Transsexuality

This article discusses the acquisition of a physical impairment/disability through voluntary body modification, or transability. From the perspectives of critical genealogy and feminist intersectional analysis, the article considers the ability and cis*/trans* axes in order to question the boundaries between trans and transabled experience and examines two assumptions impeding the conceptualization of their placement on the same continuum: 1) trans studies assume an able-bodied trans identity and able-bodied trans subject of analysis; and 2) disability studies assume a cis* disabled identity. The perception of transsexuality and transability as mutually exclusive phenomena results from a non-intersectional analysis of transsexuality as an issue of sex/gender, but not ability, and of transability as an issue of ability, but not sex/gender. Difficulty recognizing continuities between these phenomena thus stems from an ableist interpretation of sex/gender and a cis(gender)normative* interpretation of ability. This article aims to: 1) enrich intersectional analysis in trans and disability studies and transability scholarship; 2) complicate disability studies, in which disabilities are often presumed “involuntary”, and encourage the decentering of a cis* subject; 3) encourage trans studies to decenter an able-bodied subject; and 4) advocate for increased dialogue and the creation of alliances between trans and disability studies and movements.

Link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hypa.12113/abstract

ABSTRACT
This research, situated at the junction of feminist, trans and disability studies, examines the limits of intersectional feminist analyses and the difficulties faced in their consideration of gender identity and ability through an analysis of two types of body modification: transsexuality and transability (voluntary disability acquisition). In response to the question “what are the limits of intersectional analyses and how can they be addressed?”, three objectives are proposed: 1) participate in the critical examination of specific limits of intersectional feminist analyses in order to diversify their axes through the consideration of gender identity and ability; 2) question the conceptual assumptions and cisgenderist and (cis)ableist privileges informing negative discourses around these body modifications and highlight points of convergence among feminist, transactivist and anti-ableist movements in order to encourage dialogue and solidarities among them; 3) provide feminist, trans and disability studies with an enriched model of intersectionality capable of addressing new claims for justice from oppressed groups, such as those of transsexual and transabled individuals. The negative discourses of certain feminists and other scientists regarding these body modifications are mapped and critiqued through a methodology combining archeological, genealogical and critical discourse analysis. The reflections presented here, inspired by poststructuralist and queer approaches, explore neither the “origins” of transsexuality and transability nor their motivations; this is a study of the negative discourses about these phenomena and the normative systems from which they originate. The result is an important contribution to theoretical, normative and political fields of knowledge: the examination of two “extreme” cases of body modification reveals the bodily normativities of dominant regimes, specifically cisgenderism and (cis)ableism, that remain as unrecognized in our societies as in our social movements. 


KEYWORDS
Intersectionality; feminist theories; trans theories; queer theories; disability theories; social movements; body modifications; bodies; transsexuality; transability; voluntary amputation; BIID; disability; mutilation; pathologization; normality/abnormality; stigmatization; discourse; critical discourse analysis; norms; oppression; autonomy; bioethics.


RÉSUMÉ
Cette recherche se situe à la jonction des études féministes, trans et sur la production du handicap. Elle s’intéresse aux limites des analyses féministes intersectionnelles et leurs difficultés à considérer certains axes identitaires, telles l’identité de genre et les capacités, à travers l’analyse de deux cas de figure de modifications corporelles, soit la transsexualité et la transcapacité (transformation visant à acquérir un handicap). Cette thèse s’articule autour de la question suivante : quels sont les angles morts des analyses intersectionnelles et comment pouvons-nous y remédier? Pour répondre à cette question, cette thèse propose trois objectifs : 1) Participer aux questionnements critiques entourant certaines limites des analyses féministes intersectionnelles pour en diversifier les axes à partir de l’identité de genre et des capacités; 2) Remettre en question les présupposés conceptuels et les privilèges cisgenristes et (cis)capacitistes qui sous-tendent les discours négatifs entourant ces modifications corporelles et mettre en valeur les points de convergence entre les mouvements féministes, transactivistes et anticapacitistes pour instaurer des dialogues et des solidarités entre eux; 3) Fournir un modèle enrichi de l’intersectionnalité pouvant être déployé en études féministes, trans et sur la production du (trans)handicap, apte à répondre aux nouvelles revendications de justice de groupes opprimés, comme celles des personnes transsexuelles et transcapacitaires. À l’aide d’une méthodologie alliant l’analyse critique de discours, l’analyse archéologique et généalogique, les discours négatifs de certaines féministes et d’autres scientifiques sur ces transformations corporelles sont cartographiés et critiqués. Les réflexions présentées ici, s’inscrivant dans une approche poststructuraliste et queer, ne proposent pas une recherche des « origines » et des motivations de la transsexualité et de la transcapacité, mais plutôt une étude des discours négatifs vis-à-vis ces phénomènes et des systèmes normatifs qui sous-tendent ces discours. C’est sous cet angle que cette recherche constitue un apport important aux champs des savoirs, tant sur le plan théorique, normatif que politique : en se penchant sur deux cas de figure « extrêmes », elle met en lumière les normativités corporelles des régimes dominants, notamment cisgenriste et (cis)capacitiste, occultées tant dans nos sociétés que dans nos mouvements sociaux.


MOTS CLÉS
Intersectionnalité; théories féministes; théories trans; théories queers; théories sur le handicap; mouvements sociaux; modifications corporelles; corps; transsexualité; transcapacité; amputations volontaires; BIID; handicap; mutilations; pathologisation; normalité/anormalité; stigmatisation; discours; analyses critiques de discours; normes; oppressions; autonomie; bioéthique.

I was given the assignment to write a paper connecting Jay Prosser's 1998 "Second Skins: The Body Narratives of Transsexuality," specifically the chapter titled A Skin of One's Own: Toward a Theory of Transsexual Embodiment, and a more contemporary photo series by Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst, a couple in the earlier stages of their "opposite" physical and medical transitions. Additionally, I delve into an analysis of one particular photo in juxtaposition to a famous but widely criticized 19th c. painting.

This chapter examines the interactions between the bakla as an embodiment of femininity and global transgender discourse by looking at how acts of transitioning and embodiment are represented in films from the Philippines. Bakla is a Tagalog term and gendered identity that is a hybrid of the ideas of male homosexuality, transgenderism, cross-dressing, and effeminacy. The most common bakla trope is that of a woman trapped inside a man’s body – a concept that is similar to how transgenderism is understood. I argue that while both global trans discourse and kabaklaan (being bakla) are rooted in an interiorized disconnect between the body, mind, and spirit, kabaklaan offers an alternative discourse to this interiority that does not pathologize or medicalize this disconnect. I further argue that because many other performative aspects of kabaklaan resonate with global trans discourses, local social movements have adopted these global discourses in framing their struggle under legal Human Rights frameworks. Philippine cinema, however, offers an alternative viewpoint that does not necessarily reflect trans struggles as a human rights issue, but rather as an issue of social, particularly familial, acceptance. The Philippines’ unique colonial history has also influenced how the bakla is conceptualized: three centuries of Spanish Catholic rule attempted, unsuccessfully, to root out practices of transvestism and homosexuality as immoral, while fifty rapid years of modernization under the American regime brought into the country discourses that pathologized both cross-dressing and same-sex sexuality. The bakla, in short, has become doubly marginalized because of the dominant religious discourse that codes him and his sexuality as immoral and psychiatric discourse that brands him as mentally abnormal. As such, it is no surprise that the word is also commonly used as a pejorative. However, the word remains perhaps the most popular and common signifier for a (male) person whose performance of gender or sexuality falls short of heteronormative ideals. The rise of LGBT rights social movements in the country, as well as the growing popularity of the global gay lifestyle, during the 1990s has also impacted how the bakla is understood in contemporary society. For many Filipino middle class gay men in urban settings, the term remains a pejorative drawn along lines of socio-economic status and the performance of classical masculinity, as well as sexual desire directed toward other gay men, instead of the bakla’s penchant for cisgender, heterosexual men. The term bakla is more commonly associated with the lower class, effeminate ‘parlor gays’ who work in lower class salons. The term bakla is also, quite oddly, rejected by many transwomen. The Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) coined the term ‘transpinay’ in 2008 in an attempt to localize global trans discourse. The term is a combination of the words ‘trans’ and ‘pinay’, the colloquial Tagalog word for women. Bakla, for these transwomen, connotes maleness and the inability to embody womanhood, but I also argue that there is a strong class bias around the use of the word bakla in these transgender social movements, most of which are comprised of well-educated, middle class transgender people. While the word transpinay, and conversely transpinoy for transgender men, has gained some traction within the wider trans rights movements in the country, it remains unknown and unused outside of these circles – very rarely and only very recently have the media, for example, used the word to describe transgender women in the news. In Philippine cinema, the word transgender does not exist. Occasionally, a film will use the word ‘transsexual’, most often to refer to a person who has undergone complete gender confirmation surgery. In this chapter, I examine the idea of bodily transformation mainly through two films – the camp superhero movie, Zsazsa Zaturnnah, which is based on a comic book penned by Carlo Vergara, and Miguel/Michelle, the story of a transwoman who returns to her provincial home town in the Philippines after years of living and transitioning in the United States. In Zsazsa Zaturnnah, I examine the transformation of Ada, a bakla salon worker, into Zsazsa, a cisgender female superhero who is forced to battle a group of feminist aliens in an attempt to thwart their goal of eliminating all male forms from the universe. I see this transformation as a realization of the bakla’s ultimate dream – to embody womanhood. Ada’s transformation, however, causes a disconnect between Ada’s true self and his heroic alter ego. Zsazsa is portrayed as a temporary embodiment of female power that ultimately fails to defeat the colonialist radical feminist agenda. She is forced to transform back into Ada in order to defeat the aliens. I argue that this shows how the bakla challenges toxic feminism, which aims to exclude both transgender women and cisgender (gay) men from realms of…

The case of W v Registrar of Marriages [2010] 6 HKC 359, concerning a post-operative male-to-female transsexual’s right to marry, has generated much interest and criticism from both the legal sector and other groups in Hong Kong. Hong Kong currently follows the common law position regarding the determination of a person’s sex, and does not allow the change of the sex as recorded on a person’s birth certificate, ie one’s legal gender cannot be changed. However, in Singapore, Japan, and the United Kingdom, legislation has been enacted in order to allow for recognition of a transsexual’s post-operative gender.

The current situation for transgender people in Hong Kong is highly unsatisfactory, putting them in a position that is ‘neither here nor there’: their body is of one gender but in law they are of the other. It is argued that the courts in W, although having rejected W’s application, are of the opinion that legislative intervention is necessary in the case of transgender people.

After a comparative analysis of the legislations, focussing on (i) their development process; (ii) their scope; and (iii) the requirements for change of legal gender under the laws, it is suggested that Hong Kong should mould its own gender recognition law on the UK Gender Recognition Act 2004 subject to modifications and taking into account Hong Kong’s social values, while taking care to avoid the weaknesses identified in the laws of Singapore and Japan.

Source: Baril, A. (2020). “La Condizione Trans Come Debilità: Ripensare le intersezioni tra le incarnazioni disabili e quelle trans” (“Transness as Debility: Rethinking intersections between trans and disabled embodiments”), KABUL Magazine (Torino), 5, 3: 1-23. URL: https://www.kabulmagazine.com/la-condizione-trans-come-debilita/

Original publication: Baril, A. (2015). “Transness as Debility: Rethinking intersections between trans and disabled embodiments,” Feminist Review, 111: 59-74.

Abstract: Transsexual surgeries are almost always aesthetic surgeries, although they are rarely if ever interpreted this way. Following the standards laid out in Sterodimas, Radwanski, and Pitanguy’s “Ethical Issues in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery” [1], plastic surgeons may need to reconsider referring transsexual patients for psychological evaluation as a matter of course. Expert psychological assessment may be necessary, as with all patients requesting cosmetic surgeries. However, to respect patient autonomy, perhaps psychiatric referral should be made on an individual case-by-case basis, as it is with other aesthetic surgeries.

Purpose
The purpose of this research project was to obtain a global picture of osteopathic dysfunctions found in transmen who have undergone surgical gender reassignment, by studying more specifically the repercussions of mastectomy, genital reconstruction and testosterone.

Methodology
Thirty-seven participants were recruited, aged 21 to 54 years old, then divided in three groups of 12 transgender men, 12 cisgender women and 13 cisgender men. Data collection was done through a one-on-one interview with each participant, using a general health survey, as well as questions regarding the medical aspects of transition for the trans* participants. A series of 43 osteopathic tests and evaluations were performed on each of the 37 participants.

Results
Our study shows a significant number of repercussions on the superior cervical spine, cervicothoracic area, soft tissue of the neck and thorax. The pelvic mobility is also affected, whether through the bone structure or musculotendinuous elements. Visceral testing revealed changes in the mobility and motility of organs, and cranial tests showed a disturbance felt throughout the entire craniosacral axis.

Conclusion
Mastectomy, hysterectomy, testosterone and high levels of stress bring a tremendous amount of disruption in trans* subject’s homeostasis. With its holistic approach, osteopathy allows the practitioner to bring harmony between the body and soul, to care for the person while respecting their authenticity, and accompany them toward global wellness, and is therefore a treatment of choice to support trans* folks in their transition process.

RÉFÉRENCE: Alexandre Baril, « Société de l’aveu, cis-tème de l’aveu : repenser le consentement à la lumière des images intimes de personnes trans* dans les medias », GLAD! [En ligne], 05 | 2018, mis en ligne le 15 décembre 2018, consulté le 21 janvier 2019. URL : https://www.revue-glad.org/1260 /// RÉSUMÉ FRANÇAIS: Malgré une redéfinition féministe du consentement sexuel axée sur son caractère renouvelable, affirmatif et rétractable, le consentement légal à la diffusion publique de tout type d’image de soi ne requiert qu’un accord unique et irrévocable. Je soutiens qu’il est problématique de considérer le consentement à la diffusion publique de sa nudité au même titre qu’un consentement à montrer d’autres images de soi. Peut-on redéfinir le consentement à la diffusion publique d’images intimes selon la compréhension féministe du consentement sexuel ? En m’inspirant des travaux de Foucault sur l’aveu, j’argumente que nous vivons dans une « société de l’aveu » qui nous mène à croire que l’aveu public de notre soi le plus profond constitue une libération, ainsi que dans un « cis-tème de l’aveu » qui pousse les personnes trans* à se dénuder corps et âme pour satisfaire la curiosité du public. À partir d’une approche féministe et transactiviste et adoptant une méthodologie auto-ethnographique fondée sur ma propre expérience comme homme trans ayant « accepté » des requêtes des médias de me mettre à nu et pour lesquels mon consentement ne peut pas être retiré, je présente deux arguments. Premièrement, pour certaines personnes trans*, certaines dimensions du cis-tème de l’aveu, dont les pressions sociales et médiatiques, devraient être prises en compte comme éléments pouvant biaiser le consentement. Deuxièmement, j’invite à repenser le consentement à la diffusion publique d’images intimes : que le consentement soit accordé dans des circonstances biaisées ou pas, il devrait être possible de le retirer, comme dans le cas du consentement sexuel. S’il est possible de changer d’idée dans le cas d’activités intimes avec une seule personne, cela devrait aussi s’appliquer lorsqu’il est question de montrer sa nudité au grand public. /// ABSTRACT ENGLISH: Despite feminist redefinitions of sexual consent that highlight its renewable, affirmative, retractable nature, legal consent to the public distribution of any type of image requires only a single, irrevocable instance of consent. I argue that it is problematic to consider consent to publicly distribute intimate nude images in the same way as consent to sharing other images. What if consent to the public distribution of intimate images were redefined according to feminist understandings of sexual consent? Using the example of trans* people and inspired by Foucault’s work on confessing, I argue that we live in a “confessing society” that leads us to believe that disclosing our deepest selves is liberating and a transphobic/cisgenderist “confessing cis-tem” that, together, push trans* people to show their naked bodies/souls to satisfy public curiosity. Adopting a feminist, transactivist approach and an auto-ethographic methodology based on my experience as a trans man who reluctantly undressed for media projects on my transition for which my consent cannot be retracted, I present two arguments. First, for some trans* people, certain aspects of the confessing cis-tem, including social and media pressures, should be considered factors that can bias consent. Second, I call for a redefinition of consent to the distribution of intimate images: whether consent is given in biased circumstances or not, it should be possible to withdraw it, as with sexual consent. If people can reconsider being intimate with just one other person, the same should be true of exposing their nudity to an audience. /// ORIGINAL PUBLICATION: Baril, Alexandre. 2017. « Confessing Society, Confessing Cis-tem: Rethinking Consent Through Intimate Images of Trans* People in the Media », in « Mapping Gendered Violence », Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 39(2) 1-25.

Why and when did transsexual people begin calling themselves transgender? According to some internet memes pushed by so-called transsexual separatists, transsexuals began self-identifying as transgender due to a vast global plot by crossdressers1,2 . According to this conspiracy, transsexuals by the millions were forced by the media3, through a cunning application of crossdresser colonization 4 to start using the term "transgender" sometime in the mid-1990s by a communist.5 The apparent solution to this imagined dilemma  is to invent a new term - or string of terms - which means transgender.6 This meme has survived because, until recently, few seemed to realize that transgender was decades older than many believed. Furthermore, it seems that not many are aware that transgender predates the term transgenderist - a word whose authorship is almost always erroneously attributed to Virginia Prince.

NOTE: This research was published in the Transgender Studies Quarterly and Present Tense journals. This represents the original incarnation of this research, first published on my blog on March 12, 2012.

Badania empiryczne dotyczące transseksualizmu w Polsce i na świecie należą do rzadkości. Szczególnie zaznacza się brak danych naukowych o charakterystykach psychologicznych, które powinny zostać zbadane również w kontekście stresu mniejszościowego.
Przeprowadzono badanie z użyciem ankiety internetowej wśród 20 osób, które zadeklarowały, że utożsamiają się z przynajmniej jednym z następujących określeń: transseksualizm, transgenderyzm, crossdressing, transwestytyzm, fetyszyzm transwestytyczny, autoginefilia (autogynofilia). Ogłoszenie o możliwości wzięcia udziału w badaniu zostało umieszczone na forum internetowym zrzeszającym osoby „trans”.
Średni wiek uczestników badania wyniósł 37,71 lat (SD=12,13).
Uczestnikom badania zaprezentowano m. in. polską adaptację Skali Samooceny SES Rosenberga.
Średni wynik SES wyniósł M=31,70 (SD=4,67). W porównaniu z próbą normalizacyjną dorosłych w wieku 25-55 lat grupa uczestników badania cechowała się wyższym wynikiem średnim (d=0,36).
Wyniki badania mogą wskazywać na to, że osoby „trans” wykazują wyższą samoocenę w porównaniu z populacją. Należy jednak wziąć pod uwagę znaczne ograniczenia metodologiczne, w tym małą próbę badawczą oraz wykorzystanie wyłącznie wielkości efektu d Cohena do porównania z próbą normalizacyjną – nie są one zatem reprezentatywne. Należy również podkreślić, że badane określenia (transseksualizm, transgenderyzm, crossdressing, transwestytyzm, fetyszyzm transwestytyczny, autoginefilia [autogynofilia]) nie są ze sobą tożsame, co poddaje w wątpliwość możliwość ich łącznego analizowania w ramach jednej kategorii.

Male against female, tradition against the new age, and East against West are the main notions questioned by David Hwang’s rather unique approach in M. Butterfly. M may either refer to Madame (as the term usually associated with the opera, mostly by those who have already read the play), or to the traditional abbreviation for Monsieur. Regardless of the interpretation, Hwang has managed to set the tone of the play just based on the title: traditional gender notions are challenged - basic categorization interpretation, the ideal of ‘other’ beauty, gender identity, sexual orientation, traditional notions of gender and one’s sense of self. Hwang based this play on Puccini’s play Madame Butterfly and wrote it during the time of sexual revolution in the U.S. where he had lived at the time; this is reflected in a series of gender transformations within the very play, leaving the reader and Rene confused whether Song is a man or a woman.

Référence:
Baril, Alexandre (2017). «L'anglonormativité et la cirsnormativité : (Re)penser les analyses féministes intersectionnelles anglophones et francophones», dans Maria Nengeh Mensah (dir.), Le témoignage sexuel et intime, un levier de changement social?, Coll. «Problèmes sociaux et interventions sociales», Montréal, Presses de l'Université du Québec, p. 45-64.

Übersicht: Das Modell der Informierten Zustimmung bietet Trans*-Men-schen einen alternativen Zugang zur gegengeschlechtlichen Hormonbehandlung. Um die gegengeschlechtliche Hormonbehandlung beginnen zu können, muss nach Maßgabe dieses Modells keine Psychotherapie durchgeführt werden. In der Folge reduzieren sich – je nach Gesundheitssystem – finanzielle Belastungen sowie Verzögerungen beim Zugang zu geschlechtsangleichenden Behandlungsmaßnahmen. Statt einer Fachkraft für psychische Gesundheit ist die primäre Gesundheitsfachkraft für das erste Erfassen der psychischen Gesundheit verantwortlich, und stellt fest, ob der_die Klient_in eine informierte Zustimmung zur angestrebten Behandlung geben kann. Das Modell der Informierten Zustimmung wird im Callen-Lorde Community Health Center seit mehr als zwanzig Jahren angewandt. Das Modell integriert die Trans*-Gesundheitsversorgung in die allgemeinmedizinische Grundversorgung und betont auf diese Weise deren ganzheitlichen Charakter. Das Modell der Informierten Zustimmung steht im Einklang mit der 7. Version der Versorgungsempfehlungen der World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Eine Überprüfung der Daten von N = 1714 Patienten für einen Zeitraum von zwei Jahren ergab weder ein Bedauern der Entscheidung noch eine Umkehr geschlechtsangleichender Operationen.

In the early 2000s, the subject of transsexuality in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) became a hot topic worldwide when medical statistics revealed that Iran was second only to Thailand in the number of gender reassignment surgeries performed per annum, and that the IRI officially recognized transsexuals as having a distinct legal and medical category. This development was usually presented in Western media as an oddity, either as a suggestion that the IRI was more liberal on issues of gender than its global reputation would indicate, or, more often, as accompanied by the allegation that gender reassignment surgery was being officially sanctioned as a means to repress or " cure " male homosexuality. Afsaneh Najmabadi's (Harvard) groundbreaking historical and ethnographic work goes well behind these reductive descriptions to reveal decades of debate among medical, psychological, and legal specialists about transsexuality in Iran. It is among the first to seriously examine issues of non-heteronormative gender formation and identity not only in the Islamic Middle East, but outside of Euro-American society as a whole.

This chapter argues that although the legal recognition of transsexuality came early in the Czech Republic, the social and legal understanding and recognition of transgender identity and transgender people’s rights has been and continues to be limited. I understand transsexuality as the desire to undergo (or having undergone) ‘gender reassignment treatment/surgery’  and consider legal provisions that are exclusively tied to physical transition as addressing transsexuality. I understand transgender to be a wider concept, which includes but goes beyond transsexuality, and entails the desire to live in (or living in) the role of a gender which is not the one designated at birth.  The chapter’s main argument is that while Czech law has to some extent addressed concerns of those who wish to ‘fully transition’ – such as the possibility of a name change and birth-record change connected to sex/gender confirmation surgery – it has not paid attention to those transgender people who do not wish to do so.
It observes that the law is based on a heteronormative, biological, and dualistic understanding of sex (rather than gender). First, its heteronormative character manifests itself in the requirement that a marriage be dissolved before a person can submit to sex/gender confirmation surgery.  It continues to be unthinkable for Czech law that two persons of the same sex could be married. Second, the biological attachment to ‘sex’ is apparent in the requirement of surgical intervention for any legal recognition of a person’s preferred sex/gender. The law recognises the possibility that ‘biological sex’ and ‘psychological sex’ are misaligned. And it now enables their ‘realignment’, medically and legally. What it does not recognise is the possibility that gender identity can be different from biological sex, without a person wishing to physically modify their body, including their sex characteristics. The law does not accept that it might be called to recognise such a situation and enable some legal recognition of a person’s preferred legal sex/gender or allow for a name change without that person first having submitted to gender confirmation surgery. Czech law can thus be said to address transsexual rather than transgender issues. Third, the law is incapable of transcending the sex binary. This is true for gender identities non-confirming to the clear male-female binary – a part of the required Real Life Test is the ‘proven ability to live in the opposite sex role’.  It is also apparent with regard to reproduction. The law continues to require sterilisation as part of legal recognition, thus normatively ensuring the biological reproductive binary of men and women. All three underlying gender assumptions of the law impact the ability of transgender people to self-determine in ways recognised by the law.
Aside from the limiting conceptualisation of transgender issues as relating to sex, the legal framework can moreover hardly be considered as guaranteeing ‘rights’. Access is very much in the hands of the medical establishment (with regard to determining suitability for surgical intervention), at the mercy of administrators (especially with regard to name change), and at the discretion of family courts (with regard to care of children of transgender parents). I believe that both observations can be understood as legacies of the Czech Republic’s socialist past: the country’s intellectual isolation up until the 1990s prevented it from reaching a critical understanding of gender as a social construct when this happened in the West. I therefore dedicate particular attention to historical developments leading up to the current framework.
The chapter is organized as the other contributions to the comparative volume. It discusses 1) Legal Framework and Statistics, 2) Changing Legal Sex/Gender – Procedure and Requirements, 3) Consequences of the Change of Legal Sex/Gender and 4) Legal Challenges to the Existing Rules.

Transseksuelen zijn mensen bij wie de genderidentiteit niet overeenkomt met het geboortegeslacht. Ze zijn geboren met de uiterlijke geslachtskenmerken van een welbepaald geslacht maar zijn innerlijk overtuigd tot het ander geslacht te behoren, zonder dat er sprake is van een psychische stoornis. Met de komst van plastische chirurgische ingrepen en geslachtsveranderende operaties om het uiterlijk in overeenstemming te brengen met de beleefde genderidenteit, is de vraag naar juridische geslachtsverandering toegenomen. Heden ten dage gaan steeds meer landen over tot juridische erkenning van de genderidentiteit van transseksuelen. Ook in Suriname is er vraag naar juridische geslachtsverandering. Het huidig Surinaams recht biedt echter geen mogelijkheid tot juridische geslachtsverandering maar verbiedt het ook niet. Transseksuelen hebben op grond van artikel 17 Grondwet van Suriname, artikel 17 IVBPR en artikel 11 AVRM de bevoegdheid om zelf te bepalen over de wijze waarop zijn hun privéleven willen leiden.  De Staat Suriname heeft zich door ratificatie van de verdragsbepalingen ook verbonden om haar burgers de beleving van de in de Verdragen opgenomen rechten te garanderen.
Alvorens Suriname zal overgaan tot regelgeving met betrekking tot transseksualiteit, is het belangrijk te onderzoeken wat de gevolgen van de regelgeving zullen zijn en welke geboden, verboden en verplichtingen zullen indruisen tegen de bestaande wetgeving. De probleemstelling van de thesis luidt: "Welke juridische gevolgen van geslachtsverandering passen binnen het stelsel van de huidige Surinaamse wet?".
In hoofdstuk 1 van de masterthesis is ingegaan op het begrip geslacht, de juridische functie van geslachtsvermelding in de geboorteakte en de sekseregistratie in de geboorteakte. In het volgende hoofdstuk is de ontwikkeling van regelgeving met betrekking tot juridische geslachtsverandering in Nederland en België onderzocht, waarna een uiteenzetting van de gevolgen van die regelgeving gegeven is. In het laatste hoofdstuk is onderzocht welke rechtsgevolgen van geslachtsverandering passen binnen het stelsel van de huidige Surinaamse wet. Op grond van het resultaat van het onderzoek is een ontwerpwet inclusief Memorie van Toelichting voor verandering van de sekseregistratie in de akten van de burgerlijke stand van Suriname en op andere officiële documenten, geconcipieerd.
De thesis wordt afgesloten met conclusies en aanbevelingen.

Autorka prezentowanej książki analizuje to jak w Polsce tworzyła się społeczność osób transseksualnych. Zwraca także uwage na to jak zmienia się postrzeganie transseksualności. Jest to ujęcie socjologiczne ukazujące również indywidualne strategie radzenia sobie transkobiet i transmężczyn z tranzycją.

This article presents a comprehensive model to explain the development of the various manifestations of gender-variance amongst birth-assigned males and females. As a background, two previous theories of gender-variance development proposed by Richard Docter and Ray Blanchard are introduced. The model presented in this article is called the Identity-Defence Model of Gender-Variance Development because it has two parts: Firstly, biological factors and early childhood influences determine whether, and to what degree a gender-variant identity develops. Secondly, personality and environment factors determine whether defence mechanisms are used to repress the gender-variance. If defence mechanisms are used, then the resultant outcome is either a non-classical transsexual or cross-dresser, depending on the degree of gender-variance. If defence mechanisms are not used, then classical transsexuals or drag artists are the likely outcomes, again depending on the level of the gender-variance. Sexual orientation and cross-gender eroticism are strongly correlated with the gender-variant outcomes in the model, and this is explained in the model using Bem’s (1996) Exotic Becomes Erotic developmental theory of sexual orientation.

O artigo tem por objetivo discutir o estatuto dado pela psicanálise a experiências de gênero não inteligíveis, demonstrando que, ao considerar o inconsciente, a relação entre sexo e gênero mostra-se necessariamente refratária a qualquer tipo de normatividade. A partir da reconstrução da história política do termo heterossexual, apresentaremos uma analogia ao tipo de mecanismo crítico em jogo na utilização do termo cisgênero. Após uma discussão sobre o lugar da retórica da subversão dentro da comunidade psicanalítica, sublinharemos como a clínica promove a passagem a uma ética da fala, na qual os apegos identitários normativos são postos em questão. Ao prescindir da oposição corrente entre o normal e o patológico, a psicanálise questiona a dicotomia entre trans e cis a partir da ideia de que a inadequação a um corpo sexuado é constitutiva de todos os seres falantes.

Abstract: The paper proposes a discussion of the status given by psychoanalysis to unintelligible gender experiences, demonstrating that, taking the unconscious into account, the relation between sex and gender presents itself as necessarily refractory to any kind of normativity. From the reconstruction of the political etymology of the term heterosexual, we present an analogy to the kind of critical mechanism involved in the use of the term cisgender. After a discussion on the place of the rhetoric of subversion within the psychoanalytic community, we underline how the clinical context promotes a passage to an ethics of speech, in which attachments to normative identities are called into question. Dispensing with the opposition between normal and pathological, psychoanalysis questions the trans and cis dichotomy from the idea that the inadequacy of a sexed body constitutes all speaking beings.

Resumén: El trabajo tiene como objetivo discutir el estatus dado por el psicoanálisis a las experiencias de género ininteligibles, mostrando que, al considerar el inconsciente, la relación entre el sexo y el género se muestra necesariamente refractaria a cualquier tipo de normatividad. A partir de la reconstrucción de la historia política del término heterosexual, presentamos una analogía con el tipo de mecanismo crítico implicado en el uso de la expresión cisgénero. Siguiendo una discusión sobre el lugar retórico de la subversión dentro de la comunidad psicoanalítica, subrayamos la forma por la cual la clínica promueve un pasaje a una ética del hablar, en que los apegos identitarios normativos son puestos en cuestión. Prescindiendo de la oposición entre lo normal y lo patológico, el psicoanálisis cuestiona la dicotomía entre cis y trans, a través de la idea de que la inadecuación a un cuerpo sexuado constituye a todos seres hablantes.

The current political structure of the Ecuadorian State and its recent Constitutional Reformation paved a way for greater equality and inclusion of LGBT rights. This post-neoliberal Latin American country is shaping the sexual identities and the queered citizen statuses of LGBT people in a remarkable way as Ecuador governs its country in a paradoxical way by using a hegemonic strategy of both transphobic violence and homoprotectionism.
This literature review aimed to deconstruct the sexual politics – performed through practices of repression and exclusion, but also through resistance and resilience – in Ecuador to grasp the local ideologies on gender identity and normative sexual orientation. Although the Correa administration appears to be progressive and LGBT-friendly, the Ecuadorian law can still be considered as a symbolic violation to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) rights as it manifests heteronormative ideologies through its ‘pinkwedging’ policies.
The challenge that Ecuador faces now is to translate its positive intentions towards greater recognition of all people – regardless from their gender or sexual preference – and to continue the Citizen Revolution to advocate for equal rights to all her citizens. 

Key words: sexual politics, LGBT, homoprotectionism, heteronormativity, citizenship, Ecuador