ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the notion of health in relation to translation and gender and sexuality studies. It makes references to the way health has been theorised by a range of contemporary queer feminists in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and China, who were inspired mainly by the feminist initiatives in the 1970s. For queer feminisms, health becomes synonymous with freedom of choice on matters such as one’s own body, affective and sexual relationships, and reproduction. Many queer feminist groups are actively engaged in the production of counter-knowledge on health, i.e. new and peripheral knowledge that opposes the official mainstream one, for two main reasons: first, to subvert the asymmetrical relationship between expert mainstream knowledge and the needs expressed by women and LGBTQ* subjects on these topics; second, to challenge institutional medical narratives, which have marginalised or censored this counter-knowledge. Pivotal in the production of an understanding of health in queer feminist terms is translation, given that it can make up for the lack of specific knowledge in a given cultural context. The translation scenarios analysed in this chapter revolve around taboo topics concerning female sexuality and genitalia, transgender issues and reproductive choices.