From silicone and hormone injecting to sex reassignment surgery: the precarious road to becoming female of transgender funeral performers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Abstract

This paper examines aspects of feminisation among a group of transwomen funeral performers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It highlights the health hazards faced by members of this vulnerable social group as the result of the use of non-medically prescribed hormone therapy, silicone injection and sex reassignment surgery in the absence of legal provision regulating these practices. The analysis is conducted against the backdrop of overlapping discourses of sex and gender identity, class, medicalisation and politics, both locally and globally.

Résumé

Cet article examine certains aspects du processus de la féminisation dans un groupe de transfemmes animatrices de funérailles à Ho Chi Minh City, au Vietnam. Il met l’accent sur les risques pour la santé auxquels sont confrontés les membres de ce groupe social vulnérable, et qui résultent de l’usage des thérapies hormonales non-prescrites médicalement, de l’injection de silicone et de la chirurgie de réattribution du sexe en l’absence de réglementations de ces pratiques. L’analyse est conduite dans un contexte de discours qui se superposent sur l’identité de sexe et de genre, la classe sociale, la médicalisation et la politique, aux plans locaux comme mondial.

Resumen

En este artículo se analizan los aspectos del proceso de feminizaciãn entre un grupo de mujeres transgénero que trabajan como artistas en funerales en la ciudad de Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Se destacan los peligros para la salud a los que se enfrentan los miembros de este grupo social vulnerable como resultado del uso de terapias hormonales sin prescripciãn médica, inyecciones de silicona y cirugía de cambio de sexo ante la falta de disposiciones legales que regulen estas prácticas. El análisis se realiza en un contexto de discursos solapados sobre la identidad sexual y de género, la clase, la medicalizaciãn y la política, ambos en un ámbito local e internacional.

Keywords:

• Sex reassignment surgery
• hormone therapy
• transgender women
• gender diversity
• Vietnam

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Peter Jackson, Tine Gammeltoft and the two anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. I am grateful to G3VN and its staff in Ho Chi Minh City for their assistance during this research. I also acknowledge the kind support of the study team which included Luong Anh Ngoc, Nguyen Truong Giang, Hoang Thanh Quyen and Luong Minh Ngoc for data collection as well Hoang Ba Thinh and Nguyen Tuan Anh for their helpful suggestions on relevant social issues. Heartfelt thanks to the transwomen interlocutors for their friendship and collaboration over the years.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 According to Ministry of Health statistics, transgender persons make up approximately 0.3% to 0.5% of the total population (Báo Mới, 18 November 2017).

2 All individual names are pseudonyms for anonymity reasons.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Vietnam National University of Hanoi under Grant Number QG.17.05.