La producción científica biomédica sobre transexualidad en España: Análisis bibliométrico y de contenido (1973-2011)

Abstract

Objective: To explore the scientific output on transsexuality in the Spanish biomedical literature between1973 and 2011, through bibliometric and content analyses.Methods: We carried out a descriptive, cross-sectional study of Spanish biomedical articles on trans-sexuality published between 1973 and 2011. The data sources consisted of índice Médico Español andISOC-Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades. Bibliometric and content analyses were performed.Results: A total of 65 papers were analyzed. Knowledge on transsexuality in Spain began to appear inmedical journals between 1973 and 1984. A decade of intense productivity began in 1996 and the numberof journals publishing articles on transsexuality multiplied in the following years. Until 2006, the yearwith the most biomedical productivity, biomedical discourses reproduced representations of transsexua-lity anchored in biological determinism. From 2008-2011, professionals writing on the topic incorporatedfeminist theories and social perspectives in their discourses.Conclusions: In the last quarter of the twentieth century, the dominant medical discourse consideredmanifestations of transsexual people from a biologist perspective that conceives transsexuality as aconfiguration mismatch between sex and gender. The emergence of new identity categories and medi-cal reflection from non-essentialist and non-normative gender perspectives has improved the clinicalmanagement of transsexuality.