Gender Identity Disorder, the Gender Binary, and Transgender Oppression: Implications for Ethical Social Work

Abstract

This article argues that social workers are ethically obligated to serve as allies of transgender and gender-nonconforming communities and, thus, should critically examine the diagnosis of gender identity disorder and the oppression inherent in pathologizing gender nonconformity. Social workers should also consider the oppression inherent in the socially constructed gender binary that is the root of the perceived psychosis in gender nonconformance and should fight against this oppression and, therefore, against that binary. This article proposes several action steps that social workers can take to advocate for the transgender and gender-nonconforming communities.

Keywords:

• transgender
• gender identity
• oppression
• social work
• ethics
• diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders

Notes

1. There is much beyond the scope of this article to be said about the historical and modern-day fight of the intersex community. Chase (1998) offers an excellent overview of issues such as the pervasive practice of operating on the genitals of infants to ascribe a socially acceptable gender.

2. The lowercase ‘w’ is used here, as recommended by McIntyre (2008), to challenge historically constructed beliefs about control and power and a legacy of oppression that the uppercase “White” can connote.