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Abstract

This section includes eighty-six short original essays commissioned for the inaugural issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. Written by emerging academics, community-based writers, and senior scholars, each essay in this special issue, “Postposttranssexual: Key Concepts for a Twenty-First-Century Transgender Studies,” revolves around a particular keyword or concept. Some contributions focus on a concept central to transgender studies; others describe a term of art from another discipline or interdisciplinary area and show how it might relate to transgender studies. While far from providing a complete picture of the field, these keywords begin to elucidate a conceptual vocabulary for transgender studies. Some of the submissions offer a deep and resilient resistance to the entire project of mapping the field terminologically; some reveal yet-unrealized critical potentials for the field; some take existing terms from canonical thinkers and develop the significance for transgender studies; some offer overviews of well-known methodologies and demonstrate their applicability within transgender studies; some suggest how transgender issues play out in various fields; and some map the productive tensions between trans studies and other interdisciplines.
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... The term cisgender can be used to describe individuals who possess, from birth and into adulthood, the male or female reproductive organs (sex) typical of the social category of man or woman (gender) to which that individual was assigned at birth(Aultman, 2014;Stryker, 2017). The term is used to mark the trans/not-trans distinction, and it can be used to refer to people who gain social privilege of being not-trans(Enke, 2013;Stryker, 2017). ...
... The term is used to mark the trans/not-trans distinction, and it can be used to refer to people who gain social privilege of being not-trans(Enke, 2013;Stryker, 2017). The term emerged from transgender activists' discourses in the 1990s to criticise the common ways to describing sex and gender(Aultman, 2014). ...
Thesis
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This doctoral thesis is the first extensive research on the information practices of Finnish transgender people. This research focuses on embodied information, which is defined as information derived from the sensory and sentient experiences of people in practice. The findings contribute to the developing knowledge on transgender individuals’ experiences of the ways that senses, affects, body-related self-observations and observations of other people’s bodies are a part of information practices. The conceptual framework of the research builds upon a theorisation of information behaviour and practices, transitions and queer theory and transgender studies in an interdisciplinary fashion. Methodologically, interpretive phenomenology informs the research. The thesis is founded on four peer-reviewed articles (Studies I, II, III and IV), and a compilation report combining their results with a focus on transgender individuals’ embodied experiences. The empirical material was collected through 12 interviews in 2013 (Study I) and 25 interviews in 2016 (Studies II, III and IV) with Finnish people who identified as transgender. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis and queer phenomenology. The findings of this research illustrate how personal and interpersonal factors shape information practices of transgender individuals, including information encountering, seeking, creation, sharing, use, avoiding and hiding. The findings foreground the interconnectedness of bodily experiences, affects and stigma within the experiences of transgender individuals, indicating how these elements can shape their information practices during gender transitions. This thesis increases the understanding of affects as social phenomena that shape the embodied information practices of marginalised populations. The research suggests that the concept of early-stage information needs can be used to understand how embodied knowledge and friction between the lived experience and the social world can lead to information seeking. Moreover, the results provide novel insight into how bodily discomfort can act as a trigger for a transition. The outcomes of the research provide new knowledge to support and inform information and healthcare providers and organisations working with transgender people by describing the variety of information needs and information barriers that transgender people encounter.
... For specificity, we use "trans" and "cisgender" as specifiers. In using "cisgender" as a specifier, we acknowledge that the concept has come under some critique by trans scholars who see it as unintentionally reinforcing the normativity of cisness (see Aultman, 2014). Our own use of it here serves to visibilise and challenge the often-silent, taken-for-granted assumption in much feminist work that the categories "women" and "men" necessarily and obviously refer to cisgender people. ...
Article
The governance of reproductive practices, processes, decision-making, experiences, desires, subjectivities, and bodies has received and continues to receive significant attention in feminist efforts to name and resist reproductive oppression. And over the last 30 years, articles published in Feminism & Psychology have made significant contributions to the visibilisation and critique of this form of oppression. In this Virtual Special Issue on Reproductive Governance and the Affective Economy, we apply repronormativity and affect to our reading of 20 articles published in Feminism & Psychology. Collectively, these articles provide a glimpse of the wide-ranging scope of reproductive regulation (including that which is re-produced by/within feminism itself), and the various work that repronormativity and affect do in this governance. The challenging of reproductive governance notwithstanding, we conclude by arguing that the centring and circulation of certain reproductive subjects and their experiences within feminist knowledge production is itself a part of and upholds repronormativity and forecloses the possibility of reproductive freedom for all.
... Within philosophy, the term normative is understood as a neutral way to refer to claims about how the world is or ought to be. In queer and feminist theory, however, to describe something as normative is to identify it as a problem; consider, for example, the well-established critique of heteronormativity (Warner 2000) or the more recent analysis of cisnormativity (Aultman 2014). Normativity, within this framework, refers to an oppressive, constraining, or restricting force; normativity limits possibilities, pressing people into socially and historically produced norms such as whiteness, ableness, and heterosexuality. ...
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In this article, I argue that scholarship on the cultural impact of neoliberalism provides a vital framework with which to revisit early trans critiques of Butlerian queer feminism. Drawing on this scholarship, I reread the appeals to the real and realness in these critiques through the neoliberal transformation of social difference. I link the early argument that some trans figures were problematically used in queer feminism to represent the fluidity of identity with the more recent argument that the flexibility of identity has become a core part of neoliberal cultures. This context challenges the current dominant view of early trans critiques of Butler as misreadings and instead casts them as resistant to a superficial encouragement of individual flexibility. As a result, revisiting this debate demonstrates the need to rework theoretical frameworks that may continue to inadvertently lead to selective trans inclusion in queer feminism and points the way to trans-queer-feminist theory that is more attuned to shifting models of power.
... The term 'cisgender' (from the Latin cis-, meaning 'on the same side as') can be used to describe individuals who possess, from birth and into adulthood, the male or female reproductive organs (sex) typical of the social category of man or woman (gender) to which that individual was assigned at birth. 'Hence a cisgender person's gender is on the same side as their birth-assigned sex, in contrast to which a transgender person's gender is on the other side (trans-) of their birth-assigned sex.' 85 Gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria is a condition of psychological distress due to an incongruence between a person's gender and the gender that they were assigned at birth. 86 A person may be gender non-conforming his/her entire life without experiencing gender dysphoria. ...
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Introduction There has been a global increase in demand for gender-specific healthcare services and a recognition that healthcare access is complex and convoluted, even in countries with well-developed healthcare services. Despite evidence in Ireland supporting the improvement in physical and mental health following access to gender care, little is known about the local healthcare navigation challenges. Internationally, research focuses primarily on the experience of service users and omits the perspective of other potential key stakeholders. Youth experiences are a particularly seldom-heard group. Methods and analysis This study will use a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design with a participatory social justice approach. The qualitative phase will explore factors that help and hinder access to gender care for young people in Ireland. This will be explored from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives, namely, young people, caregivers and specialist healthcare providers. Framework analysis will be used to identify priorities for action and the qualitative findings used to build a survey tool for the quantitative phase. The quantitative phase will then measure the burden of the identified factors on healthcare navigation across different age categories and gender identities (transmasculine vs transfeminine vs non-binary). Ethics and dissemination This study has been approved by St Vincent’s Hospital Research Ethics Committee (RS21-019), University College Dublin Ethics Committee (LS-21-14Kearns-OShea) and the Transgender Equality Network Ireland’s Internal Ethics Committee (TIECSK). We aim to disseminate the findings through international conferences, peer-review journals and by utilisation of expert panel members and strategic partners.
... Por exemplo, homens designados assim por genitália tipicamente masculina ao nascer e que se identificam com o gênero masculino; ou mulheres designadas assim pela genitália de nascimento e que se identificam com o gênero feminino. 7 Também ressaltamos que a heteronormatividade será referida como um sistema no qual as relações românticas e de condutas sexuais são constituídas entre homens e mulheres cisgêneros, de forma heterossexual, e que é entendido como a ordem "natural" culturalmente aceita. 8 A identidade de gênero e a orientação sexual foram incluídas em análise como determinantes sociais da saúde da população LGBT na 13 a Conferência Nacional de Saúde, em 2007. ...
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Introdução: A comunidade lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais e suas particularidades associadas à saúde foram ignoradas por muitos anos. Embora a homossexualidade e a transexualidade não sejam mais consideradas doenças, ainda prevalece marginalização de muitas pessoas lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais a nível sócio-econômico-cultural e de acesso aos serviços de saúde. No que tange ao acesso à saúde, o primeiro contato do paciente Lésbicas, Gays, Bissexuais, Travestis e Transexuais dentro do sistema de saúde pode ser através do médico de família e comunidade. Objetivo: Analisar as experiências dos médicos de família e comunidade no atendimento às pessoas lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais na atenção básica da rede municipal de saúde em uma cidade no Sul do Brasil. Métodos: Desenvolveram-se dois grupos focais (13 profissionais no total), um deles constituído de seis médicos de família e comunidade autodeclarados heterossexuais e cisgêneros e outro grupo constituído de sete médicos de família e comunidade autodeclarados lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais, em julho de 2019. Resultados: Os participantes consideraram importante a temática da saúde lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais na atenção primária, embora ela tenha sido pouco explorada nos seus cursos de graduação. Relataram que as principais demandas dos pacientes lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais são as de saúde mental, violência e infecções sexualmente transmissíveis. Apontaram que possuem dificuldades em abordar questões que envolvem sexualidade e identidade de gênero em suas consultas. Conclusões: Os resultados reforçam a necessidade de os médicos de família e comunidade conhecerem especificidades da população lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais. Sugere-se que a temática da saúde da população lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais seja mais ensinada nos cursos de graduação em Medicina.
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Objetivamos apresentar uma tripla crítica: 1) à imposição ocidental de estratégias de emancipação feminina eurocentradas; 2) à ocidentalização de estudos de gênero provenientes de nações colonizadas; 3) e à lacuna presente em estudos de gênero decoloniais em relação às experiências de corpos trans. Para tanto, mobilizamos as discordâncias entre as autoras Oyewùmí e Rita Segato, de modo a expor, pelas perspectivas de ambas, uma crítica à imposição de um feminismo ocidentalizado a sociedades não-europeias. Elaboramos, a partir dessa crítica, outro eixo dessa imposição – a ocidentalização dos conhecimentos produzidos por estudiosos originários de países africanos e latino-americanos. Como complemento a tais posicionamentos contra-hegemônicos, apresentamos uma reflexão sobre a necessidade de se demarcar, em estudos decoloniais sobre gênero e sexualidade, o fator da “cisgeneridade” e o reconhecimento das violências sofridas por pessoas trans. Violências estas que são heranças do colonialismo, assim como o historicídio das culturas dos povos originários narradas aqui por Sandra Benites. Traremos Lélia Gonzalez por meio da interseção entre os conceitos de raça e gênero, e demonstraremos como corpos diferentes do corpo ocidental, branco, masculino, heterossexual e cisgênero são subjugados pelas forças das colonialidades. Ademais, apontarmos para uma lacuna existente em estudos de gênero decoloniais, no que concerne à transgeneridade. Defendemos, assim, que uma vertente decolonial deve se expandir para agregar todos os corpos não-normativos, e deve apontar as falhas que ela própria comete, a fim de servir um de seus principais propósitos: a decolonização do saber.
Article
Objectives To propose an approach for semantic and functional data harmonization related to sex and gender constructs in electronic health records (EHRs) and other clinical systems for implementors, as outlined in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report Measuring Sex, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation and the Health Level 7 (HL7) Gender Harmony Project (GHP) product brief “Gender Harmony—Modeling Sex and Gender Representation, Release 1.” Materials and Methods Authors from both publications contributed to a plan for data harmonization based upon fundamental principles in informatics, including privacy, openness, access, legitimate infringement, least intrusive alternatives, and accountability. Results We propose construct entities and value sets that best align with both publications to allow the implementation of EHR data elements on gender identity, recorded sex or gender, and sex for clinical use in the United States. We include usability- and interoperability-focused reasoning for each of these decisions, as well as suggestions for cross-tabulation for populations. Discussion and Conclusion Both publications agree on core approaches to conceptualization and measurement of sex- and gender-related constructs. However, some clarifications could improve our ability to assess gender modality, alignment (or lack thereof) between gender identity and assigned gender at birth, and address both individual-level and population-level health inequities. By bridging the GHP and NASEM recommendations, we provide a path forward for implementation of sex- and gender-related EHR elements. Suggestions for implementation of gender identity, recorded sex or gender, and sex for clinical use are provided, along with semantic and functional justifications.
Article
The metaphysics of sex and gender is of significant philosophical, social, and cultural interest at present. Terms like transgender and cisgender have come into wider circulation in the fight for gender justice. While many are familiar with ‘transgender’, fewer know ‘cisgender’, the term that captures AFAB‐women (assigned ‘female’ at birth‐women) and AMAB‐men. But ‘cisgender’ is controversial to some, which I find surprising. In this article, I reflect on my process of recognising my self as cisgender. During, I highlight the ethico‐political consequences of refusing the onto‐epistemic category ‘cisgender’. I shall argue that uptake of ‘cisgender’ and apprenticeship to trans texts uncovers how we maintain, and might purposefully disturb, queer/cis‐hetero, man/woman/other hierarchies of social identity power. I argue this self‐recognition is a crucial tool for challenging ‘cisgender commonsense’ and may be a means toward dislodging ciscentrism in my (western, Anglophone) milieu.
Article
Deadname is a term used to describe the name a trans person is given at birth and is a taboo topic in many trans communities. Research highlights the importance of using the chosen name of a trans person and the complex relationship young trans people have to their name(s). Drawing on interviews with young trans people in Canada and Australia, we explore the narratives they share about their relationship to their name given at birth. Through a theoretical framework that recognizes the importance of complex and even contradictory narratives in young trans people’s lives, we examine their narratives about their relationship to their name given at birth. We find that more nuance is needed to understand the significance of the words ‘deadname’ and ‘deadnaming’ in young trans people’s lives. We can all better support young trans people by recognizing they have diverse experiences and relationships to their name given at birth. We consider what this looks like when applied to educational and medical spaces.
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This paper explores how organizations within the fertility treatment sector in the UK discursively construct (cis) male infertility and whether, in so doing, they reinforce or reproduce prevailing institutionalized discourses and practices of masculinity. We seek to address the gender disparity in contemporary understandings of reproductive health in Organization Studies (OS) where women's experience of infertility and its impact is well researched, but only occasionally does this extend to issues of male infertility. Specifically, we build on existing literature in the social sciences and OS on male infertility and expand it by investigating the organizations that treat fertility issues. We examine and discuss how they may inadvertently contribute to this neglect, by reflecting and reproducing the masculine norms that surround male infertility. We employ a thematic analysis to examine texts produced by organizations involved in the fertility sector and find that male infertility is discussed and presented through three intersecting lenses: (a) a hegemonic masculinization of infertility; (b) male infertility as an othering experience; and (c) disembodied masculinity. We highlight how these gendered organizational narratives (re)produce prevailing norms and practices of masculinity, and how an organizational shift within the sector needs to take place if substantial changes toward more caring, relational, and collective approaches to gender and reproductive health are to be achieved.
Book
In the 1960s and 1970s, minority and women students at colleges and universities across the United States organized protest movements to end racial and gender inequality on campus. African American, Chicano, Asian American, American Indian, women, and gay and lesbian activists demanded the creation of departments that reflected their histories and experiences, resulting in the formation of interdisciplinary studies programs that hoped to transform both the university and the wider society beyond the campus. This book traces and assesses the ways in which the rise of interdisciplines—departments of race, gender, and ethnicity; fields such as queer studies—were not simply a challenge to contemporary power as manifest in academia, the state, and global capitalism but were, rather, constitutive of it. The book delineates precisely how minority culture and difference as affirmed by legacies of the student movements were appropriated and institutionalized by established networks of power. Critically examining liberationist social movements and the cultural products that have been informed by them, including works by Adrian Piper, Toni Cade Bambara, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Zadie Smith, this book argues for the need to recognize the vulnerabilities of cultural studies to co-option by state power and to develop modes of debate and analysis that may be in the institution but are, unequivocally, not of it.