"It's a Hard Line to Walk": Nonbinary Trans* Collegians' Perspectives on Passing, Realness, and Trans*-Normativity

• In Event: 72.056 - Unruly Queers: Interrogating Power in Higher Education Practice, Policy, and Research

Abstract

Paper Purpose

Trans*-normativity is the belief that there is only one way for trans* people to practice their gender (Boldy Go, 2013). Specifically, trans*-normativity suggests all trans* people should transition from one socially knowable gender to another (e.g., male-to-female). This concept rests on the false assumption that there are only two identifiable genders (e.g., man/woman), which are discrete, natural, and immutable. Far from just being imposed on trans* people by cisgender--non-trans*--people, Spade (2002) also highlighted the pernicious effects of trans*-normativity occurring within trans* communities. Although the tug and pull of normalcy is nothing new within marginalized communities (e.g., Rosenberg & Schiller, 1984), there has yet to be anything written about trans*-normativity in relation to trans* collegians. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to explore how these concepts mediate trans* students’ collegiate experiences, and (2) to elucidate strategies trans* students use to forward their own success.

Theoretical Perspective

This study used a theoretical perspective called Critical Trans Politics (CTP) (Spade, 2011). The three central tenets of CTP are the resilience of trans* people, trans* peoples’ resistance to the pernicious effects of genderism, and coalition-building as a strategy for achieving wide-scale liberation. As a theoretical perspective, CTP: (1) is invested in interrogating culturally embedded forms of genderism and transphobia; (2) is interested in political strategizing grounded in intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989, 1995); (3) seeks to center the voices, stories, and narratives of trans* people; and (4) extends the value of polyvocality, or the foregrounding of multiple voices, to express many possible forms of resistance.

Methods, techniques, data sources

This paper is based on data from an 18-month study at City University (a pseudonym). The study is grounded in a critical collaborative ethnographic methodology, or an “ethnographic practice that focuses on projects that challenge dominant hegemonic global structures at the intersection of race, gender, class, sexuality, and disability” (Bhattacharya, 2008, p. 305). The study included nine participants, six of whom identified in some way as having a non-binary gender identity. Data collection took various forms, including: participant observation (Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 2001), multiple ethnographic interviews (Heyl, 2001), participant responses to narrative prompts (Tillapaugh, 2012), and document analysis (Wolcott, 2008).

Results/substantiated conclusions and Scholarly Significance

One finding was the overwhelming prevalence of trans*-normativity from both trans* and cisgender students, faculty, and staff at City University, which is itself a result of the gender binary discourse, or the constellation of words, phrases, actions, rules (written and unwritten), and social realities that regulated ‘appropriate’ gender identification and expression on campus. The second finding was the strategies by which non-binary college students successfully navigated their college environments, resisting both the gender binary discourse and resulting trans*-normativity. The study’s scholarly significance is that by learning how trans* college students successfully navigate trans*-normativity, educators can work alongside trans* collegians to create more equitable environments. Furthermore, the study’s appreciative inquiry approach portrays trans* students as capable individuals, counteracting the ‘trans* as tragic’ trope often portrayed in the media (Serano, 2007).

Author

• Z Nicolazzo, Northern Illinois University