Sexing Gender; Gendering Sex: Towards an Intersectional Analysis of Transgender

Abstract

This chapter considers the significance of intersectionality for a social analysis of transgender.1 It draws on empirical research (see Methods) to examine the intersections of gender and sexuality as they are articulated in trans2 narratives. Work within queer theory and transgender studies has suggested that transgender — as a concept and as an identity practice — highlights the limitations of binary categorisations of gender and of sexuality. These arguments have been largely absent from feminist and from lesbian and gay theories of gender and sexuality. Moreover, transgender practices indicate the problematic of foregrounding either gender or sexuality in social theories of identity construction. This chapter aims to move beyond a dichotomous model by locating transgender as a position that highlights the ways in which gender and sexuality may signify interconnected processes.3