TY - JOUR
T1 - Finding One's Way Through the Gender Expanse
T2 - Examining the Use of Metaphors in Gender-Affirming Care as a Step Toward More Inclusive Spiritual Care Practices
AU - Smit, Jake
AU - Schuhmann, Carmen
AU - Zwama, Marein T.
PY - 2024/9/18
Y1 - 2024/9/18
N2 - Chaplains can play a unique role in providing care for trans and gender-diverse (TGD) people by addressing their spiritual needs. However, spiritual care for TGD individuals may fail to be inclusive in at least three ways: spiritual care may focus solely on religious TGD people, on a limited part of the whole range of gender identities, or on a specific route toward gender affirmation. In this article, the aim is to develop an inclusive perspective on spiritual care for TGD people. To that end, inspired by work by Susan Sontag, we examine spiritual care for TGD individuals through the philosophical lens of social imaginaries, focussing particularly on metaphors, tracing how metaphors used in care for TGD people have changed over time. We elaborate on the potential of the metaphor of “orientation in gender-expansive space,” based on queer theory and literature about worldview-inclusive chaplaincy, for envisioning an inclusive approach to gender-affirming spiritual care.
AB - Chaplains can play a unique role in providing care for trans and gender-diverse (TGD) people by addressing their spiritual needs. However, spiritual care for TGD individuals may fail to be inclusive in at least three ways: spiritual care may focus solely on religious TGD people, on a limited part of the whole range of gender identities, or on a specific route toward gender affirmation. In this article, the aim is to develop an inclusive perspective on spiritual care for TGD people. To that end, inspired by work by Susan Sontag, we examine spiritual care for TGD individuals through the philosophical lens of social imaginaries, focussing particularly on metaphors, tracing how metaphors used in care for TGD people have changed over time. We elaborate on the potential of the metaphor of “orientation in gender-expansive space,” based on queer theory and literature about worldview-inclusive chaplaincy, for envisioning an inclusive approach to gender-affirming spiritual care.
KW - Gender expansiveness
KW - Gender-affirming care
KW - Social imaginaries
KW - Spiritual care
KW - Trans and gender-diverse (TGD) people
UR - https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=elsevierpure_uvhutrecht&SrcAuth=WosAPI&KeyUT=WOS:001315686200001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS_CPL
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/3763b40c-500a-3238-bfc2-bf95a2bc1f83/
U2 - 10.1007/s11089-024-01168-1
DO - 10.1007/s11089-024-01168-1
M3 - Article
SN - 0031-2789
VL - 73
SP - 731
EP - 746
JO - Pastoral Psychology
JF - Pastoral Psychology
IS - 6
ER -