“Be Glad That You Are Ill”: Medical Views on Transgender and Its Influence on Self- Perception Among Trans People in Poland

• Main Author: Anna Kłonkowska
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Lodz 2020-02-01
• Series: Przeglad Socjologii Jakosciowej
• Subjects: transgender; poland; medical discourse; gatekeeping practices; enforced identities
• Online Access: https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/socjak/article/view/6657

In Poland, most of the existing information on transgender has been heavily influenced by the pathologizing, medicalizing discourses of the 1980s and early 1990s, and deeply rooted in the essentialist per­ception of gender. In contrast, under the influence of queer theory and social constructionism, Polish social studies re-discovered the theory of transgender in the late 2000s. Combining these two competing viewpoints and discourses has shaped and determined that which currently constitutes transgender studies as they are gradually emerging in Poland. The article aims to explore these alternative approaches, including the discourse prevalent in the Polish medical community at present, the accompanying gatekeeping practices that it conse­quently employs (even though WHO no longer categorizes transgender as a disorder), and how it is perceived in the field of social sciences. Next, this article will present an analysis of the broader social perceptions of trans individuals in Poland. The authors will conclude with a number of varying perspectives from transgender persons. Based on these particular analyses, the article will argue that the existing Polish gatekeeping system not only makes transgender people dependent on diagnostic outcomes, but also promotes a specific brand of experience policing among trans communities, in which people are often labeled as being disordered.