This essay examines the stereotype that transgender people are “deceivers” and the stereotype’s role in promoting and excusing transphobic violence. The stereotype derives from a contrast between gender presentation (appearance) and sexed body (concealed reality). Because gender presentation represents genital status, Bettcher argues, people who “misalign” the two are viewed as deceivers. The author shows…
This paper looks at the transformation of male-to-female transgender identities in Japan since the Second World War. The development of print media aimed at a transgender readership is outlined, as is the development of bars, clubs and sex venues where transgendered men sought both partners and commercial opportunities. The origin of various transgender ‘folk categories’…
For many transgender patients, access to healthcare – and specifically gender-affirming care (such as hormone replacement therapy) – is limited by a variety of different barriers. Despite evidence showing that access to medical transition is not only safe, but also improves suicide risk in transgender patients, these services are often subject to excessive gatekeeping by…
This article examines the historically and culturally specific valence of ‘gender’ as currently deployed in the field of gender and women’s history. It draws broadly on the scholarship on gender since the 1980s, while focusing particularly on the case of the British North American colonies and the early United States republic. The essay argues against…
In the United States during the 1990s, there emerged a new form of collective political organizing and action around transgender identity. In this essay, the author depicts the dynamics of transgender activism during the mid-1990s based on original research in the form of a postmodern ethnography of transgender activism. Using data from field research, interviews,…
Objective: Health literacy and health insurance literacy affect healthcare utilization. The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between health insurance knowledge, self-efficacy, and student healthcare utilization in the past year. Participants: A random sample of 1,450 respondents, over the age of 18, attending a public university in the southeastern United States completed…
A course on gender and public policy can introduce students to methods of policy analysis in the context of social-justice problems. Using a combination of empirical studies and analytic tools, students learn how social conditions and policies differentially affect women and men, and they can identify implications for gender equity. But our world includes non-binary…
Did the Nazis persecute lesbians? In recent decades, their murderous campaign against gay men has drawn growing public attention. But historians are still at odds over the question of whether lesbians were persecuted as well. This article argues that historians ought not to limit themselves to the notion of “persecution” and rather ought to consider…
Young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) experience higher levels of suicidality compared to heterosexual or cisgender peers, and face significant barriers accessing mental health services including prejudice from staff. In a cross-sectional survey, mental health staff who reported receiving LGBT awareness training were significantly more likely to report in…
In providing care to transgender patients, surgeons interact with health care providers of other disciplines, including medical and mental health providers. Mental health or medical providers often see a patient first, when hormones are initiated. The Standards of Care recommend that mental health professionals assess patients for surgery according to set criteria and send surgeons…