Pronouns

I recently read a post by a nonbinary transgender woman who was going for a medical exam that had nothing to do with her being transgender. While checking in, she was misgendered (called by the incorrect pronouns and gender) as a man even though she looked feminine with a dress and makeup. Then, she was asked to educate the nurse about being transgender. A lack of empathy, ignorance and hatred was obvious to the patient. She was also asked if this was a psychiatric issue even though she came in for a medical reason.

This continues today in major hospitals across the country. I don’t think that most medical staff are trying to offend their patients or are doing things on purpose with hostility and prejudice. I want to note that the doctors don’t know because they haven’t been trained.

We’re going to break down the issues that happened to this woman. The first issue is pronouns. Pronouns are vital to transgender people. Cisgender people take it for granted and don’t think much about it. (Cisgender people are those that agree with their sex assigned at birth.) However, to a transgender person, pronouns are incredibly important. When transgender people feel seen as themselves, their inner being is seen and validated. However, unfortunately, there are so many issues accessing medical care that many transgender people don’t want to go to the doctor or medical establishments because of repeated ignorance and hostility based on the fact that they are transgender. They have negative expectations of medical establishments.  They expect to be shown disrespect.

Second, she was expected to educate the nurse about being transgender. Why is it her responsibility? If a person with cancer came to an optometrist’s office for an eye exam and they were asked, “What does it mean to have cancer? What is it like having cancer? How do you know you have cancer? At what age did you figure this out? What does cancer do to your body? What treatments are available to you? How has having cancer affected your life? Maybe you should go to a psychiatrist to help you because this isn’t comfortable for me to work with you if you have cancer.” If this happened, the patient would be highly offended. It’s not the patient’s responsibility to educate medical staff.

Last, being transgender or nonbinary is not a psychiatric issue. You don’t take medicine to stop being transgender or nonbinary. It’s not a medical mental condition like anxiety or depression in which medication can help. People are who they say they are. Transgender and nonbinary people disagree with the sex they were assigned at birth. The doctor, at their birth, made the decision if they were a boy or a girl based on genitalia and that is not the same as gender. The way that society responds to them with kindness or hostility affects them as it does any human being and can create anxiety or depression. Being transgender is not a psychiatric issue which needs a psychiatrist.

Hormones and surgery can help transgender people feel more like themselves and validate their inner being. This can be life saving.