(Un)safe spaces, affective labour and perceived health among people with trans experiences living in Sweden

Ida Linander,Isabel Goicolea,Erika Alm,Anne Hammarström,Lisa Harryson

doi:10.1080/13691058.2018.1527038

Ida Linander, Isabel Goicolea + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2018.1527038

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Abstract

Lack of safe space has been connected to ill health among people with trans experiences. This study analyses trans people’s experiences of being in public, semi-public and community spaces using the analytical concept of safety/unsafety in relation to perceived health. The analytic framework draws on the concepts of cisgenderism, orientation, lines and comfort. The material analysed consisted of 18 individual interviews with people with trans experiences, which were analysed using constructivist thematic analysis. The analysis resulted in the identification of three themes: straightening devices creating limited living space, orienting oneself in (cis)gendered spaces and creating safer (?) community spaces for healing. Experiences of unsafety ranged from incidents and fear of different kinds of violence in public and semi-public spaces to the lack of a transpolitically informed agenda in, for example, feminist spaces. Safer spaces helped participants to feel a sense of belonging, to share their experiences and to heal. Experiences of unsafety and discomfort are important as they will help us to understand the health situations of people with trans experiences. It is important to facilitate the creation of safer spaces to improve the health of members of this group.

Highlights

The problem of unsafe spaces and the importance of safe spaces have been identified by trans activists in several contexts
Three main themes emerged in the course of the analysis: ‘straightening devices creating limited living space’, ‘orienting oneself ingendered spaces’ and ‘creating safer (?) community spaces for healing’
Findings from this study show how experiences of unsafety and discomfort in public and semi-public spaces are important in understanding the health situation of people with trans experiences

Summary

Background

The problem of unsafe spaces and the importance of safe spaces have been identified by trans activists in several contexts. We analyse experiences of being in public, semi-public and community spaces using the analytical concept of safety/unsafety in relation to perceived health among people with trans experiences. To better understand the experience of inhabiting different kinds of space with a body and gendered appearance that does not conform to the social norm, we used a number of analytical concepts derived from Ahmed (2006). ‘The question of “orientation” allows us to rethink the phenomenality of space – that is, how space is dependent on bodily inhabitance’ (Ahmed 2006, 6) This implies that spaces are best understood not as being exterior to bodies, but as being oriented in particular ways. In line with the emergent design of this study topic, we understood health in this study subjectively, as socially defined by the participants in terms of, for example, not being ill, having social relationships, as a way to cope with life and illness and as associated with feelings of psychosocial well-being (Baum 2016)

Study design

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Participants

Findings

Discussion

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