Nomenclature in the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's<i>Standards of Care</i>: Background and Recommendations

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article looks at the history of terminology used in the Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorder (SOC), the document guiding much of transgender health care today. We argue that a deeper understanding of how terms and concepts in this set of professional guidelines have evolved over time may foster a more positive relationship between service providers and users by publicly acknowledging tensions that have emerged. The article looks first at the development of the SOC in relation to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the International Classification of Disease and Related Health Problems (ICD) and then at the ways that the American and Western European cultural contexts of many of its authors may have unintentionally undermined what we assume to have been the authors' best efforts to produce a document international in scope. We also discuss attempts to address the needs and views of community users and service providers and how this might have affected the language used in previous versions of the SOC. Designed to be valuable to service users, for service providers, and particularly for those drafting future editions of the SOC, we end with specific recommendations, arguing that in order to develop better language for use in the SOC, a more thorough critical examination of the SOC's history and social context(s) is in order.