This is my first post on F.I. about transgender issues and gender norms; it comes as a response to a note posted on facebook last night by Helen Boyd, which in turn was a response to a short opinion piece written by Ronald Gold and posted at the Bilerico Project. I won’t reproduce the text of Ms. Boyd’s note here, although you may view it over here.

Here’s my contribution to this important discussion:

If I may: it seems that what Ronald Gold is saying in his piece is that people SHOULDN’T be pathologized. He’s taking a position against the hierarchical power of a medical model that puts a sacrosanct stamp of approval on certain people who either 1) meet the requirements that the medical community has developed, 2) manipulate the system to achieve a correct “diagnosis”, or 3) willingly jump through the hoops of this medical model.

To me, Ronald Gold is suggesting that the individuals take power into their own hands and not surrender to the “professionals” who have been rubber-stamp approved by the arbiters of culture and civilization.

Where Helen and I may yet agree is on the following point: Ronald’s stance makes it extremely difficult for those individuals who do want to pursue surgical solutions to their gender dysphoria. In his dismissal of medical solutions, he in effect sentences trans people who want to pursue sexual reassignment surgery to the same fate that women who want to pursue abortions face in societies that disallow medical professionals from treating them with their specialized skills and technology. And while some legendary herbal concoctions may serve to induce abortions outside of the medical mainstream without resorting to coat-hanger solutions, I’m not aware of any similar magical plant-based potion that could polymorph a trans person into their preferred gender. But I think Ronald makes some interesting points; he is arguing against the culture of gender norms. His approach is challenging and problematic–tacky and offensive to some–because he has dared to make a speech about gender norms at the intersection where they meet transgender issues. He’s deliberately stirring a volatile pot, but I think we should thank him for it.