Valuing the Gender-Variant Therapist: Therapeutic Experiences, Tools, and Implications of a Female-to-Male Trans-Variant Clinician

ABSTRACT

Moderate amounts of literature exist regarding the experiences and perspective of the male clinician in practice with clients. However, there is a dearth of literature on experiences of female-to-male transsexual clinicians, or gender-variant therapists in general. In a world in which gender roles are becoming more fluid, yet the gender stereotypes more rigid, more clients are challenging dominant societal constructs and tackling gender issues. In so doing they often experience great conflict and guilt regarding gender identity and their place in the world. Gender-variant clients, in particular, have a need for clinicians who are aware of their unique culture, and who have experienced, and continue to live within, the gender-variant culture themselves. A question arises: what therapeutic tools does the gender-variant therapist make use of in working not just with gender-variant clients, but with clients of many different backgrounds? This article attempts to begin a dialogue to assist trans-clinicians in their therapeutic endeavors. As such, the experiences of a female-to-male trans-variant clinician are explored, as well as a literature review conducted of possible feminist therapeutic tools that can be employed to help clinicians consider the implications of gender-variant therapists in their work with clients.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender-variant
• female-to-male transsexual
• feminist therapy
• transgender
• transsexual
• trans-clinician
• trans-variant
• self-of-the-therapist
• therapist development
• therapy training
• clinical supervision