Melancholia and the Violent Regulation of Gender Variance: Reply to Commentaries

Abstract

In this reply to James Herzog and Gayle Salamon, the “in”/“out” boundary of gender and the psychotherapeutic address of gender is considered. Particular emphasis is paid to the ways in which gender is constituted through aggressive and often violent forms of social regulation. Matters of social justice are considered as psychoanalysts and mental health workers take up normative violence in the form of policy speech. Clinical dilemmas with respect to gender melancholia, trauma, and shame are also considered.

Notes

¹ http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/policy/transgender.pdf