LGBT (Bauer, 2009) Flashcards
Whats the paper title?
‘I Don’t Think This Is Theoretical;
This Is Our Lives’’: How Erasure Impacts Health Care for Transgender People
What does trans mean?
Trans is an umbrella term that encompasses a diverse group of people whose gender identity or ex- pression diverts from prevailing societal expectations.
Trans includes transsexual, transitioned, transgender, and genderqueer people, as well as some two-spirit people.
Why is health a holistic state?
Mental, physical, emotional, and social health are all integral to and interact toward the total experience of health (World Health Organization, 1948).
How has HIV been shown to disproportionately affect marginalized groups
(Atrill et al, 2001)
‘‘poverty, homelessness, stigma, addiction, violence, untreated mental health problems, lack of employment opportunities, powerlessness, lack of choice, lack of legal status, and lack of social support create an environment in which HIV and other illnesses flourish and spread’’
(Lombardi et al., 2001)
They experience disproportionately high rates of violence, harassment, and discrimination in workplaces, schools, and child welfare systems
(Currah and Minter, 2000)
Few basic human rights protections for trans people exist and even fewer are enforced.
Marginilization has led to impacts on the health of trans people (hint: HIV)
High prevalance of HIV infection- a prevalence rate of 27.7% for trans women in North America.
HIV risk and low self- esteem have been shown to be related (Bockting et al., 1998; Sugano et al., 2006). I
Increase the risk of suicide; in one of the largest studies of trans people to date (N 5 350), suicidal ideation among trans people was estimated to be 65% (Xavier et al., 2007).
What is Trans PULSE?
An Ontario-wide project that aims to broadly understand how social exclusion impacts the health of trans people.
It is an active partnership between community members, service providers, and academic researchers who share a desire to undertake community-based research that will help to alleviate the systemic inequities facing trans people in Ontario.
Thematic analysis yielded the following key concerns regarding health:
income instability
barriers to accessing trans-inclusive health care services
the lack of relevant and accessible information
systemic social service barriers
self-esteem and mental health issues
challenges to finding help
and relationship and sexual health concerns.
…These concerns were characterised by pervasive and diverse experiences of transphobia.
Erasure could be passive or active.
Passive
Passive erasure included a lack of knowledge of trans issues and the assumption that this information was neither important nor relevant.
Erasure could be passive or active.
Active
Active erasure could involve a range of responses from visible discomfort to refusal of services to violent responses that aimed to intimidate or harm.
Informational erasure encompasses
both a lack of knowledge regarding trans people and trans issues and the assumption that such knowledge does not exist even when it may.
The lack of research on trans lives and trans issues has resulted in
a dearth of information on health- related topics, including issues related to family prac- tice, mental health, and trans-specific health care, which includes transition-related as well as primary health care concerns.
Providers may also perceive unrelated mental health issues to stem from a person’s gender identity.
“I’ve had more issues with lack of knowledge, having to [educate] my GP [general practitioner] and my gyno [gynecologist].. Not only do they not have the knowledge, but they have no interest to learn.”
Institutional erasure occurs through
a lack of policies that accommodate trans identities or trans bodies including the lack of knowledge that such policies are even necessary.
