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Treat it Queer

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Treat it Queer translated the existing knowledge about trans-specific SRHR through an innovative approach that conjugates the biomedical and the intersectional feminist paradigm. Treat it Queer focuses on educating and sensitizing medical students and young doctors by the use of original products specifically designed for this purpose, in this case, the two knowledge products 1) an illustrated pocket guide to gender queer medicine and 2) a photovoice booklet. 

These knowledge products aim to give voice to otherwise marginalized queer individuals; shining light on their needs within SRHR, and on other intersections of discrimination they experience such as racism, classism and ableism. By making these queer experiences viable, Treat it Queer shines a light on those who are commonly excluded from sexual reproductive health and rights policy and practice and illustrates how different marginalized identities intersect resulting in specific health needs and challenges. 

These products were designed using a combined approach that combined biomedical knowledge with intersectional perspectives, meaning that vision design considered how concepts of sexuality, race, ability, social status, class, etc., interact with and influence bodily and mental health. Now published and released, these products are being used as free educational material for young doctors, medical students, and healthcare providers in general.  

Knowledge product details

  • Knowledge Activation Grants

  • 2021

  • Netherlands

  • Inclusion

  • LGBTIQ+

  • SRHR access

  • Share-Net Netherlands

  • English

  • Booklet

KP creators involved

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These pocket cards are a collection of quick reference flash cards on important queer health topics, which was titled Queer Health: Knowledge in your pocket. The pocket cards (“zaakkaartjes”) are made for students and doctors to fit in the pockets of their white coats. The cards each summarize the crucial information about one aspect of queer-inclusive healthcare (e.g. one on gender-inclusive sexual history taking, one on fertility preservation options for transgender patients etc.). The guide aims to be an accessible and user-friendly tool that describes barriers to health for gender queer people through inspiring illustrations. This is an educational tool based on biomedicine that provides evidence-based information regarding queer inclusive care that is otherwise lacking in the educational curricula of medical students and specializing doctors in The Netherlands. 

Click here if you are interested in downloading cards in different languages ( available in French, Dutch, English, and Italian and coming soon in Spanish, Greek, and Russian).

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This photovoice booklet titled The Queer Picture, combined portraits and written testimonies from queer individuals recounting their experiences and lived reality of navigating the healthcare system while queer. This Treat it Queer project re-centers and showcases the voices of the queer community, giving people and patients a space to tell their care providers, in their own words and images, what is important to them, what they’ve lived through, and what they want their providers to know. This collection of portraits and associated testimonials presents an intimate look at queer people and their experience of healthcare in the Netherlands.

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KP creators involved


Treat it Queer

Treat it Queer is an international non-profit foundation dedicated to health justice, with a particular focus on the queer community. They seek to cultivate a growing awareness and understanding of the existing health inequities affecting gender and sexually diverse people worldwide, as well as bring greater visibility to the real, lived experiences of queer people in clinical practice, policy, and research. Treat it Queer aims to work using an intersectional approach, examining the ways in which different axes of privilege and oppression simultaneously contribute to health inequities. The dismantlement of power dynamics related – and not limited – to gender, race and class is central to their work.

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