the foreground. T is third, queer set of thinking is largely coherent with a systemic approach. Using the word queer to describe an


orientation, as above, has its origin in queer theory, a postmodern theory of gender and sexuality. Queer theory posits that gender and sexuality are ultimately multiple and infi nitely fl uid, understood through examining context and linked to local understandings (Stone Fish, et al., 2005). T is echoes the social- constructionist infl uence in the systemic fi eld and creates a vast array of tools to inform our conversations about gender and sexuality. T ese include the capacity to start from a position of genuine curiosity (Cecchin, 1987) when enquiring about someone’s gender and sexuality, to explore what local knowledge might be informing someone’s understanding of their gender and sexuality, and to see these conversations as existing within current and contextual power structures. T ese tools allow for expansiveness in our questions, as well as encouraging both self and relational refl exivity (Burnham, et al., 2008).


Summary In this article, we have shown how


normative assumptions about sex, sexuality and gender must be challenged in order to meet the needs of trans and non-binary people (and, we would argue, all people!). We have shown how diff erent schools of thought about sex and gender as being either solely socially constructed or biologically essential, eschew the experiences of trans people, and how both the social (embedded) and physical (embodied) realities of trans lives are interdependent, not discrete, and must be understood as such in the therapy room. We hope exploring the ways trans and non-binary people experience bodies and desire will provide useful inroads for bringing these conversations into the therapy room. Bringing knowledge of trans sexualities into the therapy room, including how to speak about desire, how to expand possibilities for doing gender, and how to explore diff erent ways of being sexually active, are vital tools when working alongside trans and non-binary people. If the subject of sexuality is absent from our conversations with trans and non-binary people, we replicate the


48


Amanda (left) and H (right) societal conditions that render trans lives


as ‘other’ and/or invisible. References Bellwether, M., (2010) Fucking Trans Women: A Zine About the Sex Lives of Trans Women, (Issue 0) CreateSpace. Bem, S.L. (1995) Dismantling gender polarization and compulsory heterosexuality: Should we turn the volume down or up? Journal of Sex Research, 32: 329-334. Bettcher, T.M. (2014) When selves have sex: What the phenomenology of trans sexuality can teach about sexual orientation. Journal of homosexuality, 61: 605-620. Blackless, M., Charuvastra, A., Derryck, A., Fausto- Sterling, A., Karl Lauzanne, K. & Lee, E. (2000) How sexually dimorphic are we? Review and synthesis. American Journal of Human Biology, 12:151-166. Boston, P. (2000) Systemic family therapy and the infl uence of post-modernism. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 6: 450-457. Burnham, J., Palma, D. & Whitehouse, L. (2008) Learning as a context for diff erences and diff erences as a context for learning. Journal of Family Therapy, 30: 529-542. Cecchin, G. (1987) Hypothesizing, circularity, and neutrality revisited: An invitation to curiosity. Family Process, 26: 405-413. Davy, Z., & Steinbock, E. (2012) ‘Sexing up’ bodily aesthetics: Notes towards theorizing trans sexuality. In S. Hines & Y. Taylor (eds.) Sexualities: Past Refl ections, Future Directions. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Devor, A.H. & Dominic, K. (2015) Trans* Sexualities. In J.D. Delamater & R.F. Plante (eds.) Handbook of the Sociology of Sexualities. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), Fifth edition. (2013) Arlington: American Psychiatric Association. Edelman, E.A., & Zimman, L. (2014) Boycunts and bonus holes: Trans men’s bodies, neoliberalism, and the sexual productivity of genitals. Journal of Homosexuality, 61: 673-690. Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000) Sexing the Body. Gender


Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. NewYork: Basic Books. Hardham, V. (1996) Embedded and embodied in the therapeutic relationship. In C. Flaskas & A. Perlesz. (eds.) The Therapeutic Relationship in Systemic Therapy. London: Karnac. Hudak, J. & Giammattei, S.V. (2010) Doing family: Decentring heteronormativity in ‘marriage’ and ‘family’ therapy. American Family Therapy Association Monograph Series, 6: 49-59. Markovic, D. (2007) Working with sexual issues in systemic therapy. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 28: 200-209. Perlesz, A., Brown, R., Lindsay, J., McNair, R., de Vaus, D. & Pitts, M. (2006) Family in transition: Parents, children and grandparents in lesbian families give meaning to “doing family”. Journal of Family Therapy, 28: 175-199. Prosser, J. (2000) Second Skins: The Body


Narratives of Transsexuality. New York: Columbia University Press. Rich, A. (1980) Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence. Signs: Journal Of Women In Culture And Society, 5: 631-660. Schleifer, D. (2006) Make me feel mighty real: Gay female-to-male transgenderists negotiating sex, gender, and sexuality. Sexualities, 9: 57-75. Stone Fish, L. & Harvey, R.G. (2005) Nurturing Queer Youth: Family Therapy Transformed. New York: Norton. Stonewall, (2017) Glossary of Terms. [website]. Accessed August 7 2017. Available at: http://www. stonewall.org.uk/help-advice/glossary-terms.


Amanda Middleton is a systemic psychotherapist who works alongside the LGBTIQ communities. Her practice home is The Pink Practice where she sees LGBTIQ people in couples and families. She leads on the supervision network and two-day training course for therapists and counsellors working alongside trans people delivered by Gendered Intelligence. She also teaches systemic practice in a range of contexts.


Context 155, February 2018


Trans sexualities in the therapy room


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64