Liminal Spaces and the Transgender Experience

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONThis research explores the experiences of a sample of gendernonconforming individuals who are attempting to achieve independence in a society that dictates identity based on genitalia and a rigid binary conception of male/female and woman/man. The expression of alternative forms of often meets with disdain and in some instances, violence. Individuals who change rules and refuse to conform in socially prescribed ways of expression often fall somewhere between female or male. In other words, they enter a liminal space. The term liminality was first coined by Victor Turner based on his field research in Zambia during the 1950s. We argue that at least for a time, some non-conforming individuals experience liminality as they transition from one identity to the other. Others may embrace this space and still others accept their liminal status with at least some amount of trepidation (Nestle, Howell, & Wilchins, 2002, pp. 98-99). For the purposes of this research project, liminality refers to an in-between status or what occurs before/during identity transition. In some cases, transitional liminality may result in a personal transfonnation that is helped along by ritual processes and the formation of supportive communities. In other cases, more permanent, socially imposed liminality may produce insecurity and/or vulnerability; especially for individuals who exhibit ambiguity in their presentation and may or may not be transsexual.We examine the experiences of a non-random sample of 21 individuals who identify with the transgender community but may not necessarily be transgender. For example, several participants identified specifically as genderqueer but not transgender. One young woman, Olivia, identified as 'cisgender' which is technically a term for people who identify as the they were assigned at birth. However, she also identified with the transgender community in that she liked to play with her and explore other ways of being. Her expression/presentation is somewhere in the middle of the binary and her sexual orientation is bisexual. Borrowing from Bornstein (1994), Olivia might just be a gender outlaw as are some of the other individuals who shared their stories with us. For the purposes of this study we apply the term transgender to every category not covered by the words man, woman, female, and male. Borrowing from Stone's categorizations (1991) we include the following in our working definition of transgender: transsexuals, transvestites, cross-dressers, individuals with an intersex condition, individuals who have chosen to perform ambiguous social genders, and people who have chosen to perform no at all.During the time of the interviews, some of our participants were in varying stages of physical transition while others were coming to tenus with complex identity management issues that did not involve surgical/hormonal intervention. Some participants were attempting to step outside of the binary and identified in either bi-gender or multi-gender ways. Others chose to transition from either male to female (MTF) or female to male (FTM) and integrate into society by adhering to traditional ideas about sex and gender. The stories they share provide an opportunity to understand how a sample of non-conformists make sense of the world as they achieve and manage their identities.Of particular interest to the researchers is the exploration of how individuals who do not conform to normative rules negotiate their identities either with the help of surgical/hormonal intervention or by moving between categories in pursuit of freedom. Transgender individuals are often in-between traditional binary labels or they may inhabit 'outside boundaries' of what is defined as male and female in Western culture. Many transsexuals make a break with existing expectations resulting from their sex at birth and forge new identities based on who they really are. …