Displaying Gender: Transgender People's Strategies in Everyday Life

Abstract

Drawing upon data from in‐depth interviews with transgender people in Portugal and in the United Kingdom, this article critically reflects upon different ways through which transgender people recreate their gender displays, particularly in terms of gender embodiment and aesthetics, in order to navigate their everyday lives. I focus on four strategies of articulating gender displays with one's own gender subjectivities: “blending in,” “masking,” “naturalizing,” and “subverting.” These strategies are not exclusive of one another. They are used differently throughout the participants' own lives in accordance to the social contexts they were in.

Foreclosing Fluidity at the Intersection of Gender and Sexual Normativities

“…(For definitions of normative systems and literature on these systems, see Table 2.) Importantly, our work also responds to requests for greater incorporation of sexual and gender complexity in symbolic interactionism in recent years (see Marques 2019;Mathers 2017;Schilt 2016;Sumerau, Mathers, and Lampe 2019). Reviewing interactionist engagement with sexualities over time, for example, Plummer (2010) called for greater engagement between interactionist theorizing and the complexities and possibilities of emerging sexualities in society.…”

Telling stories; telling transgender coming out stories from the UK and Portugal

“…That was really a power moment!' However, it is important to note that LGBTI, transgender and gender-diverse community spaces are permeated by their own gender normativities, which can also cause rifts within these communities (Doan 2007;Hines 2007Hines , 2010Marques 2019;Nash 2010).…”

Trans youth in Portugal: gendered embodiments

“…Underlying such medical practices are two broader cis heteronormative beliefs: first, that gender identity follows from genitalia (Westbrook and Schilt 2014); second, that gender is something fixed and stable across the life course (McQueen 2016). Because of this, while some trans people may wish to display their gendered selves within the framework of gender binaries (Marques 2019), others may feel pressured to conform to dominant gender normativitiesthat is, to align their bodies in accordance with the ideal of the female-bodied woman and male-bodied man (Davis, Dewey and Murphy 2016). The medical narrative appears to draw upon what Bettcher (2014) calls the 'wrong body model', within which trans people are said to be born in the wrong body and thus need to change it in order to realise their 'true' selves (McQueen 2016).…”

“…Some young people do not consider gender-affirming medical procedures a solution or even desirable because gender binaries are not thought of as providing 'safe' spaces of belonging (Roen 2019). Such trans youth may try to disrupt gender binaries through gender discourses, display and/or embodiments that are considered subversive, such as the mixing together of what are generally perceived as feminine and masculine gender markers (Marques 2019;Halberstam 2018;Darwin 2017;Davis 2009).…”

“…(Micha, 29 years old) Self-identifying as genderqueer or non-binary within the spectrum of femininities, Ana recounted a narrative and told of embodied practices that were similar to those of Micha. Ana was not undergoing any kind of medicalised gender transition process but instead (re)created a 'non-binary' gender display by combining together feminine and masculine gender attributes (Marques 2019;Darwin 2017). Ana, for example, had long hair and sometimes wore feminine attire, accessories and make up, while maintaining facial hair as a sign of political significance.…”