ABSTRACT
The field of gender affirming medical interventions now rests on over one hundred years of modern medical history, with the ‘masculinisation surgery’ (and subsequent legal recognition as male by the state of Prussia) of Herman Karl recorded in 1882. The definition of non-binary given above inevitably situates all non-binary people as trans, because disidentification with being male or female inescapably means disidentification with the binary assignment made at birth. The close but nonessential relationship between transness and transition can act as a barrier for some non-binary people embracing a trans identity. The chapter argues there is a lack of nuance in describing anatomy as fundamentally ‘male’ or ‘female’ when in tension with a trans person’s sense of selfhood. The potential for non-binary identities to be regarded as ‘lesser’ manifestations of trans manhood or womanhood can lead to non-binary being seen as a ‘stepping stone’ identity, as part of a process of negotiating identity as ‘really’ a trans man or woman.
