Psychology and Gender Dysphoria: Feminist and Transgender Perspectives / Edition 1

by Jemma Tosh

Overview

Psychiatry and psychology have a long and highly debated history in relation to gender. In particular, they have attracted criticism for policing the boundaries 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 development 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 surrounding psychiatric diagnoses and theories related to gender and gender nonconformity by exploring recent research, examples of collaborative perspectives, 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138013926
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/15/2016
Pages:	148
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

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).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. Psychiatric Constructions of Women and Femininity 3. Psychiatric Constructions of Transgender Identities and Gender Nonconformity 4. Feminist Constructions of Gender Dysphoria and Transgender People 5. Transgender Constructions of Psychiatry and Feminism 6. Conclusions: A Trans feminist Antipsychology

Editorial Reviews

"Tosh’s own unique engagement with genealogical analysis has challenged not only the way that positivist epistemolo-gies have been deployed as tools of oppres-sion, but she has urged those aligned with feminist, constructionist and post-structural epistemologies to engage in greater self-re-flection regarding their own epistemolog-ical views, and to be acutely aware of their potential for harm."

Diana Kuhl, The British Psychological Society, 2016

"This book poses valuable theories and critiques for any college course on the psychology of women, disability, or transgender studies... it is a big step in the right direction."

Layla Zbinden, Savannah Schlauderaff, Esther Rothblum, Psychology of Women Quarterly

From the Publisher