The UB creates a Medicine course to serve trans people

The subject «Gender Diversity: Trans people» at the UB is a pioneering initiative in Spain

GAYLES.TV.- The subject "Gender Diversity: Trans people" in the School of Medicine for the Universitat de Barcelona It starts with the squares full. It is a pioneering initiative in Spain. The professor of the Department of Physiological Sciences, the doctor Pepita Gimenez-Bonafe, has been the driving force behind the project.

It is an optional subject to respond to the lack of specialized care and ignorance of the various realities and needs of trans people. A trans reality that includes, he explains, transgender, transsexual, non-binary, fluid and transvestite people.

The academic journey ranges from understanding the theoretical framework (what is sex, gender, sexual orientation, identity ...), the history of transsexuality, the stories lived by trans women and men, the implications in society, the childhood, health care models, psychological aspects, the medical field (hormonal guidelines and surgical modifications), reproduction and sexuality. And legal issues will also be addressed.

It is thus raised from a multifaceted perspective in which legal, psychological, social and medical issues will be addressed. «We must eliminate stigma and end situations of transphobia in the health field«, Underlines Gimenez-Bonafé.

Society as a pending issue

To develop the program for the subject, he contacted groups of trans people, who have always viewed the medical system with suspicion. In this line, the teaching program underlines the need to achieve basic knowledge "of the violation of fundamental rights that supposes a deficient attention”. And it is emphasized that they must be addressed as "users and not as patients".

Members of the service will participate in classes Trànsit (From Catalan Health Service), the associations Generate, EnFemme y Chrysallis (dedicated to minors), as well as Judith Juan Huix y Sofia Bengoetxea, referents in the trans movement in Catalunya. On the other hand, there is no participation of the Gender Identity Unit of Hospital Clínic, since trans groups reject the diagnosis of gender dysphoria on which you work.

juanhuix has stated that «this subject is absolutely fundamental because right now in Catalonia a biopsychosocial model to treat the problems derived from transphobia and advance the health of trans people. Until now, doctors only had the bio and psycho vision, but not the most important of all: the social one. Because it is precisely the social dimension that crosses us the most and generates more problems for trans people. The great problem of trans people is precisely the one that does not depend on us: society. That is why we want to transform it ». The trans activist considers it very necessary that this training be given in the rest of the universities and has also called for more training for primary care.