Transgender Individuals and Identity : A Survey of How Transgender Individuals Write About Their Own Identity and Identity Construction in Relation to Their Enviroment

Transgender individuals experience daily discrimination, harrasment and are overrepresented in statistics such as poor mental health and suicide rates. This study aims to analyse how transgender individuals write about their identity and identityconstruction in relation to their enviroment. It also set out to find patterns in the experiences of transgender people to analyse them using Erving Goffmans dramaturgy and Judith Butlers concept of gender as performative. To achieve this narrative content analysis was used to analyse fifteen short biographical stories written by transgendered individuals about themselves. The purpose of this was to recognize patterns in the experiences and interactions they choose to put forth when talking about themselves. In creating a better understanding of transgender identity this study hopes to be a path in bettering the care and treatment of transgender people who seek aid from socialworkers. The results brought forward 4 main themes which were titled “defining yourself”, “Questioning of the identity”, “solidarity and support in one's identity” and “identity as a standard breaker”. Defining yourself means that the transgendered individuals saw identity as what you consider yourself to be and that the common experience was that the environments expectations did not match with their gender identity. The results were very unanimous except that the binary transpeople and nonbinary transpeople wrote a differently of how they felt other people reacted to their identity. The theme of questioning of the identity consideres the direct diskrimination, harrasment and questioning the transgender indivudals wrote about wich where reocurring in multiple peoples experiences. These experiences included being expected to conform to norms, being misgendered or insulted and difficulties in getting gender affirming care and diagnosis for gender dysphoria. Solidarity and support in one's identity refers to a recurring theme of people writing about how they felt solidarity and acceptance in groups which did not question their identity. Many wrote that they only felt accepted in exclusively transgender groups. Another aspect of this was that many attributed good health, acceptance of self and courage to come out, to the availability of information about being transgender and transgender support groups. The last theme was less unanimous with a minority expressing feelings of pride and solidarity with them being a standard breaker or deviant. Few even considered it a big part of their identity.