The interactional making of a “true transsexual”: Language and (dis)identification in trans-specific healthcare

Abstract

Can the transsexual subject speak in their own terms? This is the question this article addresses. Grounded on a Foucauldian genealogical approach to discourse analysis and on Goffmanian-inspired interactional analysis, it investigates how knowledge systems that pathologise transsexuality as a mental disorder get gradually embodied (and spoken) in consultations at a Brazilian gender identity clinic. The analysis follows the interactional history a trans woman had with the clinic’s psychologist and traces the intertextual links that connect various consultations in time. This series of encounters constitutes a socialisation trajectory during which the trans client is led to speak a language that is not hers in order to frame an identity performance within the diagnostic criteria for the identification of “true transsexuals”. The article, thus, contributes to three areas for the study of transgender and language: (1) it investigates how transsexual people are led to speak a language that is not their own (the problems of agency and trans-autonomy); (2) it points to the centrality of studying how others speak to transsexual people – a gap identified by Don Kulick but which remains under-investigated; and (3) it highlights the importance of language use for the design of trans-positive and trans-affirmative healthcare practices.

Language in the middle: Class and sexuality on the Hinglish continuum

“…Rather, Janam ' s ability to express his psychological and financial readiness for the transition was constrained by broader gendered language ideologies. Sociolinguists have discussed the discriminatory practice by which transgender clients are required to construct inauthentic narratives in order to pass the now global diagnostic criteria used for the identification of a "true transexual" (Borba, 2019b ; see also Zimman, 2020 ). In Janam ' s case, this requirement was additionally complicated by the expectation that this narrative would be in English.…”

Queer linguistics and identity

“…Building on this, studies have used discourse analysis to examine the construction of transspecific identities in online contexts (Dame 2013, Jones 2019, Webster 2018, in clinical settings (Borba 2019, Borba & Milani 2017, and through sociolinguistic interviews (Cashman 2018). Furthermore, Corwin's (2017) analysis of embodied identity construction shows how genderqueer individuals reposition gender as non-binary through their gestures and language.…”

Análise Microinteracional De Um Primeiro Atendimento Psicoterápico: A Negociação Da Agenda Institucional Nas Intervenções Clínicas

“…Empiricamente, estudos têm mostrado que discursos macro e microssociais se materializam concomitantemente nos meandros das interações médica/o-paciente, sobretudo com o ajuste fino da comunicação entre profissional e usuária/o e com processos de construção do saber biomédico e de pertencimento a categorias sociais (OSTERMANN; SOUZA, 2009;OSTERMANN;SILVA, 2013;BORBA, 2014;2015;2019). Neste escopo, há escassez nas produções científicas brasileiras de pesquisas que exploram como os atendimentos em psicoterapia podem estar a serviço de interesses sociais específicos, como é o caso, a exemplo, dos contextos de atendimento focados na população LGBTQIA+ (lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis, transexuais, transgêneros, queer, intersexo, assexuais e outras identidades) (BORBA, 2014;2015).…”

“…A descrição e a análise desses movimentos proporcionarão, ainda, reflexões sobre os usos de instrumentos de intervenção clínica ou de protocolos de atendimentos em serviços de saúde mental, públicos e privados no Brasil (BORBA, 2014;2015;2019). Há especial preocupação sobre a utilização de modelos pré-definidos de intervenção, uma vez que a normalização da clínica psi, tal qual a própria clínica médica, a modelos engessados de atendimentosusuárias/os-patologias se desalinha, em absoluto, com a sua qualidade dinâmica e cotidiana (PERÄKYLÄ, 2012;OSTERMANN;SILVA, 2013;BORBA, 2014).…”