title: The Body as a Site of Gender-Related Distress: Ethical Considerations for Gender Variant Youth in Clinical Settings.
abstract: The present article maps out understandings about embodied distress among gender-nonconforming youth. Feminist bioethics and queer-inflected clinical perspectives are used to inform thinking about ethical, nonpathologizing health care in the case of gender-related distress. Specific attention is directed at self-harming among gender variant and trans youth. This is contextualized in relation to the role that self-harm plays for some LGBT youth, where it may be seen as a rite of passage or as reasonable and inevitable way of coping. The particular complexities of self-harm among trans youth seeking clinical intervention are examined. Queer bioethics is proposed as potentially facilitating productive uncertainty with regard to the diverse imagined futures of gender variant and trans youth.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Oslo , Blindern , Oslo , Norway.
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Roen
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D026688:Bioethical Issues; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006716:Homosexuality / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D012925:Social Conformity; D063106:Transgender Persons / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Bioethics; childhood; clinical intervention; gender identity; gender nonconforming; gender variant; self-harm; therapy; transgender; transsexual