Performing Gender: How Transgender and Cisgender People Understand Gender Differently

Presenter

Maxfield Mandela Nadeau-DaCruz

Campus

UMass Amherst

Sponsor

Ana D. Villalobos, Department of Sociology, UMass Amherst

Schedule

Session 2, 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM [Schedule by Time][Poster Grid for Time/Location]

Location

Poster Board C22, Poster Showcase Room (163), Row 3 (C21-C30) [Poster Location Map]

Abstract

With the acceptance of transgender people on the rise, it is easy to imagine that transgender as a label is an alternate gender identity, an expansion of our binary system of gender. This project seeks to understand the differences in identification between queer people who identify as cisgender versus transgender, and how terminology is both used and changed by queer people. My research shows that transgender as a label is not just an alternate gender category, but a deconstruction of categories. In interviewing four queer people, with three out of four identifying under the transgender umbrella, I learned three things. Trans identity is not only important, but very personal rather than another binary category. Experiences of coming out, changing labels, and transphobia shape how trans people identify themselves. Trans people also use personalized terminology to not only explain their identity but to express it in ways that their cisgender counterparts do not. Transgender is only an umbrella term, with some trans people creating their own terms to explain how they understand their gender. Finally, intersecting identities including sexuality, race, religion, and assigned sex create significant differences in how transgender people experience and express their gender, with personal experience with oppression based on intersecting identities being something important to a trans person’s identity.

Keywords

Transgender, Gender Identity, Personal Identity, Intersectionality, Transphobia

Research Area

LGBTQ+

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