Psychology and Gender Dysphoria: Feminist and Transgender Perspectives

149 Pages·2016·0.965 MB·English

by  Jemma Tosh

Psychology and Gender Dysphoria
Psychiatry and psychology have a long and highly debated history in relation
to gender. In particular, they have attracted criticism for policing the bounda-
ries of ‘normal’ gender expression through gender identity diagnoses, such as
transvestism, transsexualism, gender identity disorder and gender dysphoria.
Drawing on discursive psychology, this book traces the historical develop-
ment of psychiatric constructions of ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ gender expression.
It contextualizes the recent reconstruction of gender in the 5th edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and its criteria for
gender dysphoria. This latest diagnosis illustrates the continued disagreement
and debate within the profession surrounding gender identity as ‘disordered’.
It also provides an opportunity to reflect on the conflicted history between
feminist and transgender communities in the changing context of a more trans-
positive feminism, and the implications of these diagnoses for these distinct but
linked communities.
Psychology and Gender Dysphoria examines debates and controversies sur-
rounding psychiatric diagnoses and theories related to gender and gender
nonconformity by exploring recent research, examples of collaborative per-
spectives, and existing feminist and trans texts. As such, the book is relevant
for postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers of gender, feminism and critical
psychology as well as historical issues within psychiatry.
Jemma Tosh is a Research Manager at the Faculty of Health Sciences at
Simon Fraser University and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute
for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British
Columbia. She is the author of Perverse Psychology: The Pathologization of Sexual
Violence and Transgenderism (Routledge, 2015).
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Psychology and Gender
Dysphoria
Feminist and transgender
perspectives
Jemma Tosh
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Jemma Tosh
The right of Jemma Tosh to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Tosh, Jemma, author/
Title: Psychology and gender dysphoria: feminist and transgender
perspectives/Jemma Tosh.
Description: New York: Routledge, 2016. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015036725| ISBN 9781138013926 |
ISBN 9781315794938 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Sex differences (Psychology) | Femininity. |
Transgender people – Identity. | Gender identity disorders. |
Sex change.
Classification: LCC BF692.2 .T67 2016 | DDC 155.3/3 – dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015036725
ISBN: 978-1-138-01392-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-79493-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
For my parents
To define is to limit . . . How shallow were the arbitrary definitions of
ordinary psychologists!
(Oscar Wilde, 1891)
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction 1
2 Psychiatric constructions of women and femininity 26
3 Psychiatric constructions of transgender identities
and gender nonconformity 47
4 Feminist constructions of gender dysphoria
and transgender people 77
5 Transgender constructions of psychiatry and feminism 104
6 Conclusions 131
Index 137
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Mary Bryson for supporting my work through the
Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of
British Columbia. I would also like to thank Jamie Veale for welcoming me
to Vancouver and introducing me to the Institute. I am very grateful for the
immense support and critical insights from Ian Parker and Erica Burman, and
everyone at the Manchester Discourse Unit. I would also like to thank Geoff
Bunn and Asiya Siddiquee for their guidance during my PhD studies, where
this project began. Many thanks to China Mills for being wonderfully support-
ive and for providing helpful feedback on an earlier version of this text. I am
also grateful to Maya Gislason, for supporting my work so wholeheartedly and
for the many interesting conversations we have had on the creative blending of
topics and disciplines regarding gender and social justice.
Thank you to others who have inspired my research and continue to do
so with their challenges to the pathologization of gender diversity, Jake Pyne,
Natacha Kennedy, Ann Travers, Anne Pullen Sansfaçon, Meg John Barker,
Brenda LeFrançois, Gavi Ansara, Karl Bryant, Peter Hegarty, and many more. I
am also grateful to Lauren Wroe, who helped me to combine my academic work
and activist campaigns, and I would like to thank members of the Psychology of
Women Section of the British Psychological Society for their ongoing support
and commitment to an anti-oppressive and inclusive feminism.
I would like to thank my family and friends for understanding my com-
mitment both to writing and to campaigning for gender and sexual minority
groups. Even when you don’t know what I’m writing about, you know that
it is important to me and that’s enough. You forgive my absence when I am
hidden away in a room writing for hours, days, weeks, and months, and you
celebrate with me when it’s done. Thank you to my Mum, Dad, and my
partner James. Don’t worry, I won’t make you read this one either. Thanks
to my sister Nikki and her children Jared and Madison, for reminding me that
I’m not a ‘proper’ (i.e. medical) doctor - it’s actually more of a compliment
than you think it is! Thank you to my friends Kelly, Fionnuala and Krista, for
our long and amusing discussions about feminism, sexism, and life in general.
Thank you to my grandmother Mary, here’s another one to show your friends.
Jem