Performativity in the Lifeworld: How Youth Assert Their Identity in the Shadow of Legislative Erasure

• In Event: Unapologetically Centering Youth in Theory, Practice, and Praxis

Abstract

This study examines how trans youth assert identity amid legislative efforts to restrict their participation in school sports. Drawing on Butler’s theory of performativity and Habermas’s concept of the lifeworld, I analyze public testimonies from three Wisconsin legislative hearings (2021–2025) on trans athletic bans. Using critical discourse and content analysis, I ask: how do trans youth articulate their identities in the face of legislative erasure, and how have testimonies changed over time? Findings show while youth framed athletics as spaces of belonging, identity exploration, and affirmation, their presence in public hearings declined. These patterns illustrate how repeated policy attacks contribute to public erasure, even as youth resist by performing their identity while even while their rights are debated.

Author

• Benjamin Lebovitz, University of Wisconsin - Madison