ‘transgender women’) and in need of protection. This transformed a debate over public space into a question of morality. The analysis contributes to existing literature by focusing on the discursive features involved in the construction of risk, and the implications of these constructions in minimising the need to address social structures that position transgender people as legitimate targets of violence. Key messages <ul><li>Gender-neutral toilets were constructed as spaces of sexual risk and danger for women and girls.</li> <li>The introduction of gender-neutral toilets was conflated with debates about the entitlement of transgender women to access women-only spaces.</li> <li>Constructions of risk featured transgender people as potential sexual offenders, but not as being at risk themselves in gender-segregated public toilets.</li></ul>

show abstract

“…Finally, as Minerva notes, in Brazil free cosmetic surgery is given to the poor in order to enhance their well-being and/or social and economic prospects-rather than to mitigate some harm-and in most European countries cosmetic surgery for physical features that are merely non-average-rather than associated with any medical harm-is provided by public health systems. [45] (p187) Similarly, according to Inch [5] , fertility treatment and breast reconstruction following removal of tumours 'is not necessarily offered due to an illness or a disorder; it is offered in order to improve one's quality of life and psychological wellbeing'(p200-201). Living with integrity enhances our general well-being.…”

Section: IVmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrity and rights to gender-affirming healthcare

Rowland

2021

J Med Ethics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Gender-affirming healthcare (GAH) interventions are medical or surgical interventions that aim to allow trans and non-binary people to better affirm their gender identity. It has been argued that rights to GAH must be grounded in either a right to be cured of or mitigate an illness—gender dysphoria—or in harm prevention, given the high rates of depression and suicide among trans and non-binary people. However, these grounds of a right to GAH conflict with the prevalent view among theorists, institutions and activists that trans and non-binary people do not have a mental illness and that one can be trans and entitled to GAH without being depressed or suicidal. This paper challenges the orthodoxy that a right to GAH must be grounded in either of these ways and instead argues for a right to GAH grounded in a right to live and act with integrity. The standard view, which this paper explains, is that our rights to live and act with integrity ground a right to religious accommodation in many cases such as a right to not be denied social security due to one’s refusal to work a job on a holy day. This paper argues that if our rights to live and act with integrity can ground prima facie rights to religious accommodation, our rights to live and act with integrity ground prima facie rights to GAH.

show abstract

Changing Minds: The Psycho-Pathologization of Trans People

Abstract: The concepts of psychiatric diagnosis and gender are both contested, and they are at their most controversial where they intersect around the diagnosis of trans and gender variant people as mentally disordered.

Cited by 26 publications

References 33 publications

Associations between negative life experiences and the mental health of trans and gender diverse young people in Australia: findings from Trans Pathways

Associations between negative life experiences and the mental health of trans and gender diverse young people in Australia: findings from Trans Pathways

‘Risk of sexual violence against women and girls’ in the construction of ‘gender-neutral toilets’: a discourse analysis of comments on YouTube videos

Integrity and rights to gender-affirming healthcare

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About