Sobrevivências : juventude, transexualidade e suicídio

Abstract

Several international studies have pointed out that transgender and transvestite individuals experience higher rates of suicidal ideation and attempts than their cisgender counterparts. In Brazil, there are few productions that address the suicide of the trans population, especially considering the young population, which is notably more vulnerable to suicide. Thus, the present research aims to comprehend the meanings attributed by young trans individuals to self-destruction. It also seeks to analyze the relationships between suicidality, gender, and sexuality. To achieve this, the life history method and Rancière's Scene method were used in interviews with four young users of the Transpasse Project and the Gender Diversity Support Clinic for Children and Adolescents. The analysis of the interviews follows the framework of Critical Suicidology. From the literature review and interviews, it was possible to highlight that transgender identity, as a medical category, is inherently linked to the category of suicide, as outlined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the Resolutions of the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM), framing it as an essentially suicidal identity. It was observed that the suicide category is used to pathologize transgender identities while simultaneously constructing cisgender identity as a protective factor against suicide. Finally, it was possible to elaborate what I have termed as Performative Suicide Policies, denoting a complex device that articulates the suicide category in various agencies that act both in the construction and dismantling of trans-specific health policies. We conclude that the relationships between youth, transgender identity, and suicide are not essential but contingent, produced by the scientific literature that seeks to describe these phenomena.