“Be Glad That You Are Ill”: Medical Views on Transgender and Its Influence on Self-Perception Among Trans People in Poland

Anna M. Kłonkowska; Wiktor Dynarski

doi:10.18778/1733-8069.16.1.06

Authors

Anna M. Kłonkowska University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Sociology https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5065-4975
Wiktor Dynarski University of Warsaw https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2469-3393

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8069.16.1.06

Keywords:

transgender, Poland, medical discourse, gatekeeping practices, enforced identities

Abstract

In Poland, most of the existing information on transgender has been heavily influenced by the pathologizing, medicalizing discourses of the 1980s and early 1990s, and deeply rooted in the essentialist perception of gender. In contrast, under the influence of queer theory and social constructionism, Polish social studies re-discovered the theory of transgender in the late 2000s. Combining these two competing viewpoints and discourses has shaped and determined that which currently constitutes transgender studies as they are gradually emerging in Poland. The article aims to explore these alternative approaches, including the discourse prevalent in the Polish medical community at present, the accompanying gatekeeping practices that it consequently employs (even though WHO no longer categorizes transgender as a disorder), and how it is perceived in the field of social sciences. Next, this article will present an analysis of the broader social perceptions of trans individuals in Poland. The authors will conclude with a number of varying perspectives from transgender persons. Based on these particular analyses, the article will argue that the existing Polish gatekeeping system not only makes transgender people dependent on diagnostic outcomes, but also promotes a specific brand of experience policing among trans communities, in which people are often labeled as being disordered.

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Author Biographies

Anna M. Kłonkowska, University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Sociology

Anna M. Kłonkowska is an Associate Professor at the Department of Social Sciences, University of Gdańsk. She is a sociologist, psychologist, philosopher; her research interests include: transgender studies, men’s studies, sociology of the body. She is a recipient of Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship (Stony Brook University), Kosciuszko Foundation Fellowship (Stony Brook University), Bednarowski Trust Fellowship (University of Aberdeen), Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Fellowship (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg), Chair in Transgender Studies Research Fellowship for Visiting University-based Scholars and Professionals (University of Victoria), NAWA Bekker Programme Reseach Fellowship (Stony Brook University). Selected publications: Masculinity: Assigned–Reassigned–Socially Constructed: The Social Reception of Trans Masculinity in Poland, “Men and Masculinities” vol. 21, issue 2, 2018: 210-229 (first published online: July 19, 2016); Płeć: dana czy zadana? Strategie negocjacji (nie)tożsamości transpłciowej w Polsce, Gdańsk: Wyd. UG, 2017; Making Transgender Count in Poland: Disciplined Individuals and Circumscribed Populations, “Transgender Studies Quarterly” vol. 2, no. 1, 2015: 123-135.

Wiktor Dynarski, University of Warsaw

Wiktor Dynarski is a program officer with the Open Society Public Health Program, where they focus on trans and intersex health and rights. Before joining Open Society, Dynarski had been the president and executive director at the Trans-Fuzja foundation, Poland’s first trans NGO. They joined Trans-Fuzja as a volunteer in 2008, and subsequently served as a board member, vice-president, and international affairs officer. Dynarski has also been a member and co-chair of the steering committee of Transgender Europe, a European network of organizations working for the human rights of trans and gender-variant people; a member and co-chair of the committee of TransFúzia, Slovakia’s first trans association; and a steering committee member of ‘Miłość Nie Wyklucza’ (‘Love Does Not Exclude’), an organization working for marriage equality in Poland. Dynarski serves as an advisor to the SOGI Campaigns project, which supports creative campaigns for sexual, gender, and bodily diversity movements around the world. Dynarski is currently completing a doctoral program at the Warsaw University Institute of Applied Social Sciences, where they are affiliated with the Centre for Social Studies on Sexuality.

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