Experiences of transgender women/transvestites with access to health services: progress, limits, and tensions.

Experiences of transgender women/transvestites with access to health services: progress, limits, and tensions. Cad Saude Publica. 2019;35(4):e00111318 Authors: Monteiro S, Brigeiro M Abstract Given both the changes in sexual customs, norms and policies and the persistent patterns in Brazil, the article analyzes the experiences of transgender women/transvestites with access to health services and discusses sexual/gender discrimination and their demands for gender transition and AIDS prevention services. The study involved interviews with nine transgender women/transvestites 23-45 years of age from low-income strata in the Baixada Fluminense region of Greater Metropolitan Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016 and observation of contexts of prostitution and sociability. Compared to the violence experienced years previously, the narratives of transgender women/transvestites highlight important social strides. They report that health professionals do not discriminate against them based on their condition, although they resist calling them by their social names. This embarrassment and the structural problems of the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS) are minimized by the agency of trans women/transvestites in obtaining care, such as recourse to contact networks and awareness of their civil rights. The narratives on their search for body changes for transitioning often reveal a tense combination of the technologies offered by health se...
Source: Cadernos de Saude Publica - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Cad Saude Publica Source Type: research