Identify a contemporary instance of the role biological determinism plays in social construction and identify the way in which its deployment upholds the social status quo. 

There are certain aspects of society, from a gender perspective, that operate in a way that we accept as ‘normal,’ yet if such aspects were to be called into question, they could be deemed sexist. It is generally accepted that women and men have specific roles in society which are championed at birth. It is accepted that girls, aside from physical traits, will have feminine traits of being gentle, kind, warm, helpful, understanding, and emotive to name a few. Whilst some accepted male traits are, being tough, dominant, assertive, emotionally strong. Although, there is a broad basis for assigning gender norms, the social consequences for falling outside of these norms can be devastating for the individual concerned causing depression and anxiety and even suicidal thoughts. One such area that will be focused on here is the trans* community. 

Trans* refers to all gender identities to include transgender, transsexual, non-binary, asexual, ambisexual, and other variants that individual's wish to label themselves as. Being at odds with their assigned gender at birth, they face difficulties and struggles in various areas of their lives from societal pressures for not conforming to cisgender. They face oppression, marginalisation, exclusion, ill treatment and pathologisation. “At the root of the acts of violence and discrimination lies the intent to punish based on preconceived notions of what the victim's gender identity should be” (United Nations, 2023). As if this was not bad enough, many trans* people wishing to seek medical intervention felt necessary for their emotional and mental health wellbeing “endure discrimination and systematic oppression by healthcare professionals and within healthcare settings........[which] include inappropriate care, care refusal, and mistreatment” (Cicero 2020). This paper will look more closely at how applying cisgender norms in society have affected the healthcare needs of this community.  

How a person identifies in terms of gender is and of itself not anybody else’s concern from a basic human rights perspective. However, as noted above and something that cannot be escaped is the ever-evolving shaping and reshaping of society that marginalises people that do not conform to the current norms. This effect on the trans* community, can be depicted by looking at the DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders since its inception in 1952 to its subsequent reiterations from DSM-I to DSM-V and the formal label given to this gender difference. The DSM was created by the American Psychiatric Association, for the US government who required data on mental health statistics. From onset, it (DSM-I) cited being homosexual as a “Sociopathic Personality Disturbance.” Such a title implies criminal connotations which gives permission for severe forms of corrective treatment to be administered of “multiple angles of aversion therapy (including electroshock), drugs, castration, and lobotomies.” (Ward, 2021). These diagnoses superseded the pre-DSM label of deviant which appeared around the time of colonialism when non cisgenders were criminalised with the first death sentence for homosexuality recorded in 1566. (Morris, 2017). Notably, some of the pre colonised cultures, accepted a third gender identity which was lost after rigid Western cisgender norm tenets were imposed. Trans*people continued to suffer in innumerable ways at the hands of the healthcare system who continued to misclassify the trans* community as a deviance and subsequently as a disorder. This was a missed opportunity to recognise the need for multiple gender norms than trying to categorise people in accordance with perceived restrictive views of gender norms. These subsequent titles in later volumes of the DSM of "sexual orientation disturbance,” and then “ego-dystonic homosexuality, "and “sexual disorder not otherwise specified” and finally “gender identity disorder,” support the point made. Whilst the classifications changed, the pathological view remained. The focus on it being a disease meant that, as stated above, the individual was subjected to severe forms of conversion therapy treatment. Over time, the continued protests of the trans* community and from research studies an understanding started to emerge that this was not a pathology but a gender disorder. Even so, it remained that the gender identity was still considered as something being “wrong” with the person rather than this is who they inherently are.  

The latest version, DSM-V, updated in 2013, revised how it classifies transgender which "will now be diagnosed with "gender dysphoria," which means emotional stress related to gender identity.” (National Institution of Correction, 2012). Although this is an improvement on previous diagnoses and understandings, there is a failure to understand that the root cause of the emotional (dis)stress experienced is generated externally (i.e., society) rather than the fact, which is that the individual is experiencing an internal misalignment with one's gender alignment. Another initiative which targeted in part, the ongoing needs of improved healthcare, amongst other things, for the LGBT+ community is HP2020. The focus was for improved access to healthcare and to increase health professional awareness of the needs of the LGBT+. Its targets were set in 2010. Highlights included initiatives to improve training for medical students to enable appropriate provision of care and improved social services care to reduce homelessness and suicide. A look at the HP2020 end of decade snapshot gave no mention of the trans* community other than the statistic that there was less than 50% improvement. This alone highlights the fact that there is a long way to go to change the attitudes and beliefs of a society that pathologises aspects of a human that is not something to control or get rid of but to embrace all that is naturally assigned which, as previously noted, some cultures have accepted as a norm.  

In the last twenty years, strides have been made in establishing basic human rights for gender diversity as an individual’s right to be and furthermore to begin to recognise that being trans* is not a pathology. This is just the beginning since there is still much work to be done globally to address individual, societal, and institutional attitudes and perceptions towards a marginalised community that have needlessly suffered for a gender assignment at birth rather than one of choice. When full recognition and acceptance is finally reached can this community begin to find its place in society.  

 

 
 

 

References 

Cicero, Ethan, C. (April, 2020) Healthcare Experiences of Transgender Adults: An Integrated Mixed Research Literature Review  Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6502664/ (Accessed: 21 April 2023) 

Morris, B. J. (2017) A brief history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements Available at: https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/history (Accessed: 24 April 2023) 

United Nations, (2023) The struggle of trans and gender-diverse persons Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/ie-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity/struggle-trans-and-gender-diverse-persons (Accessed:  22 April 2023) 

Ward, E. (June 2021) Pride is a State of Mind: The History of the Pathologisation of Queerness  Available at: https://microform.digital/boa/posts/category/articles/415/pride-is-a-state-of-mind-the-history-of-the-pathologisation-of-queerness  (Accessed: 23 April 2022)