Transexuality and health care in Brazil: a theoretical-conceptual discussion on the influence of gender binarism

Abstract

Documents that subsidize health care for transexual individuals emerged in Brazil in the late twentieth century. As a public policy, the transsexualizer process was redefined in 2013 at the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). Literature widely discusses the form as to how the biomedical model crosses healthcare practices and disregards the community’s sociocultural aspects. However, in addition to the biological interface, it is known that care practices for trans figures also have identities pervaded by gender binarism. Thus, the present article aimed to carry out a theo-retical-conceptual discussion on the fashion that gender binarism influences health-care practices for trans people and violate the diverse possibility of existence of these bodies and identities. Gender binarism is displayed on practices of assistance with the goal of correcting these individuals’ bodies into the biological norm: man or woman, ignoring these people’s perception and desire over their own bodies, and assigning them a supporting role throughout this process on which they should be a main character. Safe spaces for assistance must be secured which respect these individuals’ own desire over their figures and the diverse possibility of human corporeality existence and gender identity.