Consequences of the Conflation of ‘Sex’ and ‘Gender’ on Trans Healthcare

The goal of this paper is to illustrate the real effects of maintaining an inaccurate and conflated view of the relationship between ‘sex’ and ‘gender,’ and to provide possible solutions to this quandary by analyzing the sources in both philosophy and the social sciences. The terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are often rife with misunderstanding in the scientific and medical community, as well as in common usage. While neither term means the same thing contextually, both are constructed socially and require refinement for their usage in and outside of the scientific community. ‘Sex’ and ‘gender’ ought to be understood as interconnected socially constructed concepts, rather than hierarchically at odds where speculations about sex are valued greater than those on gender. A pluralistic, contextual understanding of both sex and gender as well as a clearer understanding of biological sex as an equally socially informed (and thus fallible) concept should be adopted to prevent possible harms as well as missuses of either term. The conflation of the terms within the medical community has significant consequences on some of the most vulnerable identities, particularly transgender people and especially trans people of color. The eventual delivery of poor health outcomes for trans people first begins with the fundamental definitions for ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ in the medical literature, as well as the medical literature’s basic understanding of non-normative sexuality. As a result, medical school education does not provide physicians in training with the adequate tools to provide care for trans people, or anyone outside the spectrum of accepted normative sexuality (heteronormative sexuality), and in addition primes them to further perpetuate and reinforce stigma. Possible solutions to this systemic medical injustice are to incorporate a pluralistic understanding of sex and gender to revise the medical literature, as well as going beyond simple cultural competency training for physicians and instead completely innovate how sexuality and sexual identity is taught in medical school education.

Grantor dc:publisher

Temple University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Sandor, Angeline Gabrielle

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Strand, Nicolle K.

• Medical ethics
• Philosophy of science
• Philosophy
• Philosophy of gender
• Social constructivism
• Social justice
• Urban bioethics

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/7651

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/7651