The aim of this master thesis in Ethnology and Folkloristics is to study how non-binary transgender people relate to words and identity positions which concerns primarily gender and sexuality. What are their opinions on words such as intergender, queer, trans, man, woman, lesbian and gay? What role do such words play in their everyday life and in the construction of their identities? The study is based on interviews with eight people. Six of the informants have non-binary gender identities and two of them are transgender women with some non-binary experiences. At the time of the interviews, the informants were between 21 and 37 years old. The thesis consists of five chapters, whereof the first chapter introduces the topic, the material and the theoretical foundation of the thesis. The main theoretical framework for this study is queer theories. In the second chapter, some aspects of the everyday life of the informants are presented. How is it to live with a non-binary gender identity? Many informants give an account of the complications which occur because they are neither women nor men. People of the majority population often consider their identities unreal and unintelligible. In chapter three it is discussed how the informants explain their relationship to different words for non-binary gender identities. Their reasons for choosing to use certain words to define themselves with are also presented. Some informants claim that they would prefer to live in a world where they did not have to name themselves. Yet every informant still uses different words to describe themselves with. In chapter four it is demonstrated how choosing a word for one’s identity is a process affected by other aspects in a person’s life. The informants decide on a word for themselves depending on the people around them. Furthermore, sexuality and sexual identity also play a big part in how they conceive and name their gender identity. Finally, chapter five consists of a summary of the thesis and a short passage to widen the discussion
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-261269 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Pless, Anna |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för kulturantropologi och etnologi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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