TWIBS: Peru Says Trans People Mentally Ill, We Say Right Back Atcha
They don’t actually get to declare this, do they?
Humor, by Evan Urquhart
Man, it feels great to be back writing TWIBS again for one week while our columnist rests up from some health issues. Let’s take a look at the ol’ headlines and find some trans news we can poke fun at in our trademark lighthearted TWIBS fashion and…
…Wait, what? Peru has declared trans people mentally ill? And I’m supposed to write jokes about it? GodDAMNIT, Alyssa, of all the weeks to be out sick having your taint whitened, or whatever.
screenshot from Pink News
Okay. Fine. Let’s talk about Peru, a country known for its natural beauty, iconic pre-Columbian ruins, and intense Roman Catholicism. In fact, it seems the Catholic religion has special privileges above other faiths such as being taught in public schools and supported by government funding. Why do I mention Roman Catholicism. I DON’T KNOW, an entire country just declared me unilaterally mentally ill, so I can’t possibly be subtle enough to heavily imply things without saying them.
I’m probably just pretending to type words on an imaginary keyboard from the solitude of my padded room. Yeah, that’s much more likely than there being some unstated but increasingly heavily implied connection between the overbearing Roman Catholicism of a country and its government’s decision to classify gender minorities in a way that further marginalizes and stigmatizes them.
It’d be CRAZY to think otherwise.
You know what else is crazy? Trans people being put in a position where we have to choose between defending our dignity and standing up for the rights of people with mental illness. It’s a choice that asks us to abandon our duty of solidarity to society’s most marginalized people in the hopes that our group can escape the aura of prejudice that surrounds them. Well, that’s a mug’s game, and I’m not doing it. So instead, let’s talk about the false dichotomy between mental and physical illness.
The dichotomy between mental and physical illnesses exists in part because our understanding of psychiatric conditions has always lagged behind our understanding of more visible medical issues, but it mostly exists because humans struggle to conceive of the brain as just one more organ floating inside our frail meat bags. Our exceptionalizing of the brain causes us to over-ascribe blame and intention to individuals whose illnesses manifest as social or behavioral disruptions. We mock, shun, often even imprison these folks instead of caring for them because we are too afraid to recognize that, but for the grace of whoever, we might share their circumstances.
When trans people are categorized as mentally ill it represents an attempt to extend the stigma of mental illness to a class of people who don’t actually qualify. Mental illnesses are identified because they interfere with a person’s wellbeing in some way, either by causing intense distress or by negatively impacting things like social or professional relations. So, for example, one journalist’s hyperfocus on work that leads to personal satisfaction and professional advancement would likely not count towards a diagnosis of ADHD, while another journalist whose equally intense hyperfocus on playing video games has them constantly missing their deadlines might well do so.
Being transgender isn’t a mental illness because it’s perfectly compatible with good cheer and smooth social and professional functioning. Gender dysphoria (a feeling of distress over an incongruence between one's biological sex and one's gender), on the other hand, is connected to both intense internal distress and disruptions to healthy living. The only known, evidence based treatment for gender dysphoria is to transition.
Peru’s move to officially categorize all trans people as mentally ill is bad science because of the way it departs from the meaning of mental illness in order to sweep a diverse group of people who don’t fit the description into a heavily stigmatized category based on their identity. It’s also bad policy because it serves to deepen the stigma against both gender minorities and people who suffer from mental illness, leveraging prejudices against the latter to bring harm on the former.
Wait. I was supposed to be writing jokes, right? Because this is a TWIBS? Crap. I only just remembered.
OK. OK. O-kay. I can do this. C’mon Urquhart, head in the game. The WACKY Peru decision is, uh, silly, and… goofy? It’s so silly and goofy it makes me angry in a humorously over-the-top fashion. I rail against it, but in a relatable way, the sort of way that makes for a fun column you want to check back on every Friday.
Ugh. It’s not working,
Look, TWIBSIES, I have to come clean: Alyssa isn’t off having her taint whitened, she’s actually in quite poor health and earlier this week had a trip to the ER. She’s currently on bed rest, and we miss her and are hoping for a speedy recovery.
A great way to show your support (and she specifically suggested I say this) would be to make a weekly donation to Assigned in an amount of your choosing. Get well soon, Alyssa, and please, please come back to do TWIBS. I can’t possibly.
Evan Urquhart is the founder of Assigned Media and an incoming member of the 2024-2025 Knight Science Journalism fellowship class at MIT.