Sick, Disordered, or Just Like You?: A Critical Discourse Analysis on (De)pathologization of Transgender Identity in Japan

This thesis analyzes what academic literature describes as a so-called "GID discourse", which arose in Japan in the late 1990s and strongly changed how transgender people came to be seen and treated. This discourse, related to the medical term Gender Identity Disorder (性同一性障害, seidōitsuseishōgai), is generally problematized for pathologizing transness, reinforcing binary gender norms, and privileging some trans people over others. Academic texts on the topic tend to treat the emergence of this discourse as something that happened to Japan's trans population, without exploring the role played by trans people themselves. Using Critical Discourse Analysis as its primary methodology and dealing primarily with texts produced by trans people, this thesis demonstrates how trans people helped spread and institutionalize the "GID discourse", but also how it has been, and increasingly is, opposed by trans people. The thesis argues that the pathologizing discourse acted as a double-edged sword...Show moreThis thesis analyzes what academic literature describes as a so-called "GID discourse", which arose in Japan in the late 1990s and strongly changed how transgender people came to be seen and treated. This discourse, related to the medical term Gender Identity Disorder (性同一性障害, seidōitsuseishōgai), is generally problematized for pathologizing transness, reinforcing binary gender norms, and privileging some trans people over others. Academic texts on the topic tend to treat the emergence of this discourse as something that happened to Japan's trans population, without exploring the role played by trans people themselves. Using Critical Discourse Analysis as its primary methodology and dealing primarily with texts produced by trans people, this thesis demonstrates how trans people helped spread and institutionalize the "GID discourse", but also how it has been, and increasingly is, opposed by trans people. The thesis argues that the pathologizing discourse acted as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it made big socio-political changes possible that positively affected many trans people in Japan. Key examples are the legalization of sex reassignment surgery and the ability to change one's legal gender. On the other hand, the discourse serves as a conduit for social structures such as trans-, hetero- and cisnormativity, that negatively affect trans people.Show less

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Sick, Disordered, or Just Like You? A Critical Discourse Analysis on (De)pathologization of Transgender Identity in Japan