Background: Gender Variance (GV) is an experience that the gender assigned at birth is different to one’s preferred gender identity. It includes the possibility of a preferred gender identity being different to either male or female. It is reported that around 4000 people per year access care from the NHS in relation to GV (Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES), 2009) and both the physical and psychological elements of these experiences is well documented. However, little research specifically explores how Gender Variant (GVt) people make sense of their experiences and construct meaningful expression of their preferred identity. The aim of this study is to further the understanding of GV with a view to considering the implications for service provision to this population. Methodology: The study employed a qualitative method that explored the narratives of the participants. A purposive sample of seven participants self identified as GVt was recruited for a single interview. The interviews used a topic guide to elicit the narratives that these people tell about their experiences. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed using a narrative approach to explore what the participants said and the way they said it. This was then situated within the local and broader social contexts within which the narratives exist. Analysis and findings: The findings are presented through a global impression of each of the individual narratives and then through discussion of the similarities and differences in relation to the collective storylines. Particular attention is paid to the identity construction and the emotional experiences that take place during the interviews. These two elements are told within and through each of the storylines. The local and wider narratives available to the participants are used to contextualise the analysis and findings, and so are reported within the analysis. The analysis offers the following findings: i) their first experiences of understanding GV was important, leading them to find others who felt the same to gain a sense of hope of a normal life ii) sharing their experiences with others was an anxiety provoking time and was part of a decision making process about treatment and establishing an acceptable gender expression iii) relationships with family, friends, peers and members of their social context influence sense making and identity constructions of GVt people and typify the challenges faced within their GVt experiences. Some of these challenges were reported as ongoing and illustrated throughout the stories of the day to day lives of the participants iv) for these participants distressing emotional challenges were often situated in the past and participants spoke of ‘overcoming’ challenges. This offered a counter to the more dominant isolation and loneliness narratives within the literature on GVt experiences The findings of the study are discussed in relation to its clinical implications, the strengths and limitations of the methodology, and directions for future research.

This thesis discusses the ideological and political composition of the contemporary queer community in India. It is specifically concerned with the ways in which transgender/gender variant identities are represented within Indian queer scholarship and queer organizations in the subcontinent. At present, transgender/gender variant studies of South Asia are primarily confined to research on hijra and other trans feminine gender communities. While this research is important, this thesis seeks to expand the understanding of transgenderism/gender variance in South Asia by examining other transgender identities, including trans masculine identities, as well as analyzing Indian discourses on gender and sexuality more broadly. By examining Indian queer scholarship and the politics of contemporary queer organizations, I find that transgender/gender variant individuals face greater forms of marginalization within the contemporary queer movement in India because of the silence surrounding their gender identities. / text

I denna avhandling pekar jag på misserkännande av könsvariation och orättvisor som följer av detta som en viktig orättvise- och misserkännandeproblematik. Den övergripande ambitionen är att diskutera en möjlig(görande) etik. Det innebär att den är möjlig att formulera och att intentionen är människors möjliggörande. Målet är att förstå begreppen rättvisa och erkännande i relation till identitet och identitetspolitik, genom en tankefigur som jag har kallat ’att vara som/den en är.’ I syfte att konkretisera den teoretiska diskussionen är den placerad i en trans*kontext. Denna exemplifieras av ett transbiografiskt och ett transpolitiskt kapitel, vilka presenterar identitetserfarenheter och politiska och moraliska ståndpunkter som relateras till dessa. Genom att studera transpolitiken blir det möjligt att identifiera uttryck för moraliska brister vad gäller rättvisa och erkännande, vad Iris Marion Young förstår som ’normativa möjligheter.’ I det transbiografiska materialet framkommer erfarenheter av osynlighet och dess ontologiska konsekvenser som en sådan moralisk brist. Det visar på vikten av synlighet och lyssnande som moraliska nödvändigheter för att möjliggöra könsvarierade identiteter och existenser genom att begreppsliggöra föreställningar om könsvariation. Figuren ’att vara som/den en är’ är tänkt att ge utrymme för en diskussion om vardagliga identitetserfarenheter och dess konsekvenser utan att iscensätta begreppets problematiska epistemologiska och ontologiskt begränsande konsekvenser. Avhandlingen resulterar i ett förslag på en möjlig(görande) etik med öppna och flexibla erkännandeprinciper samt en specificering av dessa så att de kan fungera som en transmöjliggörande etisk vägledning. / In this thesis I point to misrecognition of gender variance and the injustice that follows from this as an important problem of injustice and misrecognition in society. The main ambition is to discuss what a possible and empowering ethics of recognition might mean. The aim is to understand the meaning of the concepts of justice and recognition in relation to identity and identity politics, through a configuration which I call ‘to be as/who you are’. The theoretical ethical discussion is placed within a trans*context in order to orientate the discussion towards a concrete and contextual example. The trans*context is exemplified by a transbiographical and a transpolitical chapter, in order to be able to describe experiences of identities and the politics and moral standpoints that come out of it. Through the politics it is possible to identify moral lacks of justice and recognition, which, according to Iris Marion Young, can be understood as normative possibilities. In the transbiographical material, experiences of invisibility and its ontological consequences emerged. The importance of visibility and listening as moral necessities in order to make trans identities and existences possible through a conceptualization of conceptions and imaginations of gender variance is underlined. The figure ‘to be as/who you are’ is meant to open up and allow for a discussion around everyday experiences and the consequences of the concept of identity without its problematic and limiting consequences. I conclude with a suggestion for an outline of a possible and empowering ethics of recognition with open and flexible principles of recognition, and further a specification of those principles so they can be used as transempowering guidelines.

Although Child and Youth Care research and pedagogy is committed to diversity, as yet this field has produced very little research that specifically focuses on supporting children and youth who do not identify with cis/heteronormative standards of gender. Further, despite that recent media attention to trans issues and gender diversity has sparked questions concerning how issues of gender are approached in practice, there continues to be a distinct lack of consensus on how best to talk about these issues, how to define gender, and how to approach these issues in practice. Through combining Situational Analysis (Clarke, 2005) with aspects of Relativity Theory this thesis makes a contribution towards filling the existing gap in the research. This study provides a descriptive exploration into the many ways language is being utilized by young people to shape, evoke, and construct the diverse understandings of what gender means in their lives by analyzing data gathered through the social media platform, Tumblr. This inquiry shows that these young people create unique terminology to describe, discuss, define and share their engagement with gender categories and identities. The findings of this study suggest that a creative, nuanced, and flexible understanding of the ways in which the language and terminology shape and influences how gender is lived and then discussed within specific contexts both on- and offline, will greatly assist practitioners to support youth with this highly complex topic. / Graduate

The DSM-IV-TR diagnosis Gender Identity Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (GID NOS) is used to describe individuals who have gender issues but do not meet the current criteria for GID. As part of a consensus process conducted by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the authors make the following recommendations for DSM 5: removal from the chapter on sexual disorders, more specific diagnostic criteria, retention of clinical significance criteria, and removal of exclusionary criteria of Intersex/Disorders of Sex Development. Changes to the existing clinical examples were also recommended, suggesting additional clinical examples that encompass a broader range of gender-variance and more commonly found transgender presentations. The diagnosis must reflect the severity of the clinical issues that represent legitimate identity experiences and possible need for gender-confirming treatments.