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The Myth of the Wrong Body book cover
The Myth of the Wrong Body
2018
First Published
4.33
Average Rating
173
Number of Pages

The most popular narrative about transsexuality suggests that some people are born in the wrong body – that their bodies do not correspond to their inner experience and that their bodies should therefore be transformed. But in the view of the sociologist and trans activist Miguel Missé, this narrative is a harmful myth. It is rooted in a medical paradigm that typically leads to medical intervention – to the use of hormones and surgical operations. By proposing a particular solution (modifying one’s body), doctors and psychiatrists make it difficult for trans people to overcome malaise about their body in other ways and prevent them from recognizing the burden of social norms. Drawing on his own personal experience, Missé makes the case for a different way of thinking about trans embodiment which focuses on gender identity. The trajectory that leads people to become trans is shaped by the rigidity of gender norms, where the only two models available to individuals are the masculine man and the feminine woman. But these are not the only possible choices, and by critically interrogating the rigidity of gender norms, Missé opens up a different way of thinking about being trans, beyond the essentialism of the medical paradigm.

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Author

Miquel Missi
Miquel Missi
Author · 4 books
Miquel Missé Sánchez (Barcelona, 1986) es sociólogo y activista trans. Ha participado en diversos colectivos de lucha trans en Barcelona y ha sido miembro activo de la Red Internacional por la Despatologización Trans así como dinamizador de la campaña internacional Stop Trans Pathologization 2012. Ha editado junto con Gerard Coll-Planas el libro El género desordenado. Como sociólogo, ha trabajado en la investigación Transitant per les fronteres del gènere. Estratègies, trajectòria i aportacions de joves trans, lesbianes i gais (Observatori Català de la Joventut, 2009), en los proyectos de diagnóstico y elaboración participativa del Pla Municipal para el colectivo LGTB del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona y en el proyecto europeo (Against Homophobia European Local Administration Devices). Actualmente, trabaja en el ámbito de la educación y se dedica a la prevención de la violencia de género, la homofobia y la transfobia.
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