Sex & Medicine

Question 1

Medicine and Gender - initial differences/struggles

Answer 1

1. the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of disease
2. notions of ‘natural’ difference
3. medicine and the regulation of gender and sexuality

Question 2

3 modern day examples of women being under represented in medicine:

Answer 2

1. Gabrielle Jackson “Why don’t doctors trust women? because they don’t know much about us”
2. black women are four times more likely to die in childbirth
3. women underrepresented in Pivotal trials of FDA-Approved cancer drugs

Question 3

What does Ed Cohen note about masculinity and masturbation in the Victorian era?

Answer 3

“a non-masturbating, married, industrious, and reproductive body was the healthy standard for middle class masculinity”.

“the youth should be taught to look upon masturbation as a cowardly, selfish, debasing habit, and one which makes those who practise it unfit to associate with boys of proper spirit”.

Question 4

Medical beliefs and social beliefs of differences between their brains:

Answer 4

‘men will never feel like women, nor women like men’

‘men’s brains were distinguished by their firmness, force, self-esteem, courage, combativeness, and destructiveness; women were known for exquisiteness, emotions, susceptibility, and ‘devotion to offspring;, as well as their secrecy, artifice, and nervousness”.

Question 5

What effect did the Cold War have on medicine and sexuality?

Answer 5

• backlash against sexual unorthodoxy
• newspaper articles claiming ‘homosexuality can be cured’
• emphasis on the importance of traditional gender roles to national security

shift from punishment to ‘cure’

Question 6

What did the Wolfenden Report 1957 advocate for?

Answer 6

advocated legalising homosexuality, with an emphasis on medical treatment instead

shift from punishment to ‘cure’

Question 7

What are some examples of the shift from punishment to ‘cure’?

Answer 7

some aversion therapies ‘low-tech’ - use ‘chemical’ approaches instead

common to use emetics and hormones alongside audio, video, and images

increasing amount of machine-based aversion therapy (electro-shock treatment) from 1960s

Question 8

What were these medical cures for homosexuality meant to accomplish?

Answer 8

they were designed to ‘train out’ reactions deemed a deviation from the heterosexual norm

Question 9

Were the treatments effective? if not what were the effects?

Answer 9

completely ineffective

adverse side affects - physical and mental trauma

effect wore off over time - no method emerges that successful ‘cures’ homosexuality or tranvestism.

Question 10

who was Magnus Hirschfeld and what did he pioneer?

Answer 10

1868-1935

founded the Institute of Sexology in Berline, as well as the World League for Sexual Reform

pioneered treatment of what he called ‘transvestism’ and ‘preliminary hermaphroditism’

involved in some of the earliest cases of gender-affirming care.

Question 11

what does Meyerowitz note on gender-affirming care?

Answer 11

‘in the years before 1950 these sensationalised accounts introduced American readers to the very possibility that sex was neither as obvious nor as permanent as it might have seemed”.

Question 12

Who was Henry Benjamin and what did he do?

Answer 12

trained in Germany with Magnus Hirshfeld

important work with trans patients from the 1940s onwards

advocates for affirmative medical care, including surgeries.

Question 13

What were the Stonewall Riots and when did they occur?

Answer 13

June 28th 1969

key role played by trans/gender non-conforming groups, also clientele was racially diverse.

Gay activists use Stonewall to launch gay liberation movements

Trans activists pushed out - form their own groups/organisation like STAR and the QLF.

Question 14

What were the ‘Difficult Decades’ and why were they difficult for gender non-conformists?

Answer 14

divisions between aims and agendas of trans and gay activism

mainstream gay cultures turns away from gender non-conformity

deep tensions within the WLM - trans women expelled from women’s groups

emphasis on ‘biological sex’ and gender as essential.

Question 15

What does Carol Riddell note on the ‘Difficult Decades’

Answer 15

“patriarchal invasion is insidious. the denial of female experience in the name of ideological purity is not a product of, nor a contribution to, feminist culture. when we have to assert this right against other women, for whatever reason, confusion reigns, and patriarchy gains”.

Question 16

What were the societal conditions in the mid-20th century US that influenced the medical approach to transsexual patients?

Answer 16

the Us invested in restabilising social life after the war.

significant trust in scientific and medical communities to solve social and biological ills.

paternalistic model of medicine, where authority resided with medical providers, shaped interactions with patients, inducing trans individuals.

Question 17

How did doctors understand and work with transsexual patients during the era of trans medicine 1950-70

Answer 17

severely troubled individuals exhibiting symptomatic delusional thinking, while also being excited by the prospect of medical innovation.

established shared understandings and normative guidelines for treating trans patients, filtering those who didnt conform to societal expectations of gender, sexuality, and lifestyle.

Question 18

what assumptions did doctors make about their trans patients regarding their worthiness for medical interventions?

Answer 18

assume trans patients should conform to traditional gender roles and displays ie disgust with their bodies & constantly presenting as their identified gender.

importance on appearance and demeanour, using this criteria to determine patient’s eligibility for medical interventions.

Question 19

how intertwined were gender identity and other factors like sexuality, class, and age in the medical treatment of trans individuals?

Answer 19

those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds faced significant barriers to accessing care, and medical providers expected financial stability and productivity.

classism intersected with ableism, influencing perceptions of patient worthiness.

Question 20

What important role did trans people play in shaping medical treatment and approaches?

Answer 20

at the forefront

influencing development of norms, guidelines, criteria for accessing gender-affirming surgery.

experiences and interactions with medical providers challenged traditional biases and led to a more inclusive understanding of trans-specific healthcare.

Question 21

Why has medicine been historically interested in gender?

Answer 21

medicine’s interest in gender stemmed from a desire to address perceived social disorder and uphold traditional gender roles

historical trends of using scientific knowledge to define ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ bodies also influenced medical interest in gender

societal expectations and the professionalisation of medicine contributed to this focus.

Question 22

Ed Cohen

Answer 22

youth should be taught to look upon masturbation as cowardly, selfish, debasing habit, unfit to associate with boys of proper spirit.

Question 23

medicine primary source

Answer 23

the Benjamin orientation scale - Henry Benjamin 1966, diagnostic tool I-IV

Question 24

important medicine historian

Answer 24

Stef M Shuster

Question 25

what does Shuster argue the reasoning for the change of punishment to cure?

Answer 25

destabilising social life after upheavals war bought into intimate spaces

Question 26

what does shuster argue the reasoning for doctors who took on trans patients?

Answer 26

some cared about patients, but ere mostly excited about being on the forefront of medical innovation

Question 27

how do doctors choose their patients ready for gender affirming care according to shuster?

Answer 27

those deemed credible and worthy were based on societal norms and their expectations of gender conformity.