Waiting to be seen: Social perspectives on trans health

Sociologists have always had rich and sometimes controversial material to explore within the ‘contentious epistemological space’ (Brosnan & Kirby, 2016, p. 139) of health and medicine, but the field of transFootnote1 health has come to represent one of most highly contested of these domains today. When we first came together as a coalition of Australian cis and trans researchers to lead this special issue of Health Sociology Review, we were keenly aware of the tensions between those seeking to promote and to undermine a gender affirming approach to trans health. As we write this introduction, it seems almost an understatement to suggest that these conflicts are intensifying, with ever more distressing and harmful effects for trans people around the world.