Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

DOI

10.33137/ijidi.v5i4.37406

Publication Title

The International Journal of Information, Diversity & Inclusion

Volume

5

Issue

4

Pages

132-149

Abstract

In this paper, we use the topic of breast cancer as an example of health crisis erasure in both informational and institutional contexts, particularly within the transgender and gender-nonconforming population. Breast cancer health information conforms and defaults to conventional cultural associations with femininity, as is the case with pregnancy and other “single-sex” conditions (Surkan, 2015). Many health information and research practices normalize sexualities, pathologize non-normative gender (Drescher et al., 2012; Fish, 2008; Müller, 2018), and fail to recognize gender-nonconforming categories (Frohard‐Dourlent et al., 2017). Because breast cancer health information is sexually normalized, an information boundary exists for the LGBTQ+ community, particularly among transgender and gender-nonconforming adults who are at greater risk of discrimination in healthcare settings (Casey et al., 2019). Transgender and gender-nonconforming people experience unique marginalization and risk with respect to breast cancer. We call upon and propose library and information research, education, and practice opportunities inclusive of the health information needs of transgender and gender-nonconforming populations.

Comments

© 2021 Curtis Shane Tenney, Karl J. Surkan, Lynette Hammond Gerido, Dawn Betts-Green

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.

Original Publication Citation

Tenney, C. S., Surkan, K. J., Gerido, L. H., & Betts-Green, D. (2021). A crisis of erasure: Transgender and gender-nonconforming populations navigating breast cancer health information. The International Journal of Information, Diversity & Inclusion, 5(4), 132-149. https://doi.org/10.33137/ijidi.v5i4.37406

ORCID

0000-0002-7215-5031 (Betts-Green)

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