Gerard Coll-Planas

The wounded blogger: analysis of narratives by women with breast cancer

The purpose of this article is to analyse the representation of the body in seven blogs by Spanish women with breast cancer. Using both texts and images, we analyse how they reproduce modern and postmodern logic to represent the wounded body. Based on Franks proposals, this article draws the conclusion that the women bloggers mainly reproduce the modern logic (characterised by the restitution narrative and a predictable, disassociated and monadic body), but there are elements which break with this logic (the quest narrative, the body presented as associated, dyadic and full of desire, and the acceptance of contingency). After applying Franks categories, we suggest that the contemporary way of experiencing illness may question the clarity of the modern/postmodern divide.

Challenging equality policies: The emerging LGBT perspective

The state members of the European Union have witnessed the emergence of equality policies which target discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. These are usually based on the single issue model focusing exclusively on discrimination suffered by LGBT people, however there are other approaches to this issue which take into account the interaction of different axes of inequality, namely, the multiple and intersectional discrimination models. This article analyses the implications of these three models from a theoretical and empirical perspective, pointing out their respective advantages and disadvantages.

Identificación de los factores de inserción laboral de las personas trans. Exploración del caso de la ciudad de Barcelona

Although the trans population has a high degree of labor market exclusion, there are no studies on this topic in the Spanish context. This exploratory study aims to identify the factors that place transgender people in situations of vulnerability in relation to the labor market and establish subgroups that are in a more vulnerable situation. From interviews with key informants and transgender people, we identify nine factors (gender, visibility, time, origin and legal status, socioeconomic status, family support, educational level, sex work and health) that are key to understand the differences within the transgender population regarding work placement. Also we establish three subgroups that are at greater risk of social exclusion.

Breast Surgery as a Gender Technology: Analyzing Plastic Surgeons’ Discourses

ABSTRACT This article explores the role of breast surgery as a gender technology by considering the discourse of plastic surgeons. We analyze the gender discourses that come into play when surgeons are asked to distinguish between 3 cases of breast surgery: breast implantation for transsexual women, postmastectomy breast intervention, and breast augmentation for aesthetic reasons. In the surgeons’ discourses, the 3 interventions are situated in the reconstruction/cosmetic divide. However, we can see that this boundary is profoundly influenced by cultural conceptions of gender. These gendered conceptions affect what is labeled normal/abnormal, what demands are considered legitimate, and which bodies are deemed able to possess certain attributes.