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Feeling Transparent: Trans Parenthood And The American Family System, Miles Feroli

Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies

This dissertation explores the contemporary lived experiences and representations of people who are transgender and parents (trans parents) in the United States. I employ an intersectional framework that primarily uses trans theory, motherhood studies, and affect theory. After conducting 36 semi-structured interviews with trans parents across the US and critically analyzing the series Transparent (2014-2019), I found that enmeshed discourses and practices of family and motherhood, or what I dub the American family system, affectively shapes who gets greater access to material and social capital. This process primarily occurs through the ways the American family system mobilizes affects like …