July 9th 2021 Queer Voices

Send us Fan MailAuthor Stef M. Shuster - "Trans Medicine: The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender" -- Tori Williams Oral History ProjectGuest co-host Alexis Melvin interviews author Stef M. Shuster regarding the non fiction work, "Trans Medicine: The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender". Surfacing in the mid-twentieth century, yet shrouded in social stigma, transgender medicine is now a rapidly growing medical field. In Trans Medicine, stef shuster makes an important intervention in how we understand the development of this field and how it is being used to “treat” gender identity today. Drawing on interviews with medical providers as well as ethnographic and archival research, shuster examines how health professionals approach patients who seek gender-affirming care. From genital reconstructions to hormone injections, the practice of trans medicine charts new medical ground, compelling medical professionals to plan treatments without widescale clinical trials to back them up. Relying on cultural norms and gut instincts to inform their treatment plans, shuster shows how medical providers’ lack of clinical experience and scientific research undermines their ability to interact with patients, craft treatment plans, and make medical decisions. This situation defies how providers are trained to work with patients and creates uncertainty. As providers navigate the developing knowledge surrounding the medical care of trans folk, Trans Medicine offers a rare opportunity to understand how providers make decisions while facing challenges to their expertise and, in the process, have acquired authority not only over clinical outcomes, but over gender itself.GUEST: Stef M. Shuster https://nyupress.org/9781479899371/trans-medicine/Tori Williams, local AIDS activist, discusses the 40th anniversary of the first reports in the United States of the disease that would come to be known as AIDS; the Oral History Project's work chronicling the HIV crisis in the Bayou City; and the significant progress that The oH Project has made thus far, with 75 out of 100 interviews having been completed.GUEST: Tori Williams https://www.legacycommunityhealth.org/pol-oh-history/Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here.  Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond.  Check out our socials at:https://www.facebook.com/QueerVoicesKPFT/ andhttps://www.instagram.com/queervoices90.1kpft/