Background and Aims
Non-normative relationships with femininity and categories of womanhood and gender performance have been shown to significantly affect how gender and sexuality diverse (GSD) women experience and make sense of cancer. This paper presents the findings of research into GSD women’s experiences of embodiment since cancer, as part of a broader Australian Research Council (ARC) funded study titled ‘Out with Cancer’.
Using a thematic decomposition analysis, this paper details the experiences of embodiment and disembodiment amongst GSD women with cancer in the context of the sexual body; the reproductive/fertile body; and the ‘feminine’ body, unpicking the ways in which heteronormativity and cisgenderism in health care act to invisibilise and disadvantage GSD women.
Methods
The research takes a mixed methods approach, including open-ended survey data, 39 semi-structured interviews, and 17 follow-up Photovoice interviews with GSD women who have had cancer and their carers. Participants are selected across cancer type and range from ages 18-92.
Results and Conclusions
Assumptions of heterosexuality, and cisgender embodiment, identity and expression have serious implications for GSD women’s physical and emotional wellbeing, agency and health decision-making, and access to embodied and relational care in the context of cancer. This paper explores these impacts to demonstrate the importance of taking seriously ‘embodied perspectives’ of cancer and makes suggestions for moving forward. This research will advance understanding of a large and growing population of cancer survivors in Australia and will generate the evidence base to inform new resources and best practice recommendations to improve physical and psychological outcomes for GSD women cancer patients and their carers. Some direct translational outcomes include: resources for patients and carers; recommendations for clinicians; and an exhibition representing LGBTQI+ cancer experience.