Gender Is a Complex Number and the Case for Trans Phantoms

ABSTRACT

Gender is not only a spectrum; it is a complex number. Each individual has their own unique multidimensional number of gender. Gender as a complex number has developed from the gender algorithm. This conceptualization of gender is seated in theorizing gender from a Bayesian brain foundation, specifically the Free Energy Principle. The phenomenon of phantoms in transgender, transsexual, and nonbinary (TGNB) people has only recently been a subject of inquiry. This article builds on ideas developed through clinical practice and harvested from multidisciplinary theory and research. It applies my theories of interoceptive gender and the gender algorithm to formulations of gender. It will demonstrate how these relate to the theory of trans phantoms, which has important clinical implications and applications for TGNB subjectivity and embodiment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Entropy is when there is more randomness in a system.

² This is the principle of Schrödinger’s cat. There is a cat in a box with a beam splitter and a gun. A photon shot through a beam splitter has two potential positions—the two parts of superposition—either it escapes the box and the cat lives or it triggers the gun connected to the detector and kills the cat. If you do not open the box, the cat could be alive or dead.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

S. J. Langer

S. J. Langer, L.C.S.W.-R. is a writer and psychotherapist in New York City, where he maintains a private practice. He is on the faculty at the School of Visual Arts in both the MPS Art Therapy and Humanities & Sciences departments. His article “Trans Bodies and the Failure of Mirrors” was the co-winner of the Symonds Prize from Studies in Gender and Sexuality. His first book, Theorizing Transgender Identity for Clinical Practice: A New Model for Understanding Gender, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in 2020.