Cisnormativity, a harmful compromise in human health research design and paradigm shift initiatives

Abstract

Specialized literature has raised ethical objections to the exclusion of pregnant women in clinical trials and has called for a paradigm shift. While undoubtedly a just cause, this initiative is rooted in a cisnormative understanding of gender and therefore reproduces its problems. In this brief article we unfold these problems, which include the epistemic and institutional erasure of trans people, applying particularly to health research and medical clinic, and argue that paradigm-shift initiatives would benefit from adopting a more robust and empirically informed notion of gender