Social Representations of Iranian Transsexual People in the Media: A Thematic Analysis

Abstract

A trans identity is now available almost anywhere, and to anyone who does not feel comfortable in the gender role they were attributed with at birth, or has a gender identity at odds with the labels ‘man’ or ‘woman’ credited to them by formal authorities. These people face widespread prejudice and discrimination and may be at heightened risk for violence because of their gender identities and expression and there is a pervasive pattern of discrimination and prejudice against trans-people within society. Existing researchers overwhelmingly support that the media play an important role in both legitimizing and determining how issues are framed. The main scoping of the current study aimed to shed some light on different themes that are portrayed in the documentaries in order to analyze the social and personal characteristics of transsexual people in Iran. A qualitative study with thematic analysis was employed in this study and four famous documentaries were selected for the precise review. Based upon the findings of this work, the studies show that there are five key themes in documentaries around social representations of Iranian transsexual people, including (a) lack of acceptance in the Iranian society, (b) social restrictions of pre-operated transsexual people, (c) family matters , (d) financial restrictions, (e) mental-health problems. Taken all, it can be concluded that the social restrictions for the male-to-female transsexual in Iran are greater than the female-to-male trans-individuals.