Gender identity disorder is a disorder that challenges the predominant cultural understanding of gender and sex. A transgender person believes that s/he is of the opposite sex and gender than her/his natal sex. This study aimed to explore and describe transgender people’s experience of the development of their transgender identity, and the critical turning points that they experienced during the development of this transgender identity. Furthermore, the study explored the influence of religion and spirituality on the development of the transgender person’s identity and how their transgender identity in turn influenced their spirituality and spiritual identity. Feminist and queer theories were utilized in this study. A phenomenological approach was used to explore the lived experience of five transgender individuals. The findings suggest that these five transgender people find themselves between the sex categories of male and female and the gender categories of the feminine and the masculine. This finding challenges the Western dichotomous view of gender and sex. It further emerged that religion/spirituality does influence the development of a transgender identity as well as the process of gender reassignment. Key terms: Transgender, gender identity disorder, sex change, transsexual, G/god/dess, self-identity, phenomenology, queer identity, gender queer, queer theology, binary discourse, fluid gender, trans man, trans woman. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2009. / Document formatted into pages; contains x, 366 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Also available in print.

The single most recognized transgender woman in the 1950s and throughout much of the 1960s, Christine Jorgensen symbolized in many ways the quintessential white, upper-middle-class woman and the medicalized standard by which other transgender women were measured, including poor transgender women and transgender women of color. In the late 1960s and 1970s, however, a new class of transgender women would come to denounce such an image. Holly Woodlawn, a cult icon in the late 1960s and early 1970s, for example, viewed Christine as outdated and out-of-sync with her own gendered desires for expression. Holly gained notoriety for her outrageous role in Andy Warhol's film Trash (1970). In the film, she plays the glamorous and co-dependent role of the counter-culture sex addicted welfare queen. In the film, she denounces traditional transsexual women narratives and engenders instead new forms of gendered expressions unencumbered by sex change anxieties. Christine and Holly are but two historical transgender icons, who, in the 1950s, 60s and 70s suggested new possibilities for gendered expressions. Their public personas historicize the construction of transgender identity, making visible the classed and racialized privileging of sex change surgery and the alternative expressions embodied by poor transgender women and transgender women of color. Although unable to afford sex change surgery, poor transgender women, in particular, transgender women of color, embodied new models of gender identity beyond the gendered constructs of whiteness. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2008. / "August, 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 304-316). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Jag skall i denna uppsats relationen mellan myndigheter och transpersoners kroppar, och se på statens påverkan på enskilda individers transitioner. I Sverige krävs det könskodade performanser från individen för att staten ska erkänna individen som ett annat kön. Hur individer hanterar myndigheter och statens influens över deras liv, och vilka tekniker de har för att interagera med sin egen könsutredning kommer att undersökas. Hur enskilda personer inom transvården iscensätter, och bibehåller normer kommer även att beröras. På vilket sätt enskilda transpersoner skapar handlingssätt

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

A presente tese busca identificar e defender os principais direitos de pessoas transgêneras, particularmente aqueles ligados ao dever do Estado de tratar a todos os indivíduos com igual respeito e consideração. Para tanto, além de se basear nas diferentes acepções da expressão direito apresentadas por Ronald Dworkin e asseverar as distinções entre direitos morais e políticas (policies), é oferecida uma concepção do conceito jurídico de gênero marcada por dois elementos centrais: a expressão de determinado gênero (à luz do espectro masculino/feminino) e o reconhecimento social de que o indivíduo pertence a certa categoria de gênero. Sustenta-se que esta concepção do conceito jurídico de gênero é fundamental para a adequada interpretação e solução de questões jurídicas que levem em consideração o gênero da pessoa, como nas hipóteses da identificação civil (prenome e sexo/gênero), regime previdenciário, aplicação de medidas protetivas e ações afirmativas, dentre outras. Tais argumentos são precedidos de breve explanação sobre o fenômeno da transgeneralidade (que vai muito além do que é tipicamente analisado por juristas), bem como da análise das relações entre Estado e moralidade sexual, o que é feito sobretudo através da crítica à concepção apresentada pelos jusnaturalistas John Finnis e Christopher Tollefsen, a qual, em síntese, entende que o sexo biológico é determinante do gênero pelo qual o indivíduo deverá ser reconhecido socialmente. Em sentido contrário, esta tese defende a separação conceitual entre sexo biológico e gênero, sendo o último o elemento mais relevante para fins jurídicos e sociais. Além disso, a partir da teorização de Ronald Dworkin, argumenta-se que a liberdade de expressão de gênero corresponde a um dos principais direitos morais de pessoas transgêneras, direito este que é fundamental para o exercício da autonomia e independência ética de tais indivíduos. Conclui-se que os conceitos e a teoria defendidos nesta tese correspondem à rationale para se responder aos pleitos jurídicos de pessoas transgêneras, inclusive aqueles que não tenham sido expressamente analisados. / This thesis aims to identify and defend the main rights of transgender people, particularly those related to the states duty to treat all citizens with equal consideration and respect. To do that, this thesis is grounded on the different meanings of right presented by Ronald Dworkin, especially on the distinction between moral rights and policies. It is also based on a conception of the juridical concept of gender, which has two central dimensions: the expression of ones gender (on the masculinity/femininity spectrum) and the social recognition that one belongs to a certain gender category. It is argued that this conception of gender is fundamental for the proper interpretation and solution of legal issues involving gender, such as civil identification (name and sex/gender assignment), retirement scheme, protective laws and affirmative policies etc. These arguments are preceded by a brief explanation of transgenderism, which goes far beyond what is typically analyzed by jurists. An analysis of the state and sexual morality relations is offered as well, which is done mainly through the criticism of John Finnis and Christopher Tollefsens conception of sex and gender. In short, Finnis and Tollefsen argue that ones gender should be determined by ones biological sex. Instead, this thesis defends the conceptual separation between biological sex and gender, considering gender the most relevant category for legal and social purposes. Moreover, based on Ronald Dworkins theorization, it is argued that genders freedom of expression corresponds to one of the leading moral rights of transgender people, ensuring the autonomy and the ethical independence of such individuals. It concludes that the conceptions and theory defended in this thesis correspond to the rationale for answering legal problems of transgender people, even those that are not mentioned.

The wound that Jesus received from a spear during the Crucifixion appears in a new way in Northern Italian art of the late trecento. My research tracks some key changes to this symbol's meaning during its migration through different religious and gender contexts, in communities of Franciscan and Dominican friars and nuns between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. I focus especially on a Venetian altarpiece showing Jesus offering his wound to a Poor Clare. My analysis of this altarpiece examines ideas of religious, social and gendered identity in relation to the iconography of Jesus' wound. Scholars in early-modern gender studies point to existing tensions between visibility and invisibility, possibility and impossibility, which arise in relation to the signifying power of the female body in a male-oriented heterosexist system. As such, the scholarly literature often avoids addressing female homoerotic desire and the possibility of same-sex sexual expression in these kinds of religious images. My work indicates that the emotional and bodily expression of religious women was visible, as are representations of female homoerotic desire, if we can look beyond a binary system of gender and heterosexism.

Thesis (LL. M.)--University of Toronto, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-145).