Rethinking trans identities within the medical and psychological community: a path towards the depathologization and self-definition of gender identification in Portugal?

• Autor(a) principal: Hilario, Ana Patricia
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/36057
• topic: Trans people; Identity; Gender dysphoria; Pathologization; Healthcare

This study intends to shed light on the ways in which medical practices surrounding Gender Dysphoria (GD) might enforce or challenge the pathologization of trans identities. Drawing upon a qualitative research approach, in-depth interviews with 12 practitioner specialists in the field of GD in Portugal were carried out by the T team. Our findings suggest that trans identities continue to be pathologized by a group of practitioners who appear to follow an essentialist model of gender. The need for expert knowledge and evaluation to access trans-specific healthcare is illustrative of the gatekeeping practices employed by medicine and the power given to medical discourses over trans identities. Nevertheless, the centrality given to medical and psychological practitioners regarding the definition of who is the authentic trans person is being challenged inside the medical community, as some practitioners are allowing room for trans people to define themselves in their own terms. The findings provide novel insights to the literature in Portugal by showing a more nuanced perspective on the depathologization and self-definition of gender identification within the medical community than that previously described.