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Trans-representation
Jodi Kaufmann*
Georgia State University
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jkaufmann{at}gsu.edu.
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Abstract |
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The article discusses a specific incidence that occurred during a study undertaken by the author that analyzed transsexual representation: "I made one of my participants cry. Jessie, a self-identified male-to-female transsexual, was dismayed after reading a completed study in which I examined the narrative construction of her gender. Wiping tears from her eyes, she said, "You have taken away the identity I have worked all my life to build . . . Who am I if you take this away?" I was pained, for my desire was to deconstruct gender, not erase her identity. Yet, Jessie appeared diminished, slumped in her chair, shoulders crumpled, and tears on her cheeks. How did I make such a mess?" In this article the author discusses four modes of transsexual representation that have emerged since the first recorded sex reassignment surgery in the 1920s to the present—hermaphroditic, sex-gender misalignment, queer, and material embodiment. The author then rereads Jessie’s narrative through these forms of representation in order to explore how each might function in emancipating gender from heteronormativity and Jessie from analytic erasure. The author concludes by rethinking the tension between Jessie and her narrative using Deleuze and Guattari’s idea of content and expression.
First published on October 30, 2009
Qualitative Inquiry 2009, doi:10.1177/1077800409350699
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