WHAT’S IN SINGAPORE’S PANTS? : A STUDY ON THE MEDICALISATION OF TRANS SINGAPOREANS

Abstract

In light of recent public discourses regarding state interventions in gender transitioning decisions, this thesis presents an explorative study on the institutionalised medicalisation of trans Singaporeans through qualitative trans accounts. Diagnosis – as both process and category – is set as the primary site for exploring the socio-political underpinnings of trans medicalisation. The thesis thus starts with a conceptual review of the ‘Sociology of Diagnosis’ led by the theorisations of Brown (1990; 1995) and McGann and Hutson (2011). Following which, the paper delves into critiques on diagnosis as sites producing normative medical understandings that delegitimise a substantial number of trans identities. Ultimately, this thesis finds that the trans medical diagnosis has been constraining; it has been unsympathetic to the needs, aspirations and anxieties of the local trans population. Trans Singaporeans, however, are not mere passive receptors to such medicalisation, and negotiate and act upon these constraints in manners that destabilise the authority of medical institutions. Hence, the paper concludes with a deliberation on the shifting roles of the trans patient and associated implications, as well as the consideration of other social concerns and areas for future academic study.