|
LGBT
Sept 22, 2023 23:33:09 GMT
Post by Admin on Sept 22, 2023 23:33:09 GMT
Winding Back Trans Liberation averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com/2023/09/winding-back-trans-liberation.htmlWhat a thoroughly depressing set of statistics. Thursday saw the publication of the annual British Social Attitudes survey, which for the last 40 years has provided robust opinion data based on in-depth interviews with a large random but representative sample. One of the trends it has picked up over the decades is the increasing liberalisation of social attitudes. Acceptance has increased on sex before marriage, family forms that don't conform to the nuclear ideal, minority ethnicities, same sex relationships, and abortion. As you might expect if you've followed discussions of values and age on this place and round and about, the younger one is the more likely you are to accept the social liberal consensus of mutual tolerance and respect, and hostility to overt manifestations of sexism, racism, and homophobia. Unfortunately, increasing acceptance does not apply to everyone. As the survey reports, positive attitudes towards transgender people have gone into reverse. Following a preamble that described what is meant by trans, the sample were asked two questions. 1. How would you describe yourself ... as very prejudiced against people who are transgender, a little prejudiced, or, not prejudiced at all? 2. How much do you agree or disagree that a person who is transgender should be able to have the sex recorded on their birth certificate changed if they want? In 2019, 82% said they were "not prejudiced" against trans people - the same as it was when the question was first asked in 2016. However, in 2022 this had fallen to 64%. On changing the sex recorded on the birth certificate, in 2016 58% agreed that trans people should be able to do this. In 2019 it had slid slightly to 53%, but last year it had collapsed down to 30%. In general, women were more accepting than men (71% vs 53% on 'no prejudice', 33% vs 27% on birth certificates). In age terms, no prejudice was relatively close for all the under-64 cohorts (65% for those on the cusp of retirement, 69% for 18-24 year olds). There were greater gaps on changing birth certificates. 26% in the older working age cohort agreed, vs 43% for the youngest. The report's conclusion argues that the moral evolution of British society is more complex than a simple extension of liberal attitudes, as the attitude to trans people demonstrates. Perhaps for the simple theory of change offered by the BSA. They suggest liberalisation is driven by more education, "societal practice", and changing individual behaviour through encountering people from diverse backgrounds in everyday life. The difficulty here is this does not explain why trans people and trans liberation has suffered a significant reverse. When there are more trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people out and visible than at any other time in modern history, you might expect the everyday contact argument to reinforce a trend toward liberalisation. Indeed, the greater levels of acceptance among younger cohorts goes part of the way to explain age discrepancies, seeing as younger trans people are more likely to have understanding and supportive peers. However, we don't need to scratch our collective heads to explain its reversal. For the best part of the last decade, trans panic has engulfed pretty much all of centre right politics, their media, and not a few figures among the centrist establishment. What was once the pet hatred of a pathetic minority has been relentlessly mainstreamed. Arguments fielded by so-called feminists and progressives have been taken on wholesale, to the point where so-called "gender critical" concerns are indistinguishable from "traditionalist" right wing attitudes toward gender. For both sex and gender are immutable, and their alliance rests on a cast iron agreement that polices women and men according to conservative ideas of femininity and masculinity. GC doesn't stand for gender critical. The more appropriate label is Gender Cops. These views have been used to justify a barrage of hate, and it has been utterly relentless. The right wing press dredge up any story it can, and the Tories feed off it with their entirely conscious anti-woke strategy. And Labour have cowardly stood aside and let this happen. Under the guise of not wanting to get involved in "culture war issues", like with so many other things Keir Starmer has completely capitulated to right wing framing, which has given the anti-trans brigade in the PLP carte blanche to either join in the carnival of reaction, or purse their lips together for enough dog whistles that does not leave their loyalties in any doubt. The result has been making trans people's lives a misery, transforming one of our most vulnerable communities into a political football, and causing untold amounts of completely unnecessary anxiety as hate crimes against trans people keeps edging upward. This is costing lives. It also demonstrates something about the background trends in popular culture. It's long been my argument that the march of social liberalism isn't about "enlightenment" or woke educational institutions, it's a direct consequence of the labour process dominant across all the advanced (post)industrial economies: immaterial labour. With most of the work force employed by the so-called service sector, the character of work is defined by the production of intangibles: knowledge, services, experiences, care, identities, relationships. These are harnessed by capital for the usual purposes of surplus extraction, but the consequences at the level of everyday "spontaneous" consciousness is an orientation toward sociability, networking, and tolerance. When work is about building and producing relationships between human beings, it's not surprising there's a strong tendency toward the acceptance of difference (but this isn't to say everything is a bed of roses, it comes with its species of alienation too which, interestingly, anti-trans discourse feeds off). Therefore, as Britain and other advanced countries have outsourced their industrial bases and/or largely liquidated the manual working class, those who have entered the work force in the 1990s and after were more likely to experience work as a "socialised" immaterial labourer than those who went before, which also helps explain the values divergence across age groups. These are the attitudinal imprints of class cohorts, the moral sediment bedded down by their experience of a world transitioned away from manufacturing and the cultural dominance of the (masculine) industrial worker. This is a strong trend. There is a real momentum and direction to greater tolerance, but what the war against trans people tells us - not too different from the permanent campaign against refugees - is that where a designated out-group is small, they can be isolated further by a press-led campaign that crosses party lines, where prominent voices in defence are ostracised and the costs for their speaking out are increased. This atmosphere with its constant recurrence of confected outrage, and the conscious building of an attention economy that awards provocateurs, in short when a significant section of the political and media establish a united front and hammer it endlessly public opinion can be moved against the cultural flow. This is why transphobia and the fight against it is an acid test for the left. The attacks on trans people is an attack on the rest of us. They are refining new bigoted technologies of divide and rule, of establishing and cementing new scapegoats. A point so obvious that it shouldn't really need saying, but here we are. The collective effort of the establishment at demonising and traducing trans people has placed them and their community on the front lines of 21st century class struggles. It's a wedge wielded by elites to maintain elite rule and roll back real progress. If they are able to affect a permanent change of attitude backed by the sorts of legislation the Tories keep toying with, who are they going to come for next?
|
|
|
LGBT
Sept 25, 2023 17:39:18 GMT
Post by Admin on Sept 25, 2023 17:39:18 GMT
Safeguarding LGBTQ+ lives in an epoch of abandonment William E Rosa Nicholas Metheny Alic G Shook Adebola A Adedimeji Open AccessPublished:September, 2023DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00353-4 www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(23)00353-4/fulltextPolicy-sanctioned threats to the lives and welfare of LGBTQ+ people are becoming increasingly volatile. Despite the commitment of UN member states to “leave no one behind” as a key ethic of the Sustainable Development Agenda,1 LGBTQ+ populations are being actively marginalised further. 66 jurisdictions worldwide criminalise private, consensual, same-sex activity between men; 41 countries enact the same punishment for women; and 12 countries impose or can impose the death penalty for same-sex activity.2 Another 14 countries criminalise trans people's gender identity or expression.2 An emerging global movement of homophobia, transphobia, and human-rights violations3 is pervading throughout countless nations, regardless of their income level, predominant religious practices, or governments. On June 5, 2023, the Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for all LGBTQ+ Americans, citing 525 state-level bills targeting LGBTQ+ populations in the USA.4 In 2023, 75 such bills have been signed into law—doubling legalised discrimination since 2022.4 These policies restrict educators from discussing LGBTQ+ issues, prohibit mental health workers from providing gender-affirming care to people under the age of 18 who have gender dysphoria, and criminalise parents who seek the medical care that they believe will best support the wellbeing their children. In Florida, the Protections of Medical Conscience Act will permit health workers to deny LGBTQ+ people health services of any kind if clinicians feel that these services violate their moral, ethical, or religious beliefs.5 This act creates a dangerous precedent of restricting health-care access and delivery based on the self-determined moral and ethical responsibility of individual clinicians. • View related content for this article Some countries are brashly expanding their long-term anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. For example, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was signed into Ugandan law on May 29, 2023.6 The bill reiterates the existing punishment of lifelong imprisonment for same-sex conduct and decrees a new death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”, which includes “serial offenders” and individuals engaged in same-sex activity with people who have disabilities.6 The bill also calls for a 20-year prison sentence for anyone “promoting homosexuality” (eg, anyone who advertises or distributes relevant material) and fines or imprisons people who fail to report a suspect having same-sex relations.6 Political instability increases the risk of harm for LGBTQ+ people. For example, since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, they have systematically pursued and punished members of the LGBTQ+ community.7 Many victims, predominantly gay men and trans women, have faced Taliban-led physical and sexual assault, detention, and public humiliation (eg, stoning or flogging).7 In-country assistance and aid are commonly unavailable and escape for LGBTQ+ citizens is often impossible. Structural limitations on the freedom of movement for people seeking to flee identity-motivated violence (eg, economic restraints, an inability to obtain visas, or unclear asylum policies) lead to unspeakable suffering for thousands of LGBTQ+ people.8 LGBTQ+ marginalisation is evident even in end-of-life settings, in which people with serious illness or injury are most fragile. The end-of-life experiences of LGBTQ+ people are often characterised by fear of discrimination, heteronormative and cisnormative assumptions, homophobia and transphobia, social isolation, and undignified death.9 Too many trans people prefer suicide instead of the loss of functional independence as they are concerned that reliance on health workers and a lack of decision-making capacity will lead to mistreatment and violence.9 Spouses and partners of LGBTQ+ people who have died experience additional bereavement stressors (eg, disenfranchised grief or unwanted disclosure of identity),10 meaning they are at risk for prolonged grief disorder, which has further detrimental physical and mental health outcomes. Affirmative practices to create more equitable health and social cultures for LGBTQ+ people focus on more inclusive health communication,10 consistent dismantling of heteronormativity and cisnormativity,10 accurate documentation of sexual orientation and gender identity (based on the safety of the clinical and social environment),9, 10 and continued health advocacy to promote access to high-quality and affordable health services throughout the lifespan.4 Additional calls to action to further safeguard the lives and welfare of LGBTQ+ people are urgently needed (panel). Despite some hopeful policy wins (eg, decisions in Namibia and Taiwan to expand LGBTQ+ rights in 2023),11, 12 much of the world has entered an epoch of LGBTQ+ population abandonment—a society in which the visibility of LGBTQ+ people is reduced, their health care is subpar, their welfare is dispensable, and their existence is undervalued. Unified commitments that reflect the core values of the Sustainable Development Goals1 and basic human rights3 have never been more crucial. The welfare of LGBTQ+ lives is everyone's responsibility. We cannot, and will not, be left behind. Panel Immediate calls to action to safeguard the lives and welfare of LGBTQ+ people • UN member states should be held to account for enacting LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination policies that contradict their support of the Sustainable Development Goals • Ministries of health and social welfare should advocate for the provision of people-centred services that are inclusive, protective, and responsive to the cultural needs and social and political risks of LGBTQ+ populations • Violence that targets LGBTQ+ people should be legally prosecuted; perpetrators of violence should be accountable for inhumane and unjustified behaviour • Health workers should abide by their ethical commitments of beneficence (ie, doing good), non-maleficence (ie, doing no harm), and justice regardless of the sexual orientation or gender identity of the patient • Health systems and their employees should promote cultural, social, psychological, and physical safety for LGBTQ+ people and their families who seek medical care (eg, avoid heteronormative and cisnormative assumptions and language, ensure policies are inclusive and respectful, include chosen families in care planning and shared decision making, and affirm allyship and safety by displaying LGBTQ+ pride symbols) • Senior health leaders and administrators should consistently and empathically acknowledge, validate, and normalise LGBTQ+ people's lived experiences both publicly and privately, and should guide other employees and trainees accordingly • Non-governmental organisations and community-based groups that advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ people should be given social and political protections to sustain activities and expand outreach to LGBTQ+ citizens, families, and allies • Researchers should partner with LGBTQ+ communities and advocates to prioritise research aims that will directly benefit community needs and priorities (eg, community-based participatory approaches) • Faith leaders and religious communities should consider their potential contributions to perpetuating stigma and should redesign their influence to aim toward a non-violent and inclusive civil society • Businesses and employers should consistently be examples of allyship by not tolerating discriminatory practices and partnering with LGBTQ+ people as coworkers and colleagues • Citizens, neighbours, and family members of LGBTQ+ people should continue to participate in advocacy, activism, and allyship that shows solidarity and support for inclusive and humane communities • Lancet Commission agendas and commissioners should promote respectful discourse on LGBTQ+ inclusion and visibility when addressing the needs of marginalised groups and finalising report implications for health policy and practice We declare no competing interests. References 1.UN Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. sdgs.un.org/2030agendaDate: 2015 Date accessed: June 8, 2023 View in Article Google Scholar 2.Human Dignity Trust Map of countries that criminalise LGBT people. www.humandignitytrust.org/lgbt-the-law/map-of-criminalisation/Date: 2023 Date accessed: June 8, 2023 View in Article Google Scholar 3.UN Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 7 July 2022. Mandate of Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2Fhrc%2Fres%2F50%2F10&Language=E&DeviceType=Desktop&LangRequested=FalseDate: 2022 Date accessed: June 8, 2023 View in Article Google Scholar 4.Human Rights Campaign LGBTQ+ Americans under attack: a report and reflection on the 2023 state legislative session. hrc-prod-requests.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Anti-LGBTQ-Legislation-Impact-Report.pdfDate: 2023 Date accessed: June 8, 2023 View in Article Google Scholar 5.The Florida Senate CS/SB 1580: protections of medical conscience. www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1580Date: 2023 Date accessed: June 8, 2023 View in Article Google Scholar 6.Obulutsa G Uganda enacts harsh anti-LGBTQ law including death penalty. www.reuters.com/world/africa/ugandas-museveni-approves-anti-gay-law-parliament-speaker-says-2023-05-29/Date: 2023 Date accessed: June 8, 2023 View in Article Google Scholar 7.Outright International Report: A mountain on my shoulders: 18 months of Taliban persecution of LGBTIQ Afghans. outrightinternational.org/Afghanistan-Report2023Date: 2023 Date accessed: June 8, 2023 View in Article Google Scholar 8.UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Global Migration Group Principles and guidelines, supported by practical guidance, on the human rights protection of migrants in vulnerable situations. www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Migration/PrinciplesAndGuidelines.pdfDate: 2018 Date accessed: June 8, 2023 View in Article Google Scholar 9.Rosa WE Roberts KE Braybrook D et al. Palliative and end-of-life care needs, experiences, and preferences of LGBTQ+ individuals with serious illness: a systematic mixed-methods review. Palliat Med. 2023; 37: 460-474 View in Article Scopus (2) PubMed Crossref Google Scholar 10.Bristowe K Hodson M Wee B et al. Recommendations to reduce inequalities for LGBT people facing advanced illness: ACCESSCare national qualitative interview study. Palliat Med. 2018; 32: 23-35 View in Article Scopus (76) PubMed Crossref Google Scholar 11.Thoreson R Namibian court recognizes foreign same-sex marriages. www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/26/namibian-court-recognizes-foreign-same-sex-marriagesDate: 2023 Date accessed: June 8, 2023 View in Article Google Scholar 12.Cheung E Taiwan grants right of adoption to same-sex couples in latest move toward full equality. www.cnn.com/2023/05/16/asia/taiwan-same-sex-adoption-marriage-equality-lgbtq-intl-hnk/index.htmlDate: 2023 Date accessed: June 8, 2023
|
|
|
LGBT
Oct 10, 2023 22:33:11 GMT
Post by Admin on Oct 10, 2023 22:33:11 GMT
Study Examines Healing from Family Rejection as Trans and Nonbinary Latinx Persons Research centering on the lived experience of transgender and nonbinary Latinx people generates new understanding of their processes of healing after family rejection. By José Giovanni Luiggi-Hernández, PhD -October 5, 2023 www.madinamerica.com/2023/10/study-examines-healing-from-family-rejection-as-trans-and-nonbinary-latinx-persons/Although psychological research has often focused on the distress experienced by Latinx transgender and non-binary persons, recent studies have begun to highlight their own forms of empowerment, healing, growth, and joy. In a recent article published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, Álvaro Gamio Cuervo and their colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Boston aimed to develop new theories about how diasporic Latinx transgender and non-binary individuals heal after experiencing rejection from their families: “We offer two contributions to the conceptualization of the healing process individuals may undergo after experiencing family rejection. First, diasporic identity formation after experiences of rejection is facilitated through the reconstruction of familial relationships and cultural healing. Second, chosen family and supportive community networks may adopt the responsibility of [ethnic-racial socialization] after proximity to family of origin is lost.”
|
|
|
LGBT
Nov 7, 2023 12:54:14 GMT
Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2023 12:54:14 GMT
Same-sex sexual behaviour in mammals evolved to keep the peace psyche.co/ideas/same-sex-sexual-behaviour-in-mammals-evolved-to-keep-the-peaceAlthough these new findings can’t tell us much about human sexuality, they could help to solve an evolutionary paradox In the early 2000s, one of the most famous couples in New York City was a pair of male penguins, Roy and Silo, who lived together in the Central Park Zoo. The two males ‘entwine their necks, they vocalise to each other, they have sex’, according to a New York Times article from 2004. They even raised a chick together, named Tango, and became the subject of the children’s book And Tango Makes Three (2005). Roy and Silo are far from the only example of animals of the same sex mating with one another. Same-sex sexual behaviour has been observed in more than 1,500 species from spiders and nematodes, to reptiles, birds and mammals. Female bonobos rub their genitals together before sharing a honeycomb, and male Bonin flying foxes fool around while huddling for warmth, according to a recent article from the National Wildlife Federation. Yet some biologists have previously thought that animals’ same-sex relationships might pose an ‘evolutionary paradox’ because they don’t produce offspring. Why do animals partake in same-sex sexual behaviours at all, if it doesn’t result in babies? To put it bluntly from an evolutionary perspective, isn’t it a waste of time and effort?
|
|
|
LGBT
Dec 22, 2023 16:10:08 GMT
Post by Admin on Dec 22, 2023 16:10:08 GMT
What are some different types of gender identity? Definition of gender identity History Gender as a spectrum Types of gender identity Support FAQs Summary www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/types-of-gender-identityGenetic factors typically define a person’s sex, but gender refers to how they identify on the inside. Some examples of gender identity types include nonbinary, cisgender, genderfluid, male, female, transgender, gender neutral, agender, and pangender.
|
|
|
LGBT
Dec 22, 2023 23:45:31 GMT
Post by Admin on Dec 22, 2023 23:45:31 GMT
50.50: OPINION Whoever wins the US election, the fight for trans rights will need to continue Fairer mainstream media representation for trans Americans would help win the battle for hearts and minds www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/us-election-2024-trans-rights-trump-biden/As I sit down to write my last column of 2023, it occurs to me that much of my work this year has focused on the high stakes of the US presidential election coming up in 2024. I’ve emphasised that democracy, human rights, and the rule of law are on the ballot in 2024. And now, even the corporate, authoritarianism-enabling American legacy media are increasingly unable to ignore Donald Trump’s evident dictatorial aspirations and fascist attitudes. While I’m glad the legacy media’s gatekeepers have finally decided to state these obvious facts, I worry about their lack of regard for how devastating a Republican victory in 2024 will be for members of particular marginalised groups, with transgender Americans like myself among the most at risk. Even as the major mainstream newspapers and magazines now worry about democracy in the abstract – and, to be fair, sometimes also about immigrants and abortion access – they blithely continue to print the kind of anti-trans rhetoric that has been fueling state-level persecution of trans people for years, escalating with frightening rapidity. Republicans want to take that persecution national, but even in a best-case scenario in which Democrats hold the presidency and the Senate and retake the House, political persecution of trans Americans will continue to escalate in red states. We know that because 2023 has been another record year for anti-trans state legislation – over 500 bills were filed, 75 of which became law – and 2024 promises more of the same. To be sure, not all the news for trans folks is currently bad. In September, striking results from the first ever randomised controlled trial of hormone therapy came out: transmasculine individuals in the treatment group, who received hormone therapy starting at the beginning of the three-month study, experienced a 55% reduction in suicidality compared to their previous baseline. The study could be conducted ethically because the people in the control group were not denied treatment, but simply required to wait three months to start. The reason it’s important to have such data is that it puts the lie to the bad-faith argument, levelled frequently by transphobes, that most of the research showing gender-affirming care is healthy and helpful for trans individuals is not “high quality research”. By this definition much medical research is not “high quality” precisely because the conditions required for a randomised controlled trial would be unethical. Far be it from anti-trans bigots to let such facts stand in the way of their preferred narrative, however. And unfortunately, the publication of this study hasn’t really shifted the national discourse on trans rights in the months since it came out. The other good piece of news for transgender Americans that comes to mind for me is the continuing fall from grace of right-wing, anti-LGBTIQ group Moms for Liberty, the Florida-based national activist organisation whose chapters are largely responsible for many of the anti-trans policies and book bans implemented in school districts across the country. Last month school board candidates backed by Moms for Liberty suffered major defeats in local elections. And since then the news emerged that Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler engaged in a threesome involving her husband and another woman, making her a grade-A hypocrite. Even worse, the other woman accused Ziegler’s husband, Christian Ziegler, of raping her on another occasion after the initial sexual encounter between the three of them. Christian Ziegler, who denies any wrongdoing, has refused to resign as chair of the Florida Republican Party, and the party has now had to take extraordinary action to punish him – stripping him of the powers of his office and reducing his $120,000 annual salary to a single dollar – as it attempts damage control. The losses and scandals that Moms for Liberty have confronted in 2023 may pave the way for better conditions for queer students in some school districts, and one might hope that the fallout could spill over, to some degree, into state legislative battles and state and national elections as well. Nevertheless, for the foreseeable future, American states will remain divided between those that are to varying degrees outright hostile to trans people, and those that accommodate our existence. In short, even if 2024 goes as well as possible for marginalised Americans, it is almost certainly still going to be another bad year, overall, for transgender Americans. This is something I wish the members of our punditocracy would raise explicitly as they warn the public that democracy is on the ballot next November. Even if “democracy” wins, the fight for the human rights and fair and equal treatment of trans people across vast swaths of America is going to need to continue. That fight, in turn, depends on the battle for hearts and minds. Fairer mainstream media representation for trans Americans could go a long way to help on that front, though I’m not holding my breath that it will happen any time soon.
|
|
|
LGBT
Jan 14, 2024 22:32:30 GMT
Post by Admin on Jan 14, 2024 22:32:30 GMT
|
|
|
LGBT
Jan 18, 2024 18:58:37 GMT
Post by Admin on Jan 18, 2024 18:58:37 GMT
Psy-Disciplines as Gatekeeper: A History of Gender-Affirming Care A new article critically examines the institutionalization of the psy disciplines as the authority to construct normative, and often pathologizing, accounts of trans life. By Ally Riddle -January 18, 2024 www.madinamerica.com/2024/01/psy-disciplines-as-gatekeeper-a-history-of-gender-affirming-care/A new article published in The American Psychologist critically examines the historical and contemporary practices of the psy-disciplines and their power to create and reinforce normative and pathologizing accounts of trans life. By evaluating the complex historical interactions between trans individuals and clinicians, the authors situate contemporary problems with trans care in its historical roots. They demonstrate how trans life and the development of transnormativity were structured by dominant discourses shaped by the psy-disciplines and how trans life shaped how these disciplines came to understand them. The authors, Damien W. Riggs, Ruth Pearce, Carla A. Pfeffer, Sally Hines, Francis Ray White, and Elisabetta Ruspini, investigate the developments and evolution of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) and Standards of Care (SOC) to show the consequences of how the psy-disciplines have engaged with gender and sexual diversity throughout history. They highlight how this has resulted in the creation of the socially constructed categories of binary gender and heterosexuality and the reinforcement of these normative and often pathologizing accounts that persist today. The authors define transnormative as “the ways in which dominant narratives about what it means to be trans emphasize a particular and narrow set of tropes to which all trans people are expected to adhere.” For example, normative accounts of trans life typically require that all trans people conform to the “wrong body narrative,” require medical intervention, and the desire to be perceived as cisgender. This article highlights the authoritative role the psy-disciplines have in contributing to these normative and often pathologizing accounts. However, the authors take care not to simply state that these power structures control trans life. Instead, they offer a history that shows the mutual development of clinical guidelines for how some trans narratives have been adopted in clinical care and how trans people have also resisted these normative accounts. They do so to demonstrate both the lasting negative impacts of the psy-disciplines and the dominance of transnormative accounts, as well as highlight and celebrate the critical contributions and resistance from queer and trans people in healthcare. Institutionalization of the Psy-disciplines and Transnormativity With the rise of the psy-disciplines in the 19th century, increased attention was given to the LGBTQ+ community, as well-known healthcare professionals sought to define “sexually deviant” behaviors, ones that transgressed normative social sex and gender categories. While this time saw the implementation of potentially life-saving interventions (surgeries and hormones) that offered many trans people hope, the ideology behind medical transitions was rooted in eugenics, sought to “contain supposed sexual and racial deviancy,” and relied heavily on psychiatric assessment. By exploring the life of Christine Jorgenson, a well-known trans woman from the mid-20th century, the authors show what type of presentation was necessary to be “accepted” as a trans woman in the public sphere and by psychiatry. Thus, “the institutionalization of the psy disciplines involved a process whereby individuals were drawn into a network of power relations in which they were encouraged to self-monitor according to standards rapidly established by the psy disciplines.” Therefore, laying the foundation for wide circulation and use of normative accounts that pressured trans people to adopt this “culturally mediated, psy-inflected account of what it meant to be trans,” which adhered to the “constraints of the racialized, hetero-masculinist logics considered socially acceptable,” to be able to receive affirming care. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) The authors state, “The struggle to define and control some of the most marginal members of society is always also a struggle for dominance and authority among its most privileged.” They explore the historical development and changes of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual as non-normative gender and sexuality have been a focus across all editions. Critiques of the DSM are not uncommon; in this case, the stakes are high. For queer individuals, it means receiving liberating, affirming care or being subject to oppressive power structures. As a result of the institutionalization of psychiatry, the psychiatrist acts as the gatekeeper to gender-affirming care. Thus, a deeper look into who has the power of diagnosis is necessary. The authors write that most decision-making around gender and sexually non-conforming people has primarily been made by white, cisgender, and heterosexual men in psychiatry. Despite an increase in recent critiques of the DSM, activism, and trans rights initiatives, as well as overall resistance to medicalization, the crafting of the DSM and central framing of the psy-disciplines remains a problem. Even in attempts to resist a pathologizing focus on gender-diverse individuals and focus more on the subjective feelings of distress as a result of being gender non-conforming, as depicted by the shift from “gender identity disorder” to “gender dysphoria,” the authors write that this keeps social justice at bay: “Diagnosing a targeted individual as disordered or ill rather than seeking to change the cisgenderist and heterosexist society or social system in which they are embedded.” Standards of Care (SOC) Standards of Care (SOC), written by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), provides authoritative guidance on managing medical transitions. Like the DSM, early versions of the SOC contributed to the construction of transformative narratives and centered on the role of mental health diagnoses. Standards of Care offered an avenue for health professionals to assess patients and manage access to hormones and surgery; however, it helped create the gatekeeping system forcing people to conform to specific narratives and access to care depending on an individual’s race, class, and age. Thus, trans life continued to be monitored and controlled. It wasn’t until 2011 that trans voices were included in the SOC. While more recent versions of the SOC include a wider diversity of trans voices and acknowledge nonbinary genders, many activists and scholars criticize the diagnostic framework and assessment models that remain embedded within the DSM and SOC, and authorship remains overwhelmingly cisgender and US-based. In conclusion, the authors situated a contemporary debate in a historical context of interactions between trans people and the psy disciplines to demonstrate how trans people have made significant contributions to the framings of their lives; however, historically, these contributions have not always translated into less pathologizing accounts by those in power. The article explores how the psy-disciplines have constructed normative categories that often work together with pathologizing accounts, which have lasting consequences today. The conversation is important as appropriate gender-affirming care has the potential to reduce worse mental health outcomes. If care continues to operate under a gatekeeping framework and restricts gender-affirming care, there are detrimental consequences. **** Riggs, D. W., Pearce, R., Pfeffer, C. A., Hines, S., White, F., & Ruspini, E. (2019). Transnormativity in the psy disciplines: Constructing pathology in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and Standards of Care. The American psychologist, 74(8), 912–924. doi.org/10.1037/amp0000545 (Link) pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31697127/
|
|
|
LGBT
Feb 1, 2024 22:48:25 GMT
Post by Admin on Feb 1, 2024 22:48:25 GMT
|
|
|
LGBT
Feb 2, 2024 16:05:24 GMT
Post by Admin on Feb 2, 2024 16:05:24 GMT
|
|
|
LGBT
Feb 12, 2024 22:12:38 GMT
Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2024 22:12:38 GMT
NEWS | LGBTQ RIGHTS House Democrats in West Virginia Help Republicans Pass Anti-Trans Bill This bill “would cause direct harm to the trans community in West Virginia,” one advocate said. By Zane McNeill , TRUTHOUT PublishedFebruary 12, 2024 truthout.org/articles/house-democrats-in-west-virginia-help-republicans-pass-anti-trans-bill/West Virginia Democrats aligned with Republicans in the House of Delegates on Friday to pass a bill, HB 4233, that bars the term “nonbinary” from appearing on birth certificates and mandates the inclusion of a person’s sex (male/female) on the document. While West Virginia already prohibited changing the gender marker on birth certificates to nonbinary, LGBTQ advocates condemned the Democrats who voted in favor of the bill, saying that their votes revealed where they stand on transgender rights. “This isn’t even a thing -you can change birth certificates but NOT to non binary soooo the dems who will say it’s a do nothing bill- done DID something to their voter base,” West Virginian author and ACLU-WV staff member Jamie Miller said on social media. “It speaks volumes to the people in West Virginia that you disregard while voting for your own interests.” The Democrats who voted for the bill include Hollis Lewis, Joey Garcia, Kayla Young, Ric Griffith, Sean Hornbuckle, and self-proclaimed “Lefty” Shawn Fluharty. By approving this bill, Democrats not only disregard the identities of nonbinary and gender nonconforming West Virginians but also overlook the existence of intersex people within their state. According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), an estimated 1.7 percent of people are born with intersex traits or atypical sex characteristics. Laws like this reinforce the dangerous yet prevalent practice of forcing intersex children to undergo surgeries to alter their gonads, internal reproductive organs, and genitals to conform more closely to stereotypical male or female characteristics. These surgeries can cause psychological distress in children who grow up to identify as a gender different than the one their bodies were surgically altered to be more like. “Critics, often liberal Democrats, may question why the nonbinary birth certificate ban draws condemnation when seemingly few people care about the issue. Perhaps these critics should consider that standing on the side of the oppressor sends a harmful message,” Morgantown City Council member Brian Butcher wrote on his blog in response to the vote. “Intersex individuals are born at roughly the same rate as red-haired individuals. By endorsing this bill you have just told every constituent who was born intersex or with intersex children that they simply do not exist in the eyes of the law.” In one study on intersex people, 81 percent of participants had been subjected to surgeries due to their intersex status, 50 percent of whom developed psychological problems. Because of this, human rights organizations have denounced this practice, asserting that such procedures are medically unnecessary and pose the risk of causing lifelong suffering. While the ACLU-WV opposed this bill, advocates criticized LGBTQ groups, including Fairness WV, that didn’t publicly track its progression. “The ACLU of WV alongside LGBTQ+ activists and organizers made it clear [this bill] would cause direct harm to the trans community in West Virginia,” transgender activist Ash Orr said on social media. “Wild that there was silence from other major LGBTQ+ adjacent organizations in this state.” West Virginia lawmakers have advanced an additional 25 anti-LGBTQ bills since the start of this year. In total, more than 400 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country since January 1. rest in link.
|
|
|
LGBT
Feb 12, 2024 23:05:29 GMT
Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2024 23:05:29 GMT
|
|
|
LGBT
Feb 25, 2024 16:55:36 GMT
Post by Admin on Feb 25, 2024 16:55:36 GMT
|
|
|
LGBT
Feb 26, 2024 18:56:42 GMT
Post by Admin on Feb 26, 2024 18:56:42 GMT
|
|
|
LGBT
Mar 13, 2024 12:11:25 GMT
Post by Admin on Mar 13, 2024 12:11:25 GMT
New guidelines for schools ‘encourage discrimination’ against trans students Teachers and LGBTQ+ groups urge public to respond to consultation, which closes tomorrow www.opendemocracy.net/en/gender-questioning-children-consultation-respond-discrimination-trans-students/Acoalition of LGBTQ+ charities, teachers and human rights groups is urging the public to oppose “discriminatory” new guidance on how schools should treat trans students. Teachers and LGBTQ+ groups who work with trans kids have condemned the “tone of cruelty and contempt towards children and educators throughout” the guidance, which would see trans, non-binary and gender-questioning pupils ‘outed’ to parents or carers, among other “dangerous” measures. A public consultation on the plans closes tomorrow. They said the guidance, published by the Department for Education in December, “purposely obscures” the most urgent issues facing young trans people, including a lack of access to healthcare, discrimination and bullying in schools and, relatedly, mental health concerns. LGBTQ+ groups have moved to reassure trans pupils, and their friends, teachers and carers, that the guidance does not change the legal protections already afforded to trans kids under the Equality Act 2010.
|
|