Always Already Geopolitical: Trans Health Care and Global Tactical Technical Communication. (October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Edenfield, Avery C.; Colton, Jared S.; Holmes, Steve
• Is Part Of: Journal of technical writing & communication. Volume 49:Number 4(2019)
• Page Start: 433
• Page End: 457
• Publication Date: 2019-10
• Subjects: culture -- care -- health -- medical -- international -- intercultural -- global; Technical writing -- Periodicals; 808.0666
• DOI: 10.1177/0047281619871211
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0047-2816

Abstract

Transgender persons face many barriers preventing them from accessing and receiving health care. Gender-transition care can be difficult because such care is frequently contingent upon geopolitics, such as location-based health-care policies that exclude transgender community attitudes and values. This article uses rhetorical cluster analysis to explore the combining two conceptual lenses—tactical technical communication and participatory localization—to study the do-it-yourself geopolitical medical literacies of transgender people in one Reddit forum. We found being trans online means to be tactical and geopolitical, encountering and negotiating geopolitical awareness of health-care options, exposing a privilege invisible to cisgender users.