Gender Variance: The Intersection of Understandings Held in the Medical and Social Sciences

When examining the medical and social position of gender variant people, it is important to consider the divergent understandings of sex, gender, gender identity, and, to some extent, sexuality, and the ways in which these beliefs influence health practice. Doctors and policy makers rely upon evolving, ambiguous notions of gender to make decisions about who to treat when approached by gender variant people. This chapter discusses how gender variant experiences, such as those of trans and intersex people, are conceptualized differently in social science and medical literature.1 In addition, it explores how social, biological, medical, and discursive constructions of gender affect treatment. I do not attempt to give definitive definitions of sex, gender, gender identity, or gender dysphoria; instead, I highlight the etiological and definitional ambiguity found in the literature and the problems posed by this inconsistency.2