Identifying Transgendered Individuals in Forensic Contexts

The role of the forensic anthropologist is to identify a victim when such an identification cannot be made by a medical examiner or otherwise.  Forensic anthropologists are trained to meticulously examine individuals who are in stages of advanced decomposition and/or completely skeletonized, thereby producing a biological profile of the victim that includes their age at death, stature, ancestry, and sex.  This latter aspect of a victim’s identity focuses exclusively on biological characteristics, neglecting the social aspects of the victim’s gender that may not match their biology.  This acknowledgement has led forensic anthropologists to identify a need to broaden the current methods regarding sex determinations to include and recognize biocultural modifications of the body related to transgender identities.  Today’s blog post will explore the latest advancements within the field of forensic anthropology that seek to create and facilitate better identification of any potential transgender victims.

 

Before such a discussion can begin it is imperative to define what sex and gender mean.  Sex is defined as the biological characteristics that establish an individual as either male or female, whereas gender is defined as the social and cultural characteristics associated with one's sex.  Many people believe there are two sexes with two corresponding genders, but recent evidence demonstrates this idea is based on ideal conditions and not biological and social realities of sex.  The reality is that individuals’ biology rests on a spectrum, meaning their bodies are not 100% male or female.  It should come to no surprise then that gender also exists on a spectrum with individual not identifying as the “perfect male” or “perfect female” or rejecting the gender identity and roles associated with their sex.  When this occurs the individual identifies as transgender, or simply trans.  Transgender identities have recently come to the American public’s attention due to sociopolitical conversations, but transgender identities have existed cross culturally for millennia and more than likely will continue into the future. 

 

The fact that transgender individuals have and will continue to exist necessitates advancements in current forensic anthropological methods that continue to acknowledge and assess for only two sexes.  Some biological and forensic anthropologists state that gender is beyond the bounds of what should be analyzed since gender is a sociocultural construct that is separate from biological sex.  Transgender individuals, however, may elect to undergo biocultural modifications to alter the natural form of their bodies to match their gender.  These medical interventions include hormone therapies or cosmetic surgeries, and while not all modifications will affect the skeleton there is evidence that demonstrates some definitively do.  Gender Affirming Hormone Therapies (GAHT) are treatment options that transgender individuals may either opt or be required to take, and there is conflicting evidence regarding how these therapies alter bone density, which can complicate sex assessments. It is well documented that several cosmetic procedures, such as facial feminization surgeries (FFS), which alter the natural form of the face in order to produce a more “feminine” look, and genioplasty, modification of the chin, do transform the natural form of the body, altering the characteristics assessed by forensic anthropologists for sex determinations.  This means that specific analytical methods are necessary to take into account how these physical modifications may alter a body in order to more accurately and precisely identify transgender individuals when such need arises.

 

There are various methods for identifying sex through skeletal analyses.  These include nonmetric analyses that examine and score the morphological characteristics of the skull or pelvis and metric analyses, which utilize measurements of bones, such as the face, to differentiate between males and females.  Forensic anthropologists are currently working to reassess these current methods and considering the establishment of new methods to account for transgender individuals.  While these studies are just beginning previously established methods for identifying a victim’s gender, which focus on the material cultural remains associated with the victim, will be continued to be relied upon for gender identity purposes.  There are known limitations with these methods, which include but not limited to missing evidence or the presence of evidence unrelated to the victim, resulting in an urgency in need for establishing better methods for identifying and acknowledging transgender individuals so that justice is provided to all victims.

 

It was this urgency in need that partially led to the latest research by Schall et al. (2020), who examined morphological changes to the face after individuals underwent FFS procedures in order to determine how FFS affects metric analyses.  Their research noted that FFS has no significant affect on metric analyses, leading forensic anthropologists to conclude the individual’s biological sex.  These disregards the surgical modifications meant to match one’s gender identity, and therefore is not an appropriate means of identifying transgender individuals.  They did, however, note that FFS may impact nonmetric analyses, and that new methods concerning FFS and nonmetric analyzes of sex would need to be created.  Their work also brought to light a need to better understand various other surgical interventions and procedures that may obscure or confuse victim identification, particularly as it relates to transgender identities, as these may be misidentified as other types of medical procedures.   While their research led to more avenues to research than definitive conclusions it is a step forward in establishing the methods necessary for transgender identifications within forensic contexts.

 

Bibliography

Gezon, L., & Kottak, C. (2011). Culture. McGraw-Hill.

Schall, J. L., Rogers, T. L., & Deschamps-Braly, J. C. (2020). Breaking the binary: The identification of trans-women in forensic anthropology. Forensic Science Journal, 309, 1-10.

Schulz, E. M. (2021). Sex vs Gender in a Forensic Anthropological Analysis. Nebraska Anthropologist, 5-19.

Tallman, S. D., Kincer, C. D., & Plemons, E. D. (2021). Centering Transgender Individuals in Forensic Anthropology and Expanding Binary Sex Estimation in Casework and Research. Forensic Anthropology, 1-20.