Stories
Kumar
‘When the result came out, she said that my MBTI scores showed that I was more “Feeling” (F) than “Thinking” (T), despite being a man. She said that it means that I don’t have enough hormones, because it is abnormal for men to feel or perceive. This is such a wrong, damaging and toxic perception of masculinity. It’s normal for men to be emotional.’
Kumar is a trans man who was referred to a clinical psychologist in Ipoh General Hospital a few years ago. He said the clinical psychologist had no knowledge on the basics of SOGIESC. During the session, she gave him a Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test.
‘When the result came out, she said that my MBTI scores showed that I was more ”Feeling” (F) than “Thinking” (T), despite being a man. She said that it means that I don’t have enough hormones, because it is abnormal for men to feel or perceive. This is such a wrong, damaging and toxic perception of masculinity. It’s normal for men to be emotional.”
In addition, he said that the clinical psychologist knew nothing about people with diverse SOGIESC and was asking him basic questions on gender. ‘She was asking me questions, “Are you a girl or a boy?”. I had to spend my time explaining to her about who I am, about SOGIESC minorities. I had to be stern on my perceptions and boundaries and tell her what to do or what to say.
‘The thing is, as a client, the responsibility to learn about SOGIESC does not and should not fall on me. It falls on the mental health professionals to do so. To have to educate the professionals is exhausting and definitely does not help my mental health. You could end up making it worse.’
Source: Galen Centre (2019) What it Means to Suffer in Silence Challenges to Mental Health Access among LGBT People