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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Sally Hines
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This article explores the concept of ‘difference’ in relation to studies of transgender. I initially outline the importance of queer and postmodern theory, which have utilized ‘difference’ to incorporate transgender into analyses of sexual and gender diversity. I draw on debates within transgender studies to argue that a lack of emphasis on particularity within poststructuralist and postmodern theory has led to a homogenous theorisation of transgender. I propose that current limitations within queer approaches to transgender can be overcome through a queer sociological framework which grounds gender difference within a social analysis. Drawing on findings from recent empirical research into transgender identities in the UK, the article sketches out a range of distinct subject positions under the umbrella of ‘transgender’. Here I explore the ways in which transgender narratives are formed through divergent gendered experiences and are constructed in relation to temporal factors of generation, transitional time span, and medical, social and cultural understandings and practices.
Author(s): Hines S
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Gender Studies
Year: 2006
Volume: 15
Issue: 1
Pages: 49-66
ISSN (print): 0958-9236
ISSN (electronic): 1465-3869
Publisher: Routledge
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09589230500486918
DOI: 10.1080/09589230500486918
Notes: Single authored article in a high impact international interdisciplinary peer reviewed journal. Transgender has been incorporated into queer theorisations of gender and sexuality. In turn, this approach has been strongly critiqued from within transgender studies. This is the first publication to bring these debates together. The article explores the concept of ‘difference’ in relation to studies of transgender. I propose that current limitations within queer approaches to transgender can be overcome through a queer sociological framework, which grounds gender difference within a social analysis. The paper was given at the Queer Seminar Series at the University of Dublin in 2004.
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