Disrupting Transphobia in the Design of Digital Platforms

Abstract

Digital platforms enable new interactions in our everyday lives. However, they are not
neutral tools. They influence our decisions and they risk amplifying and perpetuating
existing inequalities (Morrow, 2014). Design decisions made by system developers impact
on people’s ability to lead the lives they value. One population that is particularly at risk of
this is the transgender population. This is a vulnerable group that, despite progress in
human rights, continues to experience discrimination with regards to healthcare access
(Saraswathi and Praveen, 2015), employment (Mills, 2015; Oosterhoff et al., 2014) and
other vital services (Pandya and Redcay, 2021). Excluding transgender people from national
statistics leads to limitations in public health surveillance and an inability to provide
healthcare services (Reisner et al., 2016). There is a risk that the inequalities and prejudices
experienced by the population can become embodied within information systems. While
this process is often unintentional, caused by a lack of awareness by the system designer
(Wagner et al., 2021), it impacts on the agency and freedom of the transgender person, and
their capacity to build a life they value. Promising studies suggest that these issues can be
ameliorated by developing ICTs that are sensitive to maintaining the safety and privacy of
transgender people (Haimson et al., 2020).

This paper explores how prejudices come to be embodied in information systems, and how
this risks exposing transgender populations to further oppressions. It takes a trans-feminist
perspective to explore how the design of digital platforms and digital representations
impacts on the ability of transgender people to build lives they value.

Keywords: transgender digital identities, representation, digital platforms, adverse digital
incorporation