Wirth Mathias
Department of Systematic Theology/Ethics, Faculty of Theology, University of Bern, Längassstrasse 51, 3012, Bern, Switzerland.
J Relig Health. 2021 Jun;60(3):1713-1728. doi: 10.1007/s10943-020-01101-9. Epub 2020 Oct 26.
Visibility for transgender and gender nonconforming people and the elderly is growing; however, thus far the overlap of the two groups has rarely been considered. Trans persons therefore remain largely invisible in the context of older people's care and medicine. The discrimination faced by this group is at least twofold: they are the targets of aggression incited by transphobia, and also by ageism. Although older trans and gender nonconforming people exist as a greatly marginalized group within another already marginalized group, even the field of theological ethics has neglected to grant them ethical attention. This leads to especially harsh consequences for elderly transgender and gender nonconforming people due to their specific vulnerabilities. There are reports from trans persons who have resolved never to make use of health services again due to regular experiences of transphobia in medical settings. There are religious components within transgender and gender nonconforming issues that should not be overlooked in this context. On the one hand, medical staff, in the name of their Christian beliefs, have refused to provide trans persons with basic medical care. On the other hand, demands for places of visibility, and spaces for the individual, are regularly made in trans-positive studies, and can be linked to discussions within theological ethics about giving space. Some ethical formulas within the Hebrew and Christian traditions focus on the creation of space in which other beings may exist, as found in concepts like brother-sisterhood, friendship, and Sabbath. By casting light on elderly trans and gender nonconforming people, and on their demands for space, via reflections on ethical concepts of space-making, this study develops a specific understanding of space for elderly trans persons. The paper aims to develop an understanding of trans-positive spaces within theological ethics and applied ethics. Spaces that assume a withdrawal or contraction by all those who have previously taken up trans spaces through ignorance, contempt, or violence, should not thereby become spaces of absence: indeed, elderly trans and gender nonconforming people might be in need of both kinds of spaces, those where otherness enables withdrawal, and those where the helping presence of others continues.
跨性别者和性别不一致者以及老年人的能见度正在提高；然而，迄今为止，这两类人群的重叠情况很少被考虑。因此，在老年人护理和医学领域，跨性别者在很大程度上仍然不为人所见。这个群体面临的歧视至少有两方面：他们是恐跨症引发的攻击目标，也是年龄歧视的对象。尽管老年跨性别者和性别不一致者作为另一个已经边缘化群体中的高度边缘化群体而存在，但即使是神学伦理学领域也忽视了给予他们伦理关注。由于他们的特殊脆弱性，这给老年跨性别者和性别不一致者带来了特别严峻的后果。有跨性别者报告称，由于在医疗环境中经常遭遇恐跨症，他们决定再也不使用医疗服务。在这种背景下，跨性别者和性别不一致问题中的宗教因素不应被忽视。一方面，医务人员以其基督教信仰为由，拒绝为跨性别者提供基本医疗护理。另一方面，在支持跨性别的研究中，经常会提出对能见度场所和个人空间的需求，这可以与神学伦理学中关于给予空间的讨论联系起来。希伯来和基督教传统中的一些伦理准则强调创造让其他存在者得以存在的空间，比如在兄弟情谊、友谊和安息日等概念中。通过对空间营造的伦理概念进行反思，揭示老年跨性别者和性别不一致者及其对空间的需求，本研究形成了对老年跨性别者空间的特定理解。本文旨在在神学伦理学和应用伦理学中形成对支持跨性别的空间的理解。那些假设所有此前通过无知、轻蔑或暴力占据跨性别空间的人会退缩或收缩的空间，不应因此成为空缺的空间：事实上，老年跨性别者和性别不一致者可能需要这两种空间，一种是能让他者得以退缩的空间，另一种是他人能持续提供帮助的空间。
