"

Shifting the focus onto our bodies is one of the steps that the spanish took in order to begin subverting the structures that allowed Bakla to be spiritual aids to the women who were spiritual leaders. A dialectic of the trans feminine body as, since unalterable at those points, was based on notifying and convincing bakla that we were really just men. And by being ‘men’ we could have greater power and status within the catholic church than under the baybaylan.

fast forward to today, and we see that the medicalisation of gender is still about power. since we have a system that is set up to systematically privilege white women and white men over and above trans feminine people of colour. And, in doing so, because medical transition is necessary in most jurisdictions to have your identity documents change, gives them greater access to a host of other privileges granted to those people legitimized by the state.

and it is the compulsory and coercive nature of the medicalisation of gender that reveals its colonial and hegemonic intent. because outside of just Argentina, at present time, almost every single jurisdiction requires some level of medical intervention in order to obtain documents reflecting your gender (even if the medical intervention is just a letter from a doctor or therapist stating your gender, it is still an intervention that removes agency from the person to determine what their own gender is) [2].

It is, overall, a process by which we are stripped of our agency, humanity, and our right to self-determination. We must constantly seek validation from outside sources in order to be perceived as legitimate. It creates a sub-class of human being who are simply not allowed to just be.