Achieving health justice for trans people | Media Pyro

Although transgender people in the US are more aware than ever, the perception is not equal.

Transgender is a protective category that emerged in the US in the 1990s to include any type of gender that does not closely match the sex assigned at birth. Although societies around the world have adopted this term, it can also be used to deny and reject other forms of gender identity that people have used throughout time, space and culture.

People who today are called trans, nonbinary and intersex have existed for centuries all over the world. Transgender rights have not always been debated in mainstream society, and gender and gender stereotypes appear in ancient Buddhist texts, including the writings of Jewish rabbi. However, colonial conquests have eliminated social and gender inequality throughout the world.

Trans people’s right to live has been challenged throughout time and around the world in many ways. All over the world, trans people face problems in many areas, including access to health care, legal support and economic security. Governments, international organizations and colonial legacies impose high levels of violence and discrimination against them.

At the same time, 95% of the world’s health-related organizations do not recognize or address the needs of gender-diverse people in their work, because the “near-universal exclusion” of trans people from health care and policy. All cross-sectional studies are also lacking worldwide. For example, searching for the word “transgender” on the website of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the leading global health metric of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with the Health Administration of the World to improve the world’s health data, this time it will not return. product.

As a sociologist, I research how health outcomes are affected by a variety of social factors, including global economic policies, institutions and cultural norms. Specifically, I analyzed how government-sponsored health tourism, health-related travel, affects Thai transgender women. Broadly, I seek to understand how the body acts as what the French philosopher Michel Foucault calls the “surface of events,” written by an ever-changing social context that can be repaid. , or the possession of wealth, power, prestige and status.

Given that their health and well-being are shaped by the social context around the world, the bodies of transgender people are unique.

History of gender conservation

Health facilities and authorities are important means to the health and well-being of a person in his body. It defines, classifies, and explains a variety of human characteristics, from male pattern baldness to obesity.

The German doctor Magnus Hirschfeld coined the very old term “now” in 1910 to describe those who wanted to express their opinion in opposition to their relationship defined in their birth. At his Institute for Sexual Science, Hirschfeld introduced human hormone therapy and performed the first sex-change surgery. Adolf Hitler called Hirschfeld “the worst Jew in Germany,” and the Nazis burned down his research center after he fled for his life.

In spite of this opposition to transplant medicine, endocrinology progressed in the US and Europe in the 1930s with the use of synthetic testosterone and estrogen for transplant therapy. Estrogen was first purified in 1923 and used for hot flashes, osteoporosis and other reproductive health issues. Testosterone was isolated and synthesized in 1935 and was first used to treat hypogonadism in men and prostate growth in women.

Anti-aging agents, or gonadotropin-releasing hormone therapy, were first approved by the US FDA in 1993 for very young children. For transgender youth who experience gender dysphoria, or depression due to a mismatch between their gender identity and the gender they were assigned at birth, these therapies are critical to their well-being. In addition to testing, there is strong evidence of medications for their benefits for transgender youth.

Christine Jorgensen was the first American to perform what was then called a “revolutionary gene” surgery in Denmark in 1952, making headlines. Doctors in other parts of the world also began to have clinical expertise in vaginoplasty, sparking international partnerships for transgender health care. For example, surgeons in Thailand developed their own procedure in the 1970s for Thai transgender women.

Soon, transplants from other countries learned Thai surgical techniques and began to travel to Thailand for care. Thanks to strong government support, Thailand has become a global hub for gender-affirming services. Later, some foreign travelers “kicked” out Thai trans people from quality care as the market moved to include medical tourism.

For some medical travelers, services in Thailand are more affordable than in their home country. Visiting for health services is more anonymous. For those in the UK seeking gender-based care, going abroad is an alternative to long waiting times.

Medical tourism is particularly dangerous for those who live in countries where transgender people are criminalized, such as Brunei, Lebanon and Malawi, or where gender-based surgery is banned, such as Saudi Arabia. .

What does global health justice mean?

All over the world, trans people experience issues with accessing effective and appropriate health care services, often with gender reassignment services. Transgender people experience more emotional pain and violence and discrimination on a daily basis than their cisgender counterparts.

A 2019 report found that of nearly 200 healthcare organizations around the world, 93% do not recognize trans people in their work on gender equality, and 92% do not mention transitional health in their program services. Decentralizing global health involves involving marginalized people in decision-making and generating knowledge about global health. It also includes and serves the needs of trans and diverse people around the world.

Transnational health equity is about providing resources to address the root causes of gender health disparities. This includes gender equality, government support and discrimination laws. While medical and public health support is necessary for transgender women, who are affected by HIV worldwide, international transgender health justice is a means to achieve other factors that contribute to this disparity, such as poverty, economic exclusion and discrimination in the workplace.

For countries with universal health coverage, health researchers and the general public recommend including gender identity services as essential services. It’s not fancy, but it’s necessary for those who want it.

It’s better for everyone

In everyday crime, violence and vulnerability there are many aspects of the power of exchange and prevention, empowerment, mutual care and knowledge sharing. There are also some “bubbles[s] of utopia,” clinics and health care facilities where trans people can access services with minimal delay. These opportunities open the way for gender happiness, empowerment or restrictive colonial gender constructs, and transgender happiness or improved quality of life and meaningful relationships by embracing a reduced identity.

How can policies, institutions and society foster happiness and joy around the world?

All human bodies are “cultural property.” The manner of expression and existence is determined by social contexts and shaped by available resources. Gender and sexuality are symbols in a “multi-dimensional space” of anatomy, hormones, chromosomes, environment and culture. International health justice for trans people is a responsibility for institutions and decision makers who are responsible for the health and safety of all people. It aims for freedom to flourish in a world that celebrates gender and gender diversity as a fact of life.

This article is reprinted from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.