Transgender Identities, Pressures, and Social Policy: A Study Carried Out in Spain

From self-management to depathologisation: the evolution of transgender health care and rights in Spain between 1970 and 2020

Even though transgender people continue to experience violence and discrimination in many aspects of life, there has been progressive recognition of their experiences and demands in recent decades. This article analyses the process of claiming civil rights and the evolution of health care for transgender people in Spain, from the mid-1970s to the present day, paying particular attention to the narratives of key actors involved. To this end, three socio-historical periods are identified: (1) the travesti period (the mid-1970s to the early 1990s), characterised by strong social and institutional transphobia and resulting self-care practices; (2) the transexual period (mid-1990s to the 2000s), when demands for health care were institutionalised under a pathological medical model; and (3) the transgénero or trans period (2010s until the present) when identity and bodily autonomy have been re-claimed through a socio-cultural prism that has denounced pathologisation. At each stage, political, social and economic factors intervened at both national and international levels to trigger an ongoing negotiation between transgender movements and dominant social institutions, all within a changing universe of social values.

Sexual Satisfaction and Mental Health in Prison Inmates

The main goal of this study was to investigate the association between sexual satisfaction and mental health, and the combined effect of two previously found, statistically significant moderators: partner status and sexual abstinence. In-person interviews were conducted with 223 participants (49.327% males and 50.673% females). The effect of sexual satisfaction on mental health and the interactions of sexual satisfaction × partner status, sexual satisfaction × sexual abstinence, and sexual satisfaction × partner status × sexual abstinence were examined using simple moderation and moderated moderation tests after controlling for a set of sociodemographic, penitentiary, and interpersonal variables. Results revealed a direct relationship between sexual satisfaction and mental health only for the sexually abstinent group. Partner status was not significant as a moderator. It seems that the lack of sexual relationships is more powerful as a moderator than the lack of a romantic relationship. Additionally, the sexually abstinent group showed lower levels of sexual satisfaction in those with a partner outside or inside prison, and lower mental health independently of the current romantic status, than sexually active inmates. These findings point to the importance of sexual satisfaction to mental health in sexual situations of extreme disadvantage.

Mental Health and Proximal Stressors in Transgender Men and Women

This paper explores the subjective perception of some personal and interpersonal aspects of the lives of transgender people and the relationship they have with their mental health. One hundred and twenty transgender people (60 men and 60 women) participated in semi-structured interviews. Following quantitative methodology, analysis highlighted that social loneliness is the main predictor of lower levels of mental health (anxiety and depression) for both genders and recognized romantic loneliness as the strongest factor among transgender men. In both cases, higher levels of loneliness were associated with lower levels of mental health. The results have guided us to improve institutional and social responses and have provided an opportunity to promote the mental health of transgender people.