Karen Pollock introduces our theme for August, mental health.
This August, we want to take a look at mental health. Barely a month seems to go past without new research highlighting that those who are not allocishet have poorer mental health outcomes. However, we believe we need to look deeper than the headline figures and often empty promises. There are often issues of conflation, where research on bi and trans people is used to make claims about all LGBTQ+ identities. There can also be an element of blame attached to research around drinking, smoking and other drug use.
Alongside our usual news, essays, reviews and personal views we want to ask some hard questions about mental health. Who is struggling, and why? Are communities being left to cope with issues like suicide because of prejudice and taboo? Has the push for mainstream issues such as same-sex marriage meant the less respectable LGBTQ+ poster children have been left behind? We also want to talk about what would make a real difference to the lives of LGBTQ+ people when it comes to good mental health.
In 1973, homosexuality was removed from the DSM. Currently, WPATH are considering moving trans identities from mental to sexual health. In the UK, one of our leading gender clinics has already started to make that move. However, we still live in a world where certain sexualities and genders receive different treatment, where certain identities are pathologised. This August, we want to challenge that, and a whole lot more. As always, if you would like to write a guest post on this or any other issue, please get in touch via lee@thequeerness.com.
Picture credit:
| courtesy of Massachusetts General Hospital and Draper Labs |
The Queerness 