‘I, Robot?’ Or how transgender subjects are dehumanised

Abstract

In this essay I focus on the earlier works of Judith Butler to discuss her understanding of gender theory and moreover do so in relation to people who are transgender. Transgender folk are important to Butler's early work but I contend that her allegorical use of them does not do justice to their precarious lives. I relate my discussion to existing work in organizational studies concerned both with Butler and trans folk and argue that Butler's concept of performativity should be (re)read alongside her other concerns with embodiment and universality to argue that, at least in relation to transgender folk, her work needs to be extended to consider issues of dysphoria in order to explain why some gender identities are refused and made abject. 'I, Robot?' Or how Transgender Subjects are Dehumanised. 2017 was not a good year to be transgender in the UK. The UK media printed a lot of transphobic articles and from October did so at the rate of at least 1 per day (Barker 2017). The long awaited revisions to the Gender Recognition Act was 'kicked in to the long grass' (Duffy 2017) meaning that transgender people still do not have the right to self-identification. From my personal perspective things did not seem to get any worse but equally no better than previous years. In 2017 one of my friends and her girlfriend were violently assaulted and hospitalised; another committed suicide. I have lost a friend to suicide every year since 2014; whilst internet sites like TDoR document the horrific extent of transphobic murders annually what tends to be glossed are the horrific number of suicides. I was on the receiving end of verbal abuse regularly and sometimes physical and sexual assault albeit nothing that required a hospital visit in 2017, unlike previous years. I lost count of the incidents of name calling, finger pointing, stupid comments early in the year as there were so many. But I get up and go out in public each day despite knowing that I may well be the victim of verbal abuse, or worse, that day. And I will repeat this every single day for the rest of my life. That's the thing you do to survive if you're transgender-you pretend. You pretend that being called a 'freak' for the 987th time no longer hurts, and you weren't fazed by the idiots who spat in your face, or by the women how grabbed your crotch 'to check'. You pretend you have no feelings and none of this hurts, ever. You pretend to be a robot just to survive. And if you cannot? Suicide? The suicide rate for trans people is shockingly high. I see my NHS gender consultant 4 times a year and each time I'm asked about suicidal ideation, sometimes I lie. I'm a non-binary trans person 4 years in to my NHS 'transition'-I, robot? In this essay I consider how the lives of many transgender folk are made unliveable in a heterosexual matrix that dehumanises non-conforming genders. It is particularly important that we consider this now as more and more people identify as transgender annually. This increase in numbers will result in more unliveable lives until we reconsider ...

On agency and empowerment in a #MeToo world

“…Even the understanding of what constitutes ‘feminism’ and feminist theorizing is constantly in a state of productive tension, debate and dialogue in academia and in the social world. Further, I would be remiss not to mention that the work of queer theorists questioning the heteronormative foundations of several strands of feminism (Namaste, ) are important to these discussions around gender system change and ‘female’ empowerment given that so often we ‘dehumanise’ those who don’t fit cultural gender scripts (O'Shea, ). These ongoing debates and concerns raise doubt about our ability to engage in gender system change that takes shape only through individual strategies or lays blame only on structural arrangements of the political, economic and sociocultural kind.…”

Trans men doing gender at work

“…Despite key changes in legislation in England, which have provided some recognition and protection for transgender individuals (e.g., The Gender Recognition Act, 2004 and The Equality Act, 2010 [UK]), trans men's lives have operated against a background of risk, harassment and discrimination (see O'Shea, 2018, 2019, 2020 for personal accounts). UK‐based studies on trans men and women show discrimination originating from colleagues, managers, and Trade Unions (Barclay & Scott, 2006) with nearly 29% of trans employees reporting harassment or unsupportive management (Whittle et al., 2007).…”

Can the monster speak? A report to an academy of psychoanalysts. By Paul B.Preciado (trans. Frank Wynne), London: Fitzcarraldo Editions. 2021. pp. 77. ISBN: 978‐1913097‐58‐5

“…Similar to Derrida's understanding of the pharmakon, the monster is not simply the scapegoat of, and to be cured by, psychoanalysis but also becomes its poison. Where Freudian psychoanalysis is a technology of sex, we transgender monsters are the supplement to the normative sex/gender that psychoanalysis may neither cure or exhaust but that may mutate it (for a discussion of the supplement in relation to gender, see Butler, 1999, 182; O’Shea, 2018a).…”

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