Transsexuals' Narrative Construction of the "True Self"

Abstract

The study of self-narratives thus far has sought to discern the internal structures of the stories people tell to give meaning to themselves. This approach, however, neglects the interactive processes through which self-narratives are constructed. By studying preoperative transsexuals, who are preparing for a radical identity change, one can observe the interactive processes through which stories are used to construct a new self. Based on participant observation in a trans gender support group, in-depth interviews, and analysis of written materials, the present study shows how transsexuals collaborated, through modeling, guiding, selective affirming, and tactful blindness, to fashion biographical stories that defined into existence a differently-gendered true self. It also shows how dominant gender ideologies provided resources for fashioning plausible self-narratives.