Trans experiences and anti-trans violence are socially, culturally, and geographically situated – neither psychological or sociological explanations are independently explanatory

In this paper we argue that a psychosocial approach is a useful framework for theorizing how cultural and institutional factors shape transgender experiences in their local contexts. This approach attempts to avoid explaining trans experiences via either psychological or sociological accounts that can lead to polarized assumptions. Instead it explores subjective experiences as inseparable from the social conditions in which they emerge and gain meaning (Johnson, 2015). This might include attention to gender identity and expression, mental health conditions and the psychosocial conditions typical of the geopolitical context, such as precarity, violence or misogyny. Reisner et al. (2016a) also notes that multiple determinants affect transgender health, including biological, behavioral, social, legal, and structural factors associated with health risks and living conditions in general and the relevance of regional contexts. However, a strength of the psychosocial approach is that it focuses on understanding how shared elements of transgender experiences become entwined in the social life of specific cultural and geographical contexts, where psychosocial intersections create unique subjectivities for trans individuals that are shaped by, but not reducible to, individual or social factors.