Queering Studies of Health and Bodily Experience: An Example From the Transgender Resilience and Health Study

Biological anthropologists have contributed significantly to our understanding of how lived experiences become embodied, affecting health. However, there has been less emphasis on bodily symptoms as an important aspect of health and well-being impacted by lived experiences. Informed by queer and Black feminist approaches, we investigate the effects of stigma, stress, and support on transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people's bodily symptoms.

Using baseline survey data from a longitudinal study of TNB people's health and resilience in the United States collected during fall 2019-spring 2020, we assessed the relationships between past year and lifetime enacted stigma, perceived stress, and bodily symptoms among 158 TNB people living in Michigan, Nebraska, Oregon, and Tennessee. Potential moderating factors were support from family and friends, resilience, gender identity, and racial identity.

Past year and lifetime enacted stigma and perceived stress were positively associated with bodily symptoms, whereas increased resilience and perceived support from family were associated with decreased bodily symptoms. However, chosen family support was not associated with bodily symptoms. The positive effects of resilience on health were independent of the negative effects of enacted stigma on bodily symptoms. Nonbinary people and TNB people of color experienced more severe bodily symptoms.

TNB people's lived experiences of the body reflect complex relationships between stigma, stress, resilience, and social supports, and vary by social position. Results emphasize the need to incorporate queer feminist perspectives of the body into biocultural conceptualizations and studies of health and embodiment.