The Transgender Psychoanalysts Are Coming

In recent years, more transgender people have begun to claim space within the world of psychoanalysis—as candidates in training, practicing analysts, analysands, and scholars writing at the critical intersection of trans identity and analytic theory. This growing presence is transforming a field that historically pathologized trans lives and often erased trans subjectivities from its core narratives.

Last year, I had the profound honor of moderating the groundbreaking panel “The Transgender Analysts Are Coming,” hosted by the Pulsion Institute. The panel featured powerful contributions from Myriam Sauer, Tobias Wiggins, and M. E. O’Brien—clinicians and theorists whose work continues to push psychoanalysis toward new horizons of gender understanding. This event also marked the New York launch of The Queerness of Psychoanalysis, a vital collected volume that brings together critical essays by trans psychoanalytic thinkers. I was proud to contribute a paper, “Sissy Dance $1: The More and More of Gender,” co-authored with Avgi Saketopoulou, which explores the complexities and performances of gender from a psychoanalytic and queer perspective.

Since I began my analytic training in 2004, the field has come a long way—embracing more nuanced and affirming approaches to trans identity and experience. Yet despite these advances, the work is far from finished. Setbacks persist, both within psychoanalytic institutions resistant to change and in the broader cultural and political landscape where trans rights are often under threat.

Addressing this challenge requires institutional and community support that centers trans perspectives—not only as subjects but as producers of psychoanalytic knowledge. I’m grateful to have recently joined the faculty at P-HOLE: the Psychoanalytic Hub for Online Liberatory Education, “a group of analysts, teachers, artists, activists, and scholars who are committed to supporting, challenging, and educating psychoanalytic candidates and any and all colleagues who want to learn a liberatory, non-discriminatory psychoanalysis.” Being part of this community is an important step toward reshaping the field and creating a more inclusive analytic landscape where trans analysts can be visible on their own terms.

The transgender analysts are indeed coming—and with them, the promise of a psychoanalysis that listens deeply, thinks boldly, and affirms the richness of gender’s many forms.