Eric D Plemons

Interests

Research

Sex, gender and medicine; transgender medicine; surgical practice; organ transplant; medical history; clinical ethnography

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Books

• Plemons, E. D. (2017). The Look of a Woman: Facial Feminization Surgery and the Aims of Trans- Medicine. Duke University Press.

Chapters

• Plemons, E. D. (2021). Genital Aesthetics. In The Routledge Companion to Beauty Politics(pp 229-237). New York: Routledge.
• Plemons, E. D., & Berli, J. (2020). Societal Aspects of Facial Gender Confirmation Surgery. In Gender Confirmation Surgery--Principles and Techniques for an Emerging Field(pp 91-97). New York: Springer.
• Plemons, E. D. (2019).

  Reconceiving the body : A surgical genealogy of trans- therapeutics

  . In The Emergence of Trans(pp 34-45). Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315145815-4
• Plemons, E. D. (2010). Envisioning the Body in Relation: finding sex, changing sex. In The Body Reader: Essential Social and Cultural Readings(pp 317-328). New York, NY: New York University Press.

Journals/Publications

• Plemons, E. D., & Vieira Silva do Rego, C. (2021). Anthropology in the Face of the Contemporary. Vivencia: Revista de Antropologia.
• Tallman, S., Kincer, C., & Plemons, E. (2022). Centering Transgender Individuals in Forensic Anthropology and Expanding Binary Sex Estimation in Casework and Research. Forensic Anthropology, 5(2). doi:10.5744/fa.2020.0030
  More info

  Due to disproportionate violence impacting the transgender community, forensic anthropologists may encounter the remains of trans individuals; however, it is unknown how often trans individuals are represented in casework and if practitioners have sufficient knowledge about trans bodies. After contextualizing forensically relevant demographics for the trans community, this study uses survey data of forensic anthropologists to critically explore the collective knowledge of and experience working with trans individuals; practitioners’ perceptions of sex and gender; and potential opportunities for trans-oriented research. The results indicate that 28.9% of respondents have worked with trans individuals in casework, but most forensic anthropologists were unfamiliar with forms and evidence of gender affirming procedures. Additionally, the survey indicates that forensic anthropologists struggle with the binary nature of forensic sex estimation, with 42.4% agreeing that sex is binary and 56.2% disagreeing. Similar opposition was found with reporting gender: 39.5% indicated that gender should be reported in casework and 31.0% disagreed. Moreover, current sex estimation methods are: rigidly binary; not reflective of human biological variation; and inadequate for trans individuals as they are based on assigned sex. To dismantle rigidly binary sex categorization, we propose the adoption of a biocultural and queer theoretical approach to forensic sex estimation and in sexual dimorphism research that challenges heteronormative assumptions, questions typological two-sex categorization, and combats the presumptions that gender and sex are stable, independent entities that convey universal meaning. Relatedly, the expansion of trans-oriented research, which is supported by 95.8% of respondents, will further improve methodological accuracies.
• Plemons, E. (2021).

  Barry Reay, Trans America: A Counter-History

  . Social History of Medicine, 34(1), 339-340. doi:10.1093/shm/hkaa085
• Plemons, E. D., Tallman, S., & Kincer, C. (2021). Centering Transgender Individuals in Forensic Anthropology and Expanding Binary Sex Estimation in Casework and Research. Forensic Anthropology.
• Plemons, E. D. (2020). Trans America: A Counter-History by Barry Reay. Social History of Medicine. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkaa085
• Plemons, E. (2019).

  Can a Transgender Body Be the Body of the Nation

  . Anthropology News, 60(1). doi:10.1111/an.1076
• Plemons, E. (2019).

  Gender, Ethnicity, and Transgender Embodiment: Interrogating Classification in Facial Feminization Surgery:

  . Body & Society, 25(1), 3-28. doi:10.1177/1357034x18812942
  More info

  Facial feminization surgery (FFS) is a set of bone and soft tissue procedures intended to feminize the faces of transgender women. In the surgical evaluation, particular facial features are identif...
• Plemons, E. (2019).

  Unbound: Transgender Men and the Remaking of Identity. Arlene Stein, New York: Pantheon Books, 2018, 339 pp.

  . Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 33(4). doi:10.1111/maq.12509
  More info

  book review
• Plemons, E. D. (2019). A Capable Surgeon and a Willing Electrologist: Challenges to the Expansion of Transgender Surgical Care in the United States. Medical Anthropology Quarterly. doi:10.1111/maq.12484
• Plemons, E. D. (2019). Not Here: Catholic Healthcare Systems and the Refusal of Transgender Care in the United States. Cross Currents.
• Plemons, E. (2018).

  HHS Transgender Proposal a Shabby Costume

  . Anthropology News, 59(6). doi:10.1111/an.1020
• Straayer, C. (2018). Introduction: Reframing the Surgical. TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 5(2), 164-173. doi:10.1215/23289252-4348605
• Straayer, C. (2018). TSQ: The Surgery Issue. TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 5(2), 161-294.
• Berli, J. U., Capitán, L., Simon, D., Bluebond-Langner, R., Plemons, E., & Morrison, S. D. (2017). Facial gender confirmation surgery—review of the literature and recommendations for Version 8 of the WPATHStandards of Care. International Journal of Transgenderism, 18(3), 264-270. doi:10.1080/15532739.2017.1302862
• Plemons, E. (2017).

  Transforming Transgender Medicine in the US Prompts Questions of its Aims

  . Anthropology News, 58(4), e378-e381. doi:10.1111/an.591
• Plemons, E. (2017). Formations of Femininity: Science and Aesthetics in Facial Feminization Surgery. Medical Anthropology, 36(7), 629-641. doi:10.1080/01459740.2017.1298593
• Plemons, E. D. (2017). Formations of Femininity: Science and Aesthetics of Facial Feminization Surgery. Medical Anthropology, 36(7), 629-641. doi:10.1080/01459740.2017.1298593
• Plemons, E. D., Capitan, L., Berli, J. U., Simon, D., Morrison, S. D., & Bluebong-Langner, R. (2017). Facial Gender Confirmation Surgery: Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Version 8 of the WPATH Standards of Care. International Journal of Transgenderism, 18(3), 264-270. doi:10.1080/15532739.2017.1302862
• Plemons, E. D. (2015). Anatomical Authorities: On the epistemological exclusion of trans- surgical patients. Medical Anthropology, 34(5), 425-441.
• Plemons, E. D. (2014). Description of Sex Difference as Prescription for Sex Change: On the Origin of Facial Feminization Surgery. Social Studies of Science, 44(5), 657-679.
• Plemons, E. D. (2014). It Is As It Does: Genital Form and Function in Sex Reassignment Surgery. Journal of Medical Humanities, 35(1), 37-55.
• Plemons, E. D. (2013). The Surgical Suite. Journal of Medical Humanities, 34(2), 245-247.