Aetiology, Pathology, and Anti-Trans Reflections: Engaging with the Problematic Present of Autistic Trans Research

Abstract

At the intersection of two highly pathologized experiences, research increasingly investigates autistic trans people as a medicalized cause for concern, and anti-trans—or “gender critical”—arguments against trans rights, lives, and health care repeatedly weaponize the perceived vulnerability of autistic people. The interplay of the “vulnerable” autistic person and “predatory” or “seductive” transness (or “gender ideology”) combines with a research literature which focuses on causation to incorrectly paint a picture that autistic trans people cannot exist: lacking in epistemic authority and self-knowledge, autistic people cannot “truly” be trans; we must just think we are. Researchers continue to generate co-occurrence theories but often fail to acknowledge or take accountability for the harm caused by their continued signaling that autistic trans people are a problem which research must solve. In a time of such politicization, where anti-trans narratives of “vulnerability” and “social contagion” increasingly highlight autistic trans people, it is both a major oversight for research not to acknowledge this context and an ethical failing not to consider the impact that research might have. With this argument in mind, this article outlines the ways in which this research interacts with the wider contexts of the anti-trans panic and the problematic histories of autistic and trans pathologization in research and calls for a broader engagement with critical work beyond the bounds of psychology.