The purpose of this study is to center transgender consumers in the conceptualizations between marketplace marginalization and digital spaces. We examine transgender crowdfunding as a hashtag‐bounded digital space created by and for the transgender community–namely, the #TransCrowdFund digital space on Twitter. We draw on trans digital geographies as a novel analytical lens to focus attention on transgender consumers' unique experiences in and between digital spaces. Through qualitative hashtag mapping, we analyzed a sample of 200 Twitter profiles and accompanying tweets drawn from individuals using the #TransCrowdFund hashtag. Findings suggest transgender consumers utilize crowdfunding as a hashtag‐bounded digital space in three ways: accessing networks, narrativizing needs, and signaling identity. Within each of these functional uses, underlying tensions arise in navigating transphobic marketplace marginalization, unique to transgender consumer well‐being. Our research demonstrates the power of centering transgender consumers–both conceptually and contextually–in consumer research and offers implications for scholars and policy makers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.