Date of Award

Fall 9-5-2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Dana Garbarski

Second Advisor

Anne Figert

Abstract

The use of hormone blockers and other forms of gender affirming medical care for trans youth has emerged as a site of medical and political contestation, with 26 states passing legislation outlawing their use (Movement Advancement Project, 2024). Drawing from a multiple-methods approach, this dissertation examines the ways in which this contestation emerged and has been framed both in political case law and digital spaces, which a specific attunement toward how medical discourse is used to support arguments calling for either the allowance or ban of hormone blockers. This dissertation highlights the ways in which the families of trans youth respond to and make sense of the legislative ban on hormone blockers. Chapter One of this dissertation uses content analysis and case comparison in order to highlight how legislative documents generated in Arkansas and Texas have used medical rhetoric to both ban and appeal the ban of hormone blockers and other forms of gender affirming care. In Chapter Two, content analysis is used to examine how digital communities have formed to call for either the allowance or ban of hormone blockers for trans youth. Chapter Three uses interview data to understand how parents of trans youth frame and understand the political contestation of hormone blockers, and how these bans impact their families. This research has significant implications for sociological scholarship, as it is one of the first works to consider the use of medical rhetoric within on-going debates on the use of hormone blockers. Further, this work contributes to the fields of science and technology studies through an examination of the politicization of science, as well as works within medical sociology studying trans health.

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