“That’s all it takes to be trans”: counter-strategies to hetero- and transnormative discourse on YouTube

Abstract

Abstract The discourse surrounding transgender people has for a long time been influenced by certain narrative practices necessary to authenticate people’s trans status to medical professionals. This conventional narrative (master narrative), based on ideals of hetero- and cisnormativity, has led to stereotypical representations of trans identities. These largely continue to exist today. Nevertheless, counter-discourse to these stereotypical representations is becoming more prominent. Particularly YouTube has become an increasingly popular platform for counter-discursive action. The current case study therefore focusses on two transgender YouTubers who challenge the normative ideals by creating their own counter-discourse. The YouTubers address four major topics of stereotypical representation: the ideal of binary gender, heterosexuality, the wish to transition in order to pass as cisgender, and the belief that transgender people have always identified as the other gender. The two creators recognise the discursively reproduced stereotypes and use a combination of five different strategies to refute them: Inversion, Parody, Complexification, Shift, and Personal Experience. Making use of these strategies, the subjects’ positive discourse aims at presenting a multi-faceted representation of transgender identities.