How do legal and medical discourses around hormone therapy reinforce normative understandings of gender?
The term "gender" refers to a socially constructed system of behaviors, roles, and identities associated with one's biological sex. Historically, there has been a strict binary division between male and female genders, with males being associated with masculinity and females with femininity.
This view has been challenged in recent decades by individuals who identify as transgender, nonbinary, or intersex. These individuals may undergo hormone therapy to change their physical appearance and characteristics in line with their chosen gender identity. This essay will explore how legal and medical discourses around hormone therapy reinforce these normative understandings of gender.
Legal discourse around hormone therapy is largely based on the binary distinction between male and female bodies.
In most countries, an individual must have a legal declaration of gender before they can access hormone therapy. This means that individuals who do not fit within the male/female binary are often forced to choose which gender they want to be legally recognized as before accessing treatment. This process reinforces the idea that there are only two genders and that individuals must conform to either/or categories.
Laws regulating hormone therapy often require individuals to provide proof of their diagnosis (such as through a psychiatric evaluation), further reinforcing the notion that gender dysphoria is a mental illness that needs to be treated rather than simply a personal choice.
Many legal systems allow for transition-related surgeries but not for other forms of gender expression such as makeup or clothing, perpetuating the idea that gender is rooted primarily in bodily differences.
Medical discourse around hormone therapy also reinforces normative understandings of gender. Medical professionals frequently use language that emphasizes masculinizing or feminizing effects of hormones, creating a clear divide between "masculine" and "feminine" bodies.
Some providers may refer to testosterone as the "male hormone" and estrogen as the "female hormone," even though both hormones are found in both men and women.
Medical professionals may focus on physical changes associated with hormone therapy, such as facial hair growth or breast development, while downplaying emotional or psychological changes that individuals experience during this time. This can lead to a narrow understanding of gender identity, which is defined solely by one's physical appearance.
Legal and medical discourses around hormone therapy reinforce normative understandings of gender by privileging a binary system of male/female identities and focusing on physical characteristics over emotional or psychological aspects of gender identity. This can be harmful to transgender, nonbinary, and intersex individuals who do not fit within these categories and create barriers to access to treatment. It is important for legal and medical professionals to recognize the complex nature of gender and to provide more inclusive and nuanced approaches to hormone therapy.
How do legal and medical discourses around hormone therapy reinforce normative understandings of gender?
Legal and medical discourses surrounding hormone therapy often present gender as a stable, immutable aspect of identity that is determined by biology rather than culture or socialization. This reinforces the idea that individuals who identify as transgender or non-binary must undergo hormonal treatments in order to achieve a sense of wholeness and authenticity, despite the fact that many people live comfortably without such interventions.