Vulnerabilidade de pessoas transgênero à insegurança alimentar

Abstract

Gender is one of the factors associated with Food Insecurity (FI). Although people in gender minority groups are exposed to potential risk factors for FI, we do not have large-scale data on these groups. This is due to how gender is classified in population surveys (i.e., male and female), leaving transgender populations “hidden” in binary classification. In this thesis, we propose to explore the relationships between minority gender experiences and vulnerability to FI. In this way, we investigated the association of food, nutritional, social, economic, and prejudice factors with AI in the scientific literature, using a systematic review, and a group of transgender people, using a cross-sectional study. In our review, the most often used study design was cross-sectional, the least frequently used study design was ethnographic. Body image and weight control were predominant themes (n = 25), followed by food and nutrition security (n = 5), nutritional status (n = 5), nutritional health assistance (n = 1), and emic visions of healthy eating ( = 1). In our cross-sectional study, our results showed that the difficulties in purchasing food in the transgender community predate the COVID-19 pandemic, yet that the restrictive measures adopted have also impacted overall access to quality food. However, the main explanations for FI were income and employment. We conclude that excluding gender diversity in research on food insecurity has possibly failed to reveal essential demands for the transgender population. This thesis presents the relationships understood so far between FI in the transgender population and possible challenges and alternative strategies for overcoming them. We hope that in doing so, we can guide food and nutrition policies and surveillance systems, as well as researchers around the world, to understand the hidden diversity in AI studies.