Against a backdrop of feminist and social scientific research on sex, female embodiment, and normality this thesis aims to discern how young women, who in adolescence have learned that their bodies are developing in ways considered ‘atypical’ for the female sex, make sense of their bodies and their situation. In focus are the ways in which the women make sense of and negotiate female embodiment; how they, particularly in stories about their interactions with others, position their embodied selves; and how norms and beliefs about sexed embodiment, heterosexual practice, and in/fertility are strengthened and challenged in the interviewees’ sense-making. The data comprise 23 in-depth interviews with women who in adolescence have learned that they do not have a uterus and a vagina, or who have learned that they do not have two X chromosomes and have no, or non-functioning, ovaries. Through narrative and thematic analysis the thesis shows how the women’s sense-making can be obstructed by norms about female embodiment, heterosexual practice, and in/fertility, expressed through medical terminology and practice and in interaction with family, friends, and peers, as described by the interviewees. Concomitantly, as the thesis demonstrates, medical terminology can be experienced and function as a resource in the women’s sense-making. Diagnostic categories enable them to put the specificities of sex development into words and raise awareness about bodily variation. Furthermore, in their stories about others’ reactions to their bodies and about their experience and management of certain medical treatments, the women question norms about female embodiment, heterosexual practice, and in/fertility that were previously taken for granted. The complexity of the women’s sense-making is demonstrated through the ways in which the interviewees, on the one hand, align with norms about female embodiment, heterosexual practice, and in/fertility, and in which they, on the other hand, succeed in challenging the same. In this ‘juggling’ of reinforcement and resistance, the thesis argues, the women are found to expand rather than dismiss beliefs about female embodiment.  Thus, the thesis contributes with deepened knowledge about what it can be like to live with these specific conditions and with problematizations of how norms about female embodiment can be enacted and questioned. / Mot bakgrund av feministisk och samhällsvetenskaplig forskning kring kön, kvinnlig kroppslighet och normalitet syftar avhandlingen till att undersöka hur unga kvinnor, som i tonåren fått reda på att deras kropp utvecklas på ett sätt som anses ”otypiskt” för det kvinnliga könet söker förstå och skapa mening kring sin kropp och situation. Framförallt undersöks dessa kvinnors meningsskapande, hur de i sina berättelser positionerar sig i relation till andra, och hur normer och föreställningar om kvinnlig kroppslighet, heterosexuell praktik och in/fertilitet förstås, förhandlas, stärks och ifrågasätts i berättelserna. Materialet som undersöks utgörs av 23 djupintervjuer med kvinnor som i tonåren fått reda på att de antingen inte har någon livmoder och vagina eller att de inte har två X kromosomer och inga eller  icke-fungerade äggstockar. Genom narrativa och tematiska analyser visar avhandlingen hur kvinnornas meningskapande formas av normer kring kvinnlig kroppslighet, heterosexuell praktik och in/fertilitet, då de uttrycks i kvinnornas berättelser om sin situation i möten med andra och i relation till medicinsk praktik. Samtidigt, visar avhandlingen, kan medicinsk terminologi, specifikt diagnoser, och praktik utgöra resurser i kvinnornas meningsskapande som möjliggör för dem att sätta ord på och sprida kunskap om kroppslig variation. I kvinnornas berättelser om andras reaktioner på deras kroppar och om deras erfarenhet och hantering av specifika medicinska behandlingar utmanas vidare normer som kvinnorna tidigare har tagit för givet. Genom analysen framträder således komplexiteten i kvinnornas meningskapande då de å ena sidan anammar förgivettagna normer om kvinnlig kroppslighet, heterosexuell praktik och infertilitet och å andra sidan utmanar de samma. I detta ”jonglerande” av anpassning till normer och motstånd mot desammasyns kvinnorna expandera snarare än avfärda föreställningar om kvinnlig kroppslighet. Avhandlingen fördjupar därmed kunskapen om hur det kan vara att leva med dess specifika tillstånd och till att problematisera hur normer om kvinnlig kroppslighet kan ta sig uttryck och ifrågasättas.

This thesis explores how current ways of imagining possibilities for intersexed and trans embodied lives within medical contexts might be informed by and reimagined through the historical lived experiences of intersexed and trans individuals as they have been articulated in autobiographical accounts. Postmodern, queer, intersex, and trans researchers and activists have criticised existing standards of intersex and trans healthcare for limiting the possibilities for diverse embodied lives by articulating certain forms of embodiment and selfhood as more likely to enable a liveable life than others. This has often been done in a medico-legal context by referring to experiences in the past of the unliveability of corporealities and gendersexed situations that differ from privileged positions. With a point of departure in these critiques, this thesis reopens questions about how intersexed and trans people may be embodied and have relations with others by reflecting upon the period of the first three-quarters of the 20th century, when the present standards of care and diagnostic categories were emerging, but had not yet become established. Drawing upon a unique set of historical source material from the archives of the Danish Ministry of Justice and the Medico-Legal Council, intersexed and trans persons’ life stories are rearticulated from their own and medico-legal experts’ accounts written in relation to applications for change of legal gendersex status and medical transition. In this way, the process is traced through which these life stories have been repeatedly rearticulated in order to become a usable basis for diagnosis and decision-making. At the same time, the stories are unfolded once more in a rearticulation focusing on their complexity and diversity. / Denna avhandling undersöker hur nuvarande sätt att föreställa sig möjligheter för intersexuella och transpersoners liv inom medicinska sammanhang kan informeras av och omföreställas genom historiska livserfarenheter hos intersexuella och transindivider, som de har artikulerats i självbiografiska berättelser. Postmoderna, queer, intersex- och transforskare och aktivister har kritiserat existerande normer för intersex- och transhälsovård för att begränsa möjligheterna för olika förkroppsligande liv genom att artikulera vissa former av förkroppsligande och subjektivitet som mer sannolikt att möjliggöra ett levbart liv än andra. Detta har ofta gjorts i ett medicinskt-juridiskt sammanhang genom att hänvisa till förflutna erfarenheter av levbarhet kring förkroppsligande och genusifierande situationer som skiljer sig från privilegierade positioner. Med utgångspunkt i denna kritik, återupptar denna avhandling frågor om hur intersexuella och transpersoner kan bli förkroppsligade och ha relationer till andra, genom att reflektera kring de första tre fjärdedelarna av nittonhundratalet när de nuvarande normerna för vård och diagnostiska kategorier uppstod, men ännu inte blivit etablerade. Med utgångspunkt i en unik uppsättning av historiskt källmaterial från Danska  Justitiedepartementet och Medicinsk-Etiska Rådets arkiv, återges intersexuella och transpersoners livshistorier från egna och medicinsk-etiska experters berättelser skrivna i relation till ansökningar av förändring av juridiskt kön och medicinsk transition. Genom denna process har livshistorier upprepande gånger blivit omartikulerade för att bli en användbar grund för diagnos och beslutsfattande. Samtidigt är dessa livshistorier uppöppnade än en gång i en omartikulation med fokus på deras komplexitet och mångfald.

Durant les dernières décennies, les différences intersexes en matière de conduite avec les capacités affaiblies par l’alcool (CCAA) ont suscité l’attention, alors que le comportement est en augmentation chez les femmes tandis qu’il diminue chez les hommes. Les données suggèrent que, chez les femmes, la CCAA s’associe à des caractéristiques psychologiques différentes de celles qui se retrouvent chez les contrevenants masculins (c.-à-d. davantage de problèmes liés à l’alcool et aux drogues et de psychopathologies, mais moins de recherche de sensations et de comportements délinquants). Malgré ce profil différentiel, les femmes contrevenantes de la CCAA demeurent une population hautement méconnue, particulièrement en ce qui a trait au profil des récidivistes. Alors que chez les hommes, des données émergentes indiquent que des limitations cognitives sont présentes chez les récidivistes et qu’elles constituent potentiellement un mécanisme sous-jacent au comportement, le profil cognitif des femmes récidivistes demeure inexploré. Des données exploratoires obtenues chez les contrevenantes et la documentation de champs de recherche connexes suggèrent que les femmes se distinguent notamment en ce qui concerne leur fonctionnement exécutif qui pourrait être préservé, alors que leur fonctionnement visuospatial serait déficitaire en comparaison de leurs vis-à-vis masculins. L’objectif de la présente thèse est d’approfondir les connaissances sur les caractéristiques des femmes récidivistes, ce qui permettra de mieux comprendre l’hétérogénéité de cette population et de générer des hypothèses au regard des mécanismes cognitifs sous-jacents à la répétition du comportement de CCAA. Plus spécifiquement, la thèse a pour objectif premier d’étudier les différences entre les sexes en matière de fonctionnement visuospatial et de mémoire visuelle, d’attention et de fonctionnement exécutif (c.-à-d. flexibilité cognitive, abstraction, inhibition). L’objectif secondaire consiste à comparer ces contrevenants au regard de leurs caractéristiques psychologiques (problèmes liés à l’alcool et aux drogues, impulsivité, recherche de sensations, traits antisociaux, anxiété et dépression). L’hypothèse examinée soutient que les femmes et les hommes récidivistes de la CCAA performent moins bien que les femmes et les hommes non-contrevenants en termes de fonctionnement visuospatial, attentionnel et exécutif. En outre, il est attendu que les femmes récidivistes présentent des performances inférieures à celles des hommes récidivistes en ce qui a trait aux fonctions visuospatiales. Par ailleurs, l’hypothèse prévoit que les hommes récidivistes aient des performances inférieures à celles des femmes récidivistes sur le plan exécutif et attentionnel. En matière de caractéristiques psychologiques, il est attendu que les femmes et les hommes récidivistes présentent significativement plus de problèmes liés à l’alcool et aux drogues, d’impulsivité, de recherche de sensations et d’indices de psychopathologies (tendance antisociale, dépression, anxiété) que les non-contrevenants. En outre, il est attendu que les femmes récidivistes présentent plus de problèmes liés à l’alcool et aux drogues et d’indices de dépression et d’anxiété que les hommes récidivistes. Enfin, il est attendu que les hommes récidivistes présentent significativement plus d’impulsivité, de recherche de sensations et de traits antisociaux que les femmes récidivistes. Ces hypothèses se confirment partiellement, alors que les hommes récidivistes (n = 39) présentent des performances inférieures à celles des hommes non-contrevenants (n = 20) et des femmes récidivistes (n = 20) sur le plan attentionnel et exécutifs. Toutefois, les femmes récidivistes ne se distinguent pas des femmes non-contrevenantes (n = 20) en matière de fonctionnement neuropsychologique. En ce qui a trait aux caractéristiques psychologiques, les résultats soutiennent partiellement les hypothèses. La discussion met en lumière que les femmes et des hommes récidivistes présentent des caractéristiques similaires, hormis en ce qui a trait au fonctionnement attentionnel et exécutif qui semble jouer un rôle dans la récidive au masculin, alors que cela n’apparaît pas être le cas chez les femmes chez qui le comportement pourrait être davantage situationnel. La nécessité que des études futures soient réalisées au moyen de devis expérimentaux, de même que les difficultés inhérentes au recrutement des femmes récidivistes sont discutées. / During the past decade, female driving while impaired by alcohol (DWIA) have gathered more attention as DWIA is increasing in females while decreasing in males. Data suggest that DWIA risk in females is associated with distinct psychological characteristics from those of male offenders (i.e. more alcohol and drug-related problems, and psychopathology, while less sensation seeking and delinquency). Despite this differential profile, female DWIA offenders remain a highly unknown population, especially regarding recidivism. In addition, growing data, mostly based on male offenders, support the idea that cognitive limitations are present in recidivists and represent a potential underlying mechanism to their behavior. Exploratory data collected in female offenders and data from other germane research fields suggest that female recidivists are cognitively distinct, especially in terms of executive functioning that could be relatively spared while their visuospatial functioning would be more impaired in comparison of male offenders. The objective of this dissertation is to enhance knowledge on female recidivist’s characteristics. This will allow a better comprehension of the heterogeneity of DWIA recidivist’s population and generate hypotheses concerning potential mechanisms that underlie their repetitive DWIA behavior. The thesis is especially targeting neuropsychological and psychological characteristics of female recidivists. More specifically, the study’s first aim is to examine DWIA recidivists sex differences regarding visuospatial functioning, attentional and executive functions (i.e. cognitive flexibility, abstraction, inhibition). The secondary objective is to compare offenders on psychological characteristics (alcohol and drug use, impulsivity, sensation seeking, anxiety, depression and antisocial tendencies). It is hypothesized that female and male DWIA recidivists would present a lower performance than their respective non-offender counterparts in terms of visuospatial, attentional and executive functions. In addition, it is expected that female recidivists would present a lower visuospatial performance than male recidivists. It is also hypothesized that male recidivists would exhibit lower attentional and executive performances than female recidivists. Regarding psychological characteristics, it is expected that recidivists would present more alcohol and drug-related problems, impulsivity, sensations seeking and psychopathology (antisocial tendencies, depression, anxiety) than non-offenders and that female recidivists would present more alcohol and drug-related problems, depression and anxiety than male recidivists. Finally, hypotheses suggest that male recidivists would present more impulsivity, sensations seeking and antisocial tendencies than female recidivists. These hypotheses are partially supported as male recidivists (n = 39) present lower attentional and executive performances than male non-offenders (n = 20) and female recidivists (n = 20). However, female recidivists do not significantly differ from female non-offenders (n = 20) in terms of neuropsychological functioning. In regard to psychological characteristics, results partially support hypotheses. The discussion highlights female and male similar characteristics except for attentional and executive mechanisms that seem to play a role in male recidivism, while it is apparently not the case in female recidivists whose behavior could be more situational. The need for further studies with experimental design as well as difficulty in female recruitment are discussed.

Text in English / The ‘doing’ of gender in our society is constructed along the lines of power, knowledge and being. Power structures angle knowledge and understanding of transgender people and transgender lives in a way that relegates them almost to the museum to be observed as a spectacle or exotic objects. The emphatic frames of man and woman, even in South Africa where the Constitution is considered and understood to be liberal and generous, the life of a transgender body is an Other life. One is either male or female; any other form of doing and being gender suffers peripherisation and classification as special, different, strange or any other exteriorising definitions. This dissertation attempts to question the power or the tyranny of categorisations and classifications of man and woman, drawing from various discourses such as the medico-legal discourse classification. It further looks at how gender is being performed by transgender people. Further it aimed at gaining an in-depth understanding of the experiences and challenges of transgender people with regards to doing gender within a gendered society. The findings within the dissertation tells us, that the performativity of gender is not a neutral space, but enacted by various power structures and those who live outside the norms such as the transgender people, they are subjected to precariousness. It this dissertation seeks to contribute to an unmasking of some easy but harmful assumptions about gender and sexuality. Gender and sexuality may not be taken for granted and assumed according to fixed templates but they are fluid, mobile and flexible beyond the limits of convention. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology (Research Consultation))

MGS / Institute for Gender and Youth Studies / This study seek to explore the challenges that are faced by youth in lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) relationships at Mkhuhlu location. The study argues that this cohort, just like any other, should be afforded human rights, and the choice to be in lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender and intersex relationships. Research has shown that those who believe sexual orientation is inborn are more likely to have tolerant attitudes towards lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and intersex people, whereas those who believe it is a choice have less tolerant attitudes. The study was undertaken at Mkhuhlu location and the respondents were males and females in lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and intersex relationships. A feminist epistemological approach to doing research guided the process of data collection while also employing a qualitative approach in interpreting the data. An exploratory design was used to gain a broader understanding in the challenges that youth in lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender and intersex relationships are faced with every day. A Sample of 10 respondents from Mkhuhlu location was selected. Non-probability sampling was used and snow-ball sampling method was also used to draw the required sample. The data was collected through the use of guided unstructured interviews. The findings in this study reveal that LGBTI youth have faced various challenges in their daily lives. LGBTI people face considerable levels of stigmatization, discrimination and harassment in their daily lives. These challenges have negative impact in the lives of LGBTI youth and also bring various emotions, which include intense sadness, anxiety, loneliness, discomfort in social situations, and feeling overwhelmed. The study also found that there are strategies that can be employed in order to alleviate the challenges of LGBTI youth, through education the misperception that LGBTI sexual interest is uncommon and sinful may be corrected if realistic, developmentally appropriate sex education is made accessible to the public. / NRF