Meeting the Needs of Masculine-Expressing Queer Women and Transgender Men in Clinical Care

THIS TRAINING IS DESIGNATED FOR THE Counseling Center of South Texas STAFF ONLY. If you are interested in future training on this topic, please email us to express your interest.

Clinicians often group masculine-presenting women and transgender men together based on anatomical, biological, and systemic considerations. (Affirmative and Responsible Health Care for People with Nonconforming Gender Identities and Expressions, 2016) This practice typically reflects a lack of nuanced understanding of their distinct identities. (Therapist Multicultural Orientation: Client Perceptions of Cultural Humility, LGB Identity, and the Working Alliance, 2023, pp. 453-463)

As a queer masculine-presenting woman and professional, I have had consistent experience with LGBTQ+ clients who expressed their frustrations of feeling unsupported or misunderstood by previous therapists due to poor therapeutic approaches and misconceptions about equating transgender men with "butch" women. This tendency to group them often results from institutional norms rather than from a nuanced understanding of their unique identities. (Coleman et al., 2022)

In this workshop, participants will:

Explore how untrained clinicians group Masculine-presenting women and Transgender men based on classic assumptions of sexual and gender norms.

Participants will explore the spectrum of Masculine-presenting women and Transgender men.

Participants will learn proactive, affirming techniques for both groups, strengthening the therapeutic alliance.