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From Transnormativity To Self-Authenticity: Shifting Away From A Dysphoria-Centered Approach To Transgender Identity, Matty Lavalley

Honors Papers

"Transnormativity" is a social ideology concerning the validity and perceived "realness" of transgender individuals and identities. In this thesis, I investigate current transgender issues through the lens of transgender medicalization and its resulting sociocultural impacts, prioritizing trans identities and individuals that surpass binary categorizations. Under transnormativity, nonbinary gender identity is continually made invisible and unintelligible in both popular and trans discourse, however, nonbinary users of social media find creative means to express their authentic sense of self nonetheless. The resulting implications of such work to socially, culturally, and psychologically resist and deconstruct transnormativity.