Social Perspectives on Trans Health

Transgender people are waiting to be seen in healthcare and waiting to be recognised as the legitimate experts on their own lives and needs. This book foregrounds empirically novel and conceptually groundbreaking sociological analyses of trans health care and experiences. It draws together sociological contributions focused on the lives and perspectives of trans people to provide a vision of more equitable and affirming health and social care. Chapters explore how gender affirmation is imagined and enacted, and how trans people creatively and collectively work to secure the care they require in countries such as Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Concluding with a commentary on trans health in the Global South by Professor Emerita Raewyn Connell, this book demonstrates the urgent need for radical sociopolitical transformation, grounded in a recognition of trans people as authorities in and on their own lives. Social and health science students and researchers will be inspired by the critical perspectives this book provides on normative framings of gender and health, and health practitioners, policymakers and advocates will benefit from better understanding the challenges trans people face in securing safe and quality health care today. This book was originally published as a special issue of Health Sociology Review.