A review by novelbloglover
Trans Medicine: The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender by Stef M. Shuster

emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

 

Book Review 

Title: Trans Medicine: The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender by Stef M. Shuster 

Genre: Non-Fiction, Gender and Sexuality, Social Issues, Health 

Rating: 4 Stars 

As this is non-fiction around the history and progression of trans medicine I am going to be giving a lot of my personal thoughts on the information contained in this book. The introduction to the book introduces us to the author who is trans and how they learnt about both the social and medical sides of being transgender and who is in charge of making medical decisions regarding trans people and this is going to be explored in further depth as we progress through the book. 

From the outset Shuster provides a thoroughly researched look into not only gender-affirming medical care and therapy but into the social role of physicians for trans people. While this is specific to the United States which meant I couldn’t personally identify with the struggles of paying for healthcare I did sympathise with those that do. As Shuster is a non-binary trans person it really put a lot of focus on the experiences of medical providers of gender affirming care rather than the medical guidelines which often exclude trans people as they are seen as so unique and different from cis people that made healthcare providers won’t treat them. I really like how Shuster put the spotlight on present day practices as they trace through the history of medical care for trans people. 

I was a little disappointed that this book didn’t discuss specific treatments or procedures as this would be helpful to trans and non-binary people and I felt that Shuster having lived through some of these experiences could have given some recommendation on the process of medical interventions but that seems to have been overlooked. The purpose of this book was to look at the professional lives of the medical practitioners and how they understand their trans patients, their role in providing care, their obligations to their professional standards, oaths, and statutory laws, and how they coalesce all this into arriving at a specific decision or a road map for care of a trans patient/client. That being said it did feel like at times you were reading a dissertation which isn’t a bad thing considering that Shuster is an academic and the writing was very accessible even to people that know little about the topic but it was difficult in places to get through and I did find myself a little bored at time which was upsetting been as I identify so much with the author. 

One thing I really liked about this book was how it gave me a larger appreciation of the position of medical professional who often have to juggle recommended guidelines with individualistic treatment style as there isn’t a one size fit all treatment for trans and non-binary people. This book also highlights the fact that trans and non-binary people who haven’t had any negative experiences with medical professional might have some sort of privilege to do with race or class which is something I never considered but it made absolute sense given the fact we see these kinds of privileges in other areas all the time. Overall, I would say that this book should be recommended to medical professionals and trans patients seeking care especially those going down the self-advocacy route. I have to say that reading the excerpts and quotes of some of the correspondence, particularly in the earlier years, is disconcerting and I would definitely recommend that people be aware of this before reading as it can be quite upsetting in places for those that aren’t secure in their gender identity.