Constructing Transsexuality: Discursive Manoeuvres through Psycho-Medical, Transgender, and Queer Texts A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Feminist Studies in the University of Canterbury by Katrina Roen University of Canterbury 1998 , 'i c I\h) Abstract 12 Acknow ledgements 15 PART ONE 19 Chapter One: Introduction 19 Research Context 22 Transsexuality as a Category: Construction and Critique 24 Where To From Here? 30 PsycflO-:Medica{ Constructions of TransseJ(uauty 31 Transgender (])ia{ogues 33 Queer / Trans Connections 34 Academic Concerns 35 Chapter Two: Situating the thesis 36 Writings on Transsexuality 36 Studies on TransseJ(uauty 39 Theoretical Frameworks 42 Language andSu6jectivity 42 SeJ(uauty and Power/l(now{etfge 45 CDeconstructionism as Poutica{ Strategy 48 "Tfieory" and "pouties" 49 Chapter Three: Epistemology 53 "Knowing'" 53 Producing "Knowledge" about Transsexuality 55 Knowledge and Expel'ience 58 The Reseal'ch Process as a Critique of "Knowing" 60 Identity and Knowledge 61 Chapter Four: Research Process 68 Methodology 69 Accessing and Selecting Interviewees 74 Profile of Interviewees 75 Developing an interview schedule 78 An Initial "Trial" Interview 80 Intel'viewing transsexual / transgendered people 81 The Workshop 82 Workshop Participants 83 Post-W Ol'kshop Comments and Observations 84 Working with Transclipts 86 PART THREE: PSYCHO-MEDICAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF TRANS S EXUALITY 93 Chapter Five: "Sexuality" and the Psychiatric Classification of Transsexuality 95 Introduction 95. Tr'anssexual - Homosexual Elision 97 Transsexuality as Distinct from "Sexual Deviance" 101 Psychiatric Nomenclature and Classification 106 (etrans)Se)(Jlafity in etlie (j)iagnostic andStatistica{ :Manuafs 109 (fender Identity (])isoraers ofChildhood 114 Questioning Classification 118 Heterocentric Transsexualities 121 :MetrE and ¥I':M Pathways 134 Conclusion 138 Chapter Six: Of Right Bodies and Wrong Bodies: The forging of corpus transsexualis through discursive manoeuvre and surgical manipulation. 141 Introduction 141 Transgender Theories 145 Genitalia as "Congenital Defect"? 149 Conclusion 159 PART FOUR: TRANSGENDER DIALOGUES 161 Chapter Seven: Gender Certainty or "Grabbing Ghosts" 166 Introduction 166 A Psychoanalytic Critique of "Gender-Certainty" 171 Varieties of (Un)Certainty 180 Conclusion 189 Chapter Eight: The Either/Or versus Both/Neither De bate 191 Transgender Perspectives 194 Research Participants' Perspectives 202 Conclusion 213 Chapter Nine: Figuring Racially Marked Bodies into Transgender Theorising. 215 Introduction 215 Transgender Theorising 219 "Trans gender" Voices? 223 Conclusion 232 PART FIVE: QUEER / TRANS CONNECTIONS 234 Chapter Ten: Queer Theorising 237 Where is the "trans" in "queer"? 242 Queer critiques 250 Chapter eleven: Queer Ethics 253 Queel' Alienation of Transsexuals 255 Queer Ethics 258 Outlaw theorising 263 Conclusion 268 PART SIX: ACADEMIC CONCERNS 270 Chapter Twelve: Transgenderism in Academia 272 Research and Social Change 272 Academia and Activism 275 "Transgender Studies"? 284 Conclusion 290 REFERENCES 297 Appendix A: 314 Introductory letter and questionnaire. 314 Appendix B: 318 Interview information sheet and consent form. 318 Appendix C: 321 Interview schedule. 321 Appendix D: 323 Workshop information sheet. 323 Appendix E: 325 Workshop consent forms. 325 Appendix F:327 Workshop Plan. 327 Appendix G: 332 Statement of Research Aims guiding initial exploratory phase. 332 13 Transsexuality is understood variously as a psycho-medical phenomenon, as an identity category, and as a postmodern challenge to notions of gender and identity. As trans sexuality is discursively constituted through each of these frames of reference, different assertions are made about what trans sexuality is. Each of these ontological statements carries different implications for "transsexuals". By employing queer and poststructuralist feminist critiques which unsettle "knowledge" about trans sexuality, this thesis becomes part of a wider project of exploring the crevices in the process of (normative) gendering. I work closely with transsexual and transgender texts to engage with political and theoretical issues arising out of specific attempts to define trans sexuality theoretically or to deploy the transsexual figure politically. Some of these texts are transcripts of taped interviews and a workshop conducted with transsexual and transgendered people in Aotearoa I New Zealand. I begin by introducing the thesis and situating it relative to other literatures on trans sexuality. I then offer a discussion of epistemological and methodological questions, and describe the research process. I critique psycho-medical definitions of "transsexuality" and then discuss critically debates among transgender theorists and activists. My analysis of the various diagnostic classifications of transsexuality highlights problematic ways in which transsexuals' erotic attractions have been constructed or overlooked. Through my discussion of trans sexuality as a case of being "trapped in the wrong body", I suggest ways in which both transgender and psycho-medical theorising could work more critically with understandings of transsexual embodiment. By engaging with selected transgender texts, I identifY ways in which transgender theorising and political ventures could be strengthened: by opening up to theorising about the significatory importance of sex reassignment surgery, by negotiating carefully the inc1usivity (or exclusivity) of the term "transgender", and by challenging ethnocentricity in transgender theorising. I discuss contentious assumptions about the interactions between transgender theorising and queer theorising, emphasising the importance of developing theorising about "sexuality" and "gender" that does not become mired in the language and politics of identity. I present this thesis as a multi-vocal discussion of the ways in which trans sexuality is constructed within various clinical, academic, and political settings. Throughout the thesis I engage with "transgender theorising" - a 14 recent body of political and analytic writing. This intersection of theorising and activism opens up discussion about the political implications of gender-crossing and the power dynamics in which transsexuals are imbricated on entering the psycho­ medical arena. By engaging in this transdisciplinary discussion, I seek to open up possibilities for transgendered ways of being: possibilities that can no longer be defined through frameworks of diagnosis and disorder. 15 The idea of this thesis began to germinate more than five years ago, while I was doing my Masters research on bisexuality. It was people I met then, some of whom have no knowledge of the impact their stories had on me, who provided the kernels of thought from which this work has grown. I thank those people first, though I cannot name them. The person who first encouraged me to consider trans sexuality as a topic for doctoral research was Kerry-Jayne Wilson, whose support and interest in my work from the beginning has been invaluable. Kerry-Jayne's presence in my life, as a friend and as an academic, has inspired me and kept me on track, persistently reminding me why this research is important. As this project grew into something more tangible, requiring an institutional base and funding, I was offered support in various ways by the University of Canterbury and, more specifically, by the Feminist Studies Department. I am also grateful for the support and inspiration, during these early stages, which came variously from Lynne Star, Lynne Alice, the Women's Studies Programme at Massey University, and the Transsexual Outreach people within NZPC, all of whom gave generously of information and time. Perhaps the part of the research where I most obviously asked people for help was during the interviewing process. I am particularly grateful to those who took part in the interviews and workshop, giving generously and openly, sharing stories which were sometimes painful to recall, showing me photographs and offering written material, and in some cases feeding and transporting me in the course of my interviewing journey. I would also like to thank Marian, Geoff and Nikki-Nik, KT and fiatmates, Nellie, and the Turbott family, upon whose couches I slept while travelling around the country doing interviews. I would like to acknowledge those fellow Feminist Studies students whose company throughout the thesis-battle has helped me to laugh at it all: Kaye and Daphne who 16 shared / witnessed my clumsy grapplings with the impossibility of "discourse analysis", and Jo who shared wise words on being a thesis student and who helped me to emerge from my most reclusive writing-phase, feeling almost human. Other Ph.D. students who helped me stay relatively sane throughout include Nicky Green, Karen Nairn, and Annie Potts. To these women I am grateful for hours of reading and discussing each others' theses and for wonderful talks on research, universities, supervision, and life in general. Also, I was delighted to share with Sam and Denise - fellow thesis students working on trans issues - interesting, friendly email chats and humour. My work owes more than I can express to those transgender and transsexual people I've never met who, through their writings and political activism have made this thesis possible, and inspired me to take it in directions I had never initially envisaged. To those people lowe thanks for their vision and their work which is