Transgender “Children” and “Adolescents”. Categories construction among health professionals

Abastract This article describes and discusses the meanings and conceptions attributed by a group of health professionals to the categories trans “children” and “adolescents” and their relationship with the care practices performed by these professionals, prioritizing a socio-cultural approach of care. It is based on an ethnographic approach to indepth interviews with health professionals who work or have worked in specialized services in the care of trans children and adolescents and their families, located in the State of São Paulo. The results show how the professionals definitions overlap biomedical criteria and socio-cultural conceptions of gender, revealing impasses and controversies involved in the diagnostic evaluation of the gender identity of children and adolescents in terms of fixity and permanence.

摘要 本文阐述并探讨了一群健康从业者对跨性别（trans）“儿童”与“青少年”范畴的内涵与认知，以及这些从业者的照护实践与该范畴之间的关联，研究优先采用照护的社会文化视角。本研究采用民族志研究方法，对位于圣保罗州、从事或曾从事跨性别儿童、青少年及其家庭照护的专科服务机构工作的健康从业者开展深度访谈。研究结果显示，从业者的定义如何同时融合了生物医学标准与社会文化层面的性别观念，并揭示了在儿童与青少年性别身份的诊断评估中，围绕其固定性与持久性所存在的困境与争议。