Castle and cell: Exploring intersections between sexuality and gender in the domestic lives of men with trans identities and histories

Abstract

Homes are complex spaces, imbued with contingent and contradictory meanings and shaped by spatially, geographically and historically embedded social, cultural, economic and political interrelations. This chapter explores the domesticities of three men with trans identities and histories living across the UK, with a specific focus on intersections between gender, sexuality and home. Following trans studies scholars, the experiences of these men are foregrounded throughout, including through positioning participants' voices first within empirical discussions. Interwoven with the socio-spatial fabric of one's neighbourhood, homes emerge as sites that may offer escape from, as well as exposure to, disciplinary social norms that structure heteronormative and cisnormative power relations. The chapter extends a body of literature that analyses relationships between sexuality and domesticities and examines the queering of ideals, experiences, relationships and spaces that naturalize heteronormativity within the family home.