Morehead State University

Transgender Joy: A Path to Resisting Oppression

Grade Level at Time of Presentation

Senior

Major

Sociology

Minor

Gender Studies

Institution 24-25

Morehead State University

KY House District #

99

KY Senate District #

27

Department

Sociology, Social Work & Criminology

Abstract

Transgender people are at the forefront of a politically charged culture war, where a miniscule fraction of the United States population has ballooned into seemingly one of the most pressing political issues facing the country. The size and scope of current anti-transgender political campaigns, and how they impact the discourse surrounding transgender people, makes scholarship centering transgender people imperative to understanding the complexities of their lives and the resilience therein. We consider anti-transgender political campaigns as any bills introduced as legislation that seeks to restrict the civil rights and bodily autonomy of transgender people. Academic discussions about gender expansive people tend to focus on suffering, gender dysphoria, and oppression, yet, there is a deficit in studying how joy interacts with multiple facets of transgender life. Drawing on 49 in-depth qualitative interviews with transgender and non-binary people around the United States, this study explores gender expansive people’s response to the ongoing anti-transgender legislation around the country and its relationship to transgender joy. With this data we contend with the question of whether transgender joy is a meaningful path to resistance to anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-transgender legislation. We define transgender joy as a multifaceted term which encompasses the combination of gender euphoria, gender freedom, community, authenticity, and autonomy that result from being transgender. From the interview data, we theorize that transgender joy can be harnessed as a possible antidote to distress and method of resistance concerning the influx of anti-transgender political campaigns.

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Transgender Joy: A Path to Resisting Oppression

Transgender people are at the forefront of a politically charged culture war, where a miniscule fraction of the United States population has ballooned into seemingly one of the most pressing political issues facing the country. The size and scope of current anti-transgender political campaigns, and how they impact the discourse surrounding transgender people, makes scholarship centering transgender people imperative to understanding the complexities of their lives and the resilience therein. We consider anti-transgender political campaigns as any bills introduced as legislation that seeks to restrict the civil rights and bodily autonomy of transgender people. Academic discussions about gender expansive people tend to focus on suffering, gender dysphoria, and oppression, yet, there is a deficit in studying how joy interacts with multiple facets of transgender life. Drawing on 49 in-depth qualitative interviews with transgender and non-binary people around the United States, this study explores gender expansive people’s response to the ongoing anti-transgender legislation around the country and its relationship to transgender joy. With this data we contend with the question of whether transgender joy is a meaningful path to resistance to anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-transgender legislation. We define transgender joy as a multifaceted term which encompasses the combination of gender euphoria, gender freedom, community, authenticity, and autonomy that result from being transgender. From the interview data, we theorize that transgender joy can be harnessed as a possible antidote to distress and method of resistance concerning the influx of anti-transgender political campaigns.