IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v345y2024ics0277953624001254.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Not just rebellious, it's revolutionary”: Do-it-yourself hormone replacement therapy as Liberatory Harm Reduction

Author

Listed:
  • August-Rae, Brianna C.
  • Baker, Jonathan T.
  • Buzzanell, Patrice M.

Abstract

For some transgender people, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is “an ontological necessity for a livable life” (Fondén, 2020, p. 29). Some trans people engage in do-it-yourself (DIY) HRT (aka “DIYers”) because of care barriers, including medication costs, difficulty accessing healthcare providers, and mistrust in professionalized medical systems. Although DIY HRT is often framed as highly risky, we analyzed in-depth interviews with 36 U.S. DIYers to understand how they themselves perceived their goals, challenges, and risk mitigation using the Liberatory Harm Reduction and lay expertise frameworks. Participants emphasized experiences of transphobia within medical spaces. In contrast, participants characterized DIY HRT as a community-driven, accessible, and empowering practice. Through self-organized online forums and mutual aid, DIYers constructed adaptive health-promoting practices that challenge biomedical conceptualizations of risk and affirm trans agency.

Suggested Citation

  • August-Rae, Brianna C. & Baker, Jonathan T. & Buzzanell, Patrice M., 2024. "“Not just rebellious, it's revolutionary”: Do-it-yourself hormone replacement therapy as Liberatory Harm Reduction," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 345(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:345:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624001254
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116681
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953624001254
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116681?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Metzl, Jonathan M. & Hansen, Helena, 2014. "Structural competency: Theorizing a new medical engagement with stigma and inequality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 126-133.
    2. Rotondi, N.K. & Bauer, G.R. & Scanlon, K. & Kaay, M. & Travers, R. & Travers, A., 2013. "Nonprescribed hormone use and self-performed surgeries: "do-it-yourself" transitions in transgender communities in Ontario, Canada," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(10), pages 1830-1836.
    3. Poteat, Tonia & German, Danielle & Kerrigan, Deanna, 2013. "Managing uncertainty: A grounded theory of stigma in transgender health care encounters," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 22-29.
    4. Campbell, Patricia A., 2021. "Lay participation with medical expertise in online self-care practices: Social knowledge (co)production in the Running Mania injury forum," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    5. Gowan, Teresa & Whetstone, Sarah & Andic, Tanja, 2012. "Addiction, agency, and the politics of self-control: Doing harm reduction in a heroin users’ group," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(8), pages 1251-1260.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Timmermans, Stefan & Tietbohl, Caroline, 2018. "Fifty years of sociological leadership at Social Science and Medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 209-215.
    2. Willging, Cathleen & Gunderson, Lara & Shattuck, Daniel & Sturm, Robert & Lawyer, Adrien & Crandall, Cameron, 2019. "Structural competency in emergency medicine services for transgender and gender non-conforming patients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 67-75.
    3. Ann‐Christin von Vogelsang & Camilla Milton & Ingrid Ericsson & Lars Strömberg, 2016. "‘Wouldn't it be easier if you continued to be a guy?’ – a qualitative interview study of transsexual persons’ experiences of encounters with healthcare professionals," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(23-24), pages 3577-3588, December.
    4. Rathert, Cheryl & Mittler, Jessica N. & Vogus, Timothy J. & Lee, Yuna S.H., 2023. "Better outcomes through patient – Provider therapeutic connections? An exploratory study of proposed mediating variables," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 338(C).
    5. Montenegro, Roberto E. & Dori-Hacohen, Gonen, 2020. "Morality in sugar talk: Presenting blood glucose levels in routine diabetes medical visits," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    6. Warren Kealy-Bateman & Georgina M. Gorman & Adam P. Carroll, 2021. "Patient/Consumer Codesign and Coproduction of Medical Curricula: A Possible Path Toward Improved Cultural Competence and Reduced Health Disparity," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, June.
    7. Shilo St. Cyr & Elise Trott Jaramillo & Laura Garrison & Lorraine Halinka Malcoe & Stephen R. Shamblen & Cathleen E. Willging, 2021. "Intimate Partner Violence and Structural Violence in the Lives of Incarcerated Women: A Mixed-Method Study in Rural New Mexico," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-16, June.
    8. Linander, Ida & Alm, Erika & Hammarström, Anne & Harryson, Lisa, 2017. "Negotiating the (bio)medical gaze – Experiences of trans-specific healthcare in Sweden," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 9-16.
    9. Bhattacharya, Shamayeta & Ghosh, Debarchana, 2020. "Studying physical and mental health status among hijra, kothi and transgender community in Kolkata, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    10. Shih, P. & Worth, H. & Travaglia, J. & Kelly-Hanku, A., 2017. "Pastoral power in HIV prevention: Converging rationalities of care in Christian and medical practices in Papua New Guinea," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 51-58.
    11. Erin Ziegler & Ruta Valaitis & Nancy Carter & Cathy Risdon & Jennifer Yost, 2020. "Primary Care for Transgender Individuals: A Review of the Literature Reflecting a Canadian Perspective," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(3), pages 21582440209, September.
    12. Costas S. Constantinou & Panayiota Andreou & Monica Nikitara & Alexia Papageorgiou, 2022. "Cultural Competence in Healthcare and Healthcare Education," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-4, November.
    13. Hunt, Joanne Elizabeth, 2022. "Making space for disability studies within a structurally competent medical curriculum: Reflections on Long Covid," SocArXiv p9qyk, Center for Open Science.
    14. Orr, Zvika & Jackson, Levi & Alpert, Evan Avraham & Fleming, Mark D., 2023. "Biomedicine and the treatment of difference in a Jerusalem emergency department," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    15. Ryan Combs & Monica Wendel & T. Gonzales, 2018. "Considering transgender and gender nonconforming people in health communication campaigns," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-6, December.
    16. Järvinen, Margaretha, 2017. "From wanting to willing – controlled drug use as a treatment goal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 69-76.
    17. Maccio, Elaine M. & Ferguson, Kristin M., 2016. "Services to LGBTQ runaway and homeless youth: Gaps and recommendations," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 47-57.
    18. Naima Mohammadi, 2018. "Life experiences of sexual minorities in Iran: limitations, adaptations and challenges," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 719-737, March.
    19. Alice Fiddian-Green & Aline Gubrium & Calla Harrington & Elizabeth A. Evans, 2022. "Women-Reported Barriers and Facilitators of Continued Engagement with Medications for Opioid Use Disorder," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-17, July.
    20. Gutin, Iliya, 2022. "Not ‘putting a name to it’: Managing uncertainty in the diagnosis of childhood obesity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:345:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624001254. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.