Resisting Transnormativity: challenging the medicalization and regulation of trans bodies

Abstract

This paper investigates some of the medical and legal procedures and policies of sex reassignment within Canada and the United States. The leveraging of medical discourse in the fight for trans rights reinforces neoliberal discourses of individualism and equal rights. Through medicalization, gender-conforming trans persons are able to access treatment, such as hormone therapy and gender-confirming surgeries, while nonnormative trans persons are often denied services. Transnormative narratives of transition reinforce medical discourses of what it means to be trans and how to be trans. These narratives simultaneously legitimize transsexuality for those who can conform to the dominant narrative while delegitimizing gender variance and nonconforming trans persons.