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“Your Picture Looks the Same as My Picture”: An Examination of Passing in Transgender Communities
Gender Issues
  • Alecia D. Anderson, University of Nebraska at Omaha
  • Jay A. Irwin, University of Nebraska at Omaha
  • Angela M. Brown, University of Nebraska at Omaha
  • Chris L. Grala, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2019
Disciplines
Abstract

Transgender people remain one of the groups most susceptible to discrimination in the U.S. Previous studies have examined the discrimination and stress transgender people face, but few studies have examined trans identities using existing sociological theories of marginalized groups and identity formation. Using the theories of Dubois and Cooley, this study explores identity formation in conjunction with the phenomenon of passing among transgender people residing in Nebraska. Results suggest that while trans people do pass as a mechanism for subverting discrimination, there are other factors that influence an individual’s choice and strategy to pass or not. The current investigation lends a sociological perspective on the social aspect of gender presentation and gender visibility for trans individuals in a largely conservative Midwestern state.

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© The Author(s) 2019

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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Citation Information
Anderson, A.D., Irwin, J.A., Brown, A.M. et al. Gend. Issues (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-019-09239-x