SRP om transseksualitet og kønsidentitet

This paper deals with transsexuality and gender identity. It accounts for the different gender components including the difference between the biological sex and the expressed gender, and how it affects the subject, if these two factors do not correspond. In that context, the paper explains the identity theories of Erik Erikson, Anthony Giddens and Judith Butler. It shows very clearly that the subject’s development of its identity in postmodern society is not bound by traditions and continuity. The subject’s identity is a part of a life-long reflective process that is influenced by social arenas and experiences. It also analyses an article about Pippin, a transgender male, and Tom Hoopers The Danish Girl with emphasis on the character’s development and identity diffusion. The paper determines that the predominant gender discourse and the way gender is divided into dichotomies can cause identity diffusion for trans people and people whose gender identity differ from the norms and that trans people often experience the transformation as a second puberty, because they have to question what they had been socialized to believe about gender. Furthermore, the paper discusses to what extent biological and cultural factors play a part in the way society view gender and sex. The paper also discusses whether The Danish Girl portrays a realistic transwoman or not. In postmodern society, the physical differences between man and woman are not as relevant as they have been, instead, the subject’s identity is primarily affected by its surroundings and the way it is being socialized. Tom Hooper’s movie shows how society’s understanding of sex and gender has developed in the last century; even though the movie itself is not very realistic, the fact that a movie about a trans woman has gotten this much positive attention, shows that perhaps the cis-heteronormative is not as predominant as it has been.