Abstract
This article critiques recent UK transgender law reform. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 is to be welcomed in many respects. Formerly one of the European states most resistant to social change in this area, the UK now occupies pole position among progressive states willing to legally recognise the sex claims of transgender people. This is because the UK is, at least ostensibly, the first state to recognise sex claims irrespective of whether applicants have undertaken any surgical procedures or had hormonal treatments. The article highlights the significance of this development through providing an overview of the trajectory of common law reform around the world. The legislation clearly benefits transgender people unable to undertake surgery due to financial reasons and/or medical contra-indications. It also benefits transgender people whose search for harmony does not require surgical intervention. However, the Act also perpetuates a mental illness model for understanding transgender desires; contributes to the break-up of legally recognised marriages; insists on the permanence of gender crossings and assumes that surgery will occur. The Act also contains exceptions to the generality of legal recognition provided by the state. In this respect the article considers concessions to religious and sporting lobbies. Finally, the article highlights how non-disclosure of gender history prior to a marriage assumes a kind of legal significance under the Act which non-disclosure of other facts generally lacks in relation to marriage. In this regard, the article will contend that a biological understanding of sex operates as a subtext within the Act.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Report of the interdepartmental working group on transsexual people. (2000). London: HMSO.
Press for change [homepage on the Internet]. London: Organisation for transsexual law reform; c1997–2006 [updated 2006 June 11; cited 2006 July 12]. Available from:http://www.pfc.org.uk/.
Sharpe, A. N. (2002). Transgender jurisprudence: Dysphoric bodies of law. London: Cavendish.
Perkins, R. (1994). Transgender lifestyles and HIV/AIDS risk: National Transgender HIV/AIDS Needs Assessment Project. Sydney: University of New South Wales.
Hooley, J. (1996). The transgender project. Sydney: Central Area Health Authority.
NCAVP (1999). Anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender violence in 1998: A report of the National Coalition of Anti-violence Programs. New York: NCAVP.
Sharpe, A. N., & Moran, L. J. (2002). Policing the transgender/violence relation. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 13, 269–285.
Sharpe, A. N., & Moran, L. J. (2004). Violence, identity and policing: the case of violence against transgender people. Criminal Justice: The International Journal of Policy and Practice, 4(4), 395–417.
Kruijver, F. P. M., Zhou, J. N., Pool, C. W., Hofman, M. A., Gooren, L. J. G., & Swaab, D. F. (2000). Male-to-female transsexuals have female neuron numbers in a limbic nucleus. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 85, 2034–2041.
Zhou, J. N., Hofman, M. A., Gooren, L. J. G., & Swaab, D. F. (1995). A sex difference in the human brain and its relation to transsexuality. Nature, 378, 68–70.
Sandland, R. (2005). Feminism and the Gender Recognition Act. Feminist Legal Studies, 13, 43–66.
Cromwell, J. (1999). Transmen and FTMs: Identities, bodies, genders and sexualities. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
Whittle, S., & More, K. (Eds.) (1999). Reclaiming genders: Transsexual grammars at the fin de siecle. London: Cassell.
Griggs, C. (1998). S/he: Changing sex and changing genders. New York: Berg.
Nataf, Z. (1996). Lesbians talk transgender. London: Scarlet.
Garber, M. (1989). Spare parts: The surgical construction of gender. Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, 1, 137–159.
Walters, W. A. W., Kennedy, T., & Ross, M. W. (1986). Results of gender reassignment: Is it all worthwhile? In W. A. W. Walters & M. W. Ross (Eds.), Transsexualism and sex reassignment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Whittle, S. (1998). Gemeinschaftsfremden, or how to be shafted by your friends. In L, Moran, D. Monk, & S. Beresford (Eds.), Legal queeries: Lesbian, gay and transgender legal studies. (pp. 42–56) London: Cassell.
Butler, J. (2004). Undoing gender. New York: Routledge.
Whittle, S. (2002). Respect and equality: Transsexual and transgender rights. London: Cavendish.
King, D. (1993). The transvestite and the transsexual. Aldershot, Hants: Avebury.
American Psychiatric Association (1995). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: APA.
Fisk, N. (1973). Gender dysphoria syndrome: The how, what and why of a disease. In D. R. Laub, & P. Gandy (Eds.), Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Gender Dysphoria Syndrome (pp. 7–14). Stanford, CA: University Medical Center.
Stoller, R. J. (1968). Sex and gender. New York: Science House.
Stoller, R. J. (1975). Perversion: The erotic form of hatred. New York: Pantheon.
Nelson, J. L. (1998). The silence of the bioethicists: Ethical and political aspects of managing gender dysphoria. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 4, 213–230.
Gender Recognition Panel [homepage on the Internet]. London: Gender Recognition Panel Tribunals Service; c2006 [updated 2006 February 17; cited 2006 July 12]. Available from:http://www.grp.gov.uk/.
Wintemute, R. (2002). Religion vs sexual orientation: A clash of human rights? Journal of Law and Equality, 1, 126.
Cole, C. L., & Birrell, S. (1990). Double fault: Renee Richards and the construction and naturalization of difference. Sociology of Sport Journal, 7, 1–21.
D’Andrade, R. G. (1966). Sex differences and cultural institutions. In E. E. Maccoby (Ed.), The development of sex differences (pp. 174–204). Standford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Nicholson, J. (1984). Men and women: How different are they? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sharpe, A. N. (1997). Naturalising sex difference through sport: an examination of the New South Wales transgender legislation. Alternative Law Journal, 22(1), 40–41.
Oglesby, C. A. (1978). Women and sport: From myth to reality. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger.
Willis, P. (1982). Women in sport in ideology. In J. Hargreaves (Ed.), Sport, culture and ideology (pp. 117–135). London: Routledge.
de Beauvoir, S. (1953). The second sex. New York: Bantam.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sharpe, A.N. A Critique of the Gender Recognition Act 2004. Bioethical Inquiry 4, 33–42 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-007-9032-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-007-9032-y