Body modification technologies and transvestite and trans people in Argentina: A quantitative study on inequalities in use and access.

A nationwide survey of transvestite and trans people in Argentina was conducted in 2023 to examine hormone use and body modification practices.

• The study used a quantitative, descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional design.
• The sample included 1,196 transvestite and trans people aged 16 and older (n=1,196).
• The survey was conducted at a federal (nationwide) level across Argentina.
• The questionnaire targeted both practices performed outside the healthcare system and those carried out with professional institutional support.

Vulnerability processes associated with body modification and hormone use practices were found to be unevenly distributed across the transvestite and trans population.

• The data reveal vulnerability processes that 'do not extend uniformly across the entire population.'
• Vulnerability differences were linked to health inequalities within the population.
• Both practices outside the healthcare system and those with professional support were associated with vulnerability situations.
• The study identified dynamics of inequality, inequity, and injustice as contributors to health-related suffering and morbidity.

Transvestite and trans people in Argentina engage in body modification practices both within and outside of formal healthcare settings.

• The study analyzed modes of appropriation and use of different hormones and body modification interventions.
• Practices were categorized as those performed outside the healthcare system and those with professional institutional accompaniment.
• The study aimed to make visible vulnerability situations implicated in both categories of practices.
• The analytical framework drew on collective health perspectives regarding social determinants of health.