presentation at "Intersectionality and Political Difference"

1. Besides in the
wrong theory,
where else are
we trapped
when it comes
to transgender
politics?
GORAN, ELLA, SHU-CHIEN, KATELIJNE

2. how are the
well known
transgender
models
shaping
transgender
politics?
RESEARCH QUESTION

3. MAIN
CONCEPTS
RECAP
Case 1: Dutch
government’s
apology about
the sex-
reassignment
surgery
Case 2:
(trans)gender
categorization
in sports
DISCUSSION
3 texts, 3
breakout rooms,
3 mini
presentations

4. “Wrong-body” model: Transgenderism as
a “misalignment between gender identity
and the sexed body” (Bettcher, 2014, p.
383). In the weak version as a medical
condition “reparable” through surgery
through which one then becomes a man/
woman and changes gender. In the strong
version, gender identity is the determining
factor of gender.
“Beyond the binary” model:
Medical regulation as society's
way of forcing transgenders
into the binary gender systems
that they are seen to not neatly
fit into.
Bettcher (2014):
"not to be trapped in
the wrong theory"

5. Reality enforcement:
When genitalia and
presentation of gender
are interpreted as
misaligned.
Four essential features:
-Identity invalidation
-Appearance-reality
contrast
-Deceiver-pretender
double bind:
-Genital verification
Bettcher (2014)

6. “Most broadly conceived, the field of transgender
studies is concerned with anything that disrupts,
denaturalizes, rearticulates, and makes visible the
normative linkages we generally assume to exist
between the biological specificity of the sexually
differentiated human body, the social roles and
statuses that a particular form of body is expected
to occupy, the subjectively experienced
relationship between a gendered sense of self and
social expectations of gender-role performance,
and the cultural mechanisms that work to sustain
or thwart specific configurations of gendered
personhood.” (Stryker 2006: 3)
-Lived experiences as fuelling academia
Stryker (2013)

7. Koyama (2003) everyone has the right for self
identification and respect
each individual has all authority
over their own body
as many ways of being a woman as
there are women
“TRANSFEMINISM BELIEVES THAT A SOCIETY THAT
HONORS CROSS-GENDER IDENTITIES IS THE ONE
THAT TREATS PEOPLE OF ALL GENDERS FAIRLY,
BECAUSE OUR EXISTENCE IS SEEN AS
PROBLEMATIC ONLY WHEN THERE IS A RIGID
GENDER HIERARCHY.” (KOYAMA 2003: 9)

8. The old Dutch civil law between 1985 to 2014 on gender
registration adjustment:
The sterilization surgery (i.e. sex-reassignment surgery, SRS)
is the condition to change the gender assigned on birth,
because the old law requires so.
The old law is based on the wrong-body model and the
pathology view of transgerder as oppression. (See Bettcher
and Stryker)
IN 2020 NOVEMBER: THE
DUCTH CABINET
APOLOGIZED AND PLANS TO
COMPENSATE € 5.000 P.P. TO
CITIZENS WHO
INVOLUNTARILY DID THE
SURGERIES.
Case 1: The Dutch Government’s
Apology and Beyond (1)

9. Some practical aspects of changing the gender
registration assigned on birth after 2014:
The expert’s declaration is still needed with costs
Insurance coverage on surgeries are not 100%
(A new law proposal to abolish the condition of the expert
opinion and allows changes more than once: still pending
in 2021)
(“the wrong-body narrative” as resistance?)
Case 1: The Dutch Government’s
Apology and Beyond (2)

10. Registration as a Neutral Gender/Gender X? Still Long Way
to Go
Since 2018: In several court cases, the court invoked
the civil code about registering the X (unknown) at
birth to facilitate the citizen to change their current
gender assigned. It’s a twist of law, because that
provision was meant for “not clear” newborns’ body.
(See Week 11)
Legislation proposal of “neutral sex registration” is not
ready yet; the government just released the impact
report and sent them to parliaments in 2020.
Case 1: The Dutch Government’s
Apology and Beyond (3)

11. Case 2: (trans)gender
categorisation in sports (1)
Sex verification in sports
External sex characteristics, chromosomal testing, hormone level
testing.
Gender policing
‘Beyond the binary model’ (Bettcher, 2014)
Caster Semenya
An intersex, cisgender woman competing in the Olympics.
Legislation
Medication, surgery, etc.
The Transfeminist Manifesto (Koyama, 2003)
“We hold that we have the sole right to make decisions regarding
our own bodies and that no political, medical, or religious
authority shall violate the integrity of our bodies against our will
or impede our decisions regarding what we do with them.”
(Koyama, 2003)

12. Fallon Fox
MMA Fighter
Coming out
Fox vs Brents
“I’ve fought a lot of women and have never felt the
strength that I felt in a fight as I did that night. (...) I
could usually move around in the clinch against
other females but couldn’t move at all in Fox’s
clinch.”
‘Wrong Body Model’ (Bettcher, 2014)
Case 2: (trans)gender
categorisation in sports (2)

13. Human Right Watch: Netherlands Apologizes for Transgender Sterilizations (2020)
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/01/netherlands-apologizes-transgender-sterilizations
The Dutch parliament’s research report onderzoek geslachtsregistraties (2020)
https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/kamerstukken/2020/07/03/bijlage-2-eindrapport-
onderzoek-geslachtsregistraties (in Dutch)
NGO Transvisie’s overview about insurance covered for surgeries for transformation
https://www.transvisie.nl/transitie/algemeen/zorgverzekering-vergoedingen/#1596352778943-
7508bde5-a4a7
Fallon Fox
https://www.si.com/mma/2013/03/07/fallon-fox-profile
Sex Verification in sports
https://web.archive.org/web/20110409154750/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/sports/22ru
nner.html
Fallon Fox vs Tamikka Brents (2014)
https://www.sportskeeda.com/mma/news-when-transgender-fighter-fallon-fox-broke-
opponent-s-skull-mma-fight
Bettcher, Talia Mae (2014). “Trapped in the Wrong Theory: Rethinking Trans Oppression and
Resistance”, Signs, 39(2): 383-406.
Koyama, Emi (2003). “The Transfeminist Manifesto”. In: Rory Dicker and Alison Piepmeyer (eds)
Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21 Century, 244-259. Lebanon: Northeastern
University Pres
Stryker, S. (Susan) (2013). (De) subjugated knowledges: An introduction to transgender studies. In
The transgender studies reader (pp. 17-34). Routledge.
Bibliography

14. DISCUSSION!
Bettcher
Koyama
Stryker
3 GROUPS
3 TEXTS
3 PRESENTATIONS