Gender Identity of Trans Youth: Perpetuation and Loss of Patriarchal Privileges

Abstract

This critical study aimed to show whether discursive constructions of gender identity of trans young people in the process of transition contribute or not to the repetition of normative patterns prevailing in Chilean society. The research is located in the city of Valparaiso, which from 2017 to the present ranks first place in Chile for homo-lesbo-bi-transphobic discrimination. The in-depth interview was used as a data collection technique, which were analyzed using the three-dimensional method of critical discourse analysis proposed by Norman Fairclough. The results reveal that the discourses of trans young people do contribute to the repetition of normative gender patterns, and there is a constant tension in their transition process, since they are aware of the oppression that gender binarism imposes on them, expressing resistance and emancipation against it. However, it is difficult for them to get rid of the gender mandates that make them transition to binary identities in most of the cases investigated. In addition, they recognize the maintenance of patriarchal privileges when transitioning from a female to a male corporeality, as well as the loss of them in the transition from a male to a female corporeality.