First Advisor

Monica Mueller

Date of Award

Fall 2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Arts and Letters and University Honors

Department

Arts & Letters

Language

English

Subjects

Transgender people -- Identity, Gender-nonconforming people -- Medical care, Social constructionism

DOI

10.15760/honors.1186

Abstract

Medical and psychiatric institutions have a long history of regulating and pathologizing the bodies of non-normative individuals. The harmful normativity of these institutions is particularly salient for trans* people pursuing gender-affirming medical care, as popular media representations of trans* identity reinforce narratives of certainty and aspirations towards cisgender standards of corporeality which rarely map onto authentic narratives of trans*ness. For the gender deviant subject, who conceives of hirself beyond these hegemonic notions of identity, navigating these institutions often requires a false projection of identity that fits the standard narrative, simply as a means to an end. In doing so, the gender deviant subject manipulates the normativity of these medical and psychiatric institutions in order to stretch the boundaries of socially accepted identity, a mentality and way of being in the world which offers liberatory possibilities for coalition across non-normative identity groups who face subjugation by the dominant regulatory apparatus.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/36817

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