Trans People and the Choreography of Reproductive Health Care: Dancing Outside the Lines

Reproductive healthcare is choreographically delivered--an intricate collection of seemingly disparate but deftly balanced elements all come together in a complex dance. It is choreographed in ways that presume that the person accessing it--the dancer-patient--will be, among other things, cisgender. As a result, trans people are altogether erased, systematically unanticipated, insufficiently accommodated, or understood only in relation to hegemonic, regulatory frameworks. Trans People and the Choreography of Reproductive Healthcare: Dancing Outside the Lines draws on data from a research study involving qualitative interviews and participatory photography with fourteen trans people from British Columbia, Canada. It uses dance as a metaphor to expose facets of the restrictive choreography of reproductive healthcare, and to document the improvisational tactics used by trans people in their pursuit of care that is competent, safe, and affirming.

A.J. Lowik is postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia.