Transgender Theory for Contemporary Social Work Practice: A Question of Values and Ethics

Transgender theory was developed to explain the existence of transgender and gender diverse people and takes into account their lived experiences including how they interact within their environment. The transgender theory model centers gender fluidity over biology and views each individual as the expert on their own gender without suggesting pathology or deviance. This theory breaks away by spilling over the limited paradigm that queer theory and feminist theory have to offer. Contemporary transgender theory asserts all transgender and gender diverse identities are valid and moves toward adapting a cisgender dominant culture. Simply acknowledging that transgender and gender diverse people exist, has become not enough for today’s society. Exploring the history of transgender theory provides clear evidence of this evolution and creates a trajectory for cisgender dominant society that moves closer to the same one the transgender community has for themselves. Learning culture competency practices can leave a clinician limited in truly understanding the needs of transgender and gender diverse people. Exploring ones value system and how this is applied within social work practice is needed to present a true affirming framework that upholds the guiding principles on gender identity and expression set forth in the NASW Code of Ethics . Modern transgender theory hypothesizes that by pushing towards adopting a stronger understanding of intersectionality and marginalized gender identities, American culture will see a reduction in oppression and an increase in more opportunities for transgender and gender diverse people not only to survive, but to thrive.