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Article published In: 10th Anniversary Issue: Reflections on the Field of Language and Sexuality Studies
Edited by William L. Leap and Heiko Motschenbacher
[Journal of Language and Sexuality 10:1] 2021
► pp. 71–82

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Nuance and normativity in trans linguistic research

 | University of TorontoToronto, Canada
Published online: 15 February 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.00016.kon
Abstract
While normativity has been central to queer linguistic research, the emergent field of trans linguistics provides opportunities for greater nuance and elaboration on the concept. Drawing from interviews with non-binary people documenting their narratives of doctor-patient visits, I present a series of recounted interactional moments where what might be considered ‘normative’ is in fact a survival strategy, highlighting how we might view certain invocations of the transnormative (Johnson, Austin H. 2016. Transnormativity: A new concept and its validation through documentary film about transgender men. Sociological Inquiry 86(4): 465–491. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) in more complicated ways. Notions of normativity and authenticity, which are too often weaponized against trans people as a means to measure their ‘success’ in approximating cisheteronormative ideals, are not easily transported from queer linguistics to trans linguistics. As concepts imbricated with a history of violence for trans people, they must be treated with care and responsibility, as part of an active devotion to dismantling transphobia.
Article outline
  • 1.Normativity in language, gender, and sexuality research
  • 2.Normative discourses and survival in gender-affirming healthcare
    • 2.1Labels and disclosures of identity
    • 2.2Expertness
  • 3.Affordances of a trans linguistic perspective on normativity
  • Notes
  • References
References (31)
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