For a Sociology of Transsexualism
Myra Hird2002, Sociology
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Abstract
The aim of this article is to explore the development of theories on transsexualism with a view to advancing a typology of theories of transsexualism. This typology exposes a general shift from concerns with 'authenticity' (the transsexual as a 'real' woman or man) to issues of 'performativity' (the transsexual as hyperbolic enactment of gender). I will argue it is through a displacement of psychology with sociology as the major lens through which transsexualism is theorized that such a shift from authenticity to performativity is effected.The final typology considers the notion of transgression (rendering the modern two-gender system obsolete). The article argues that whilst transgression may be possible, it is not guaranteed by all forms of transsexualism. KEY WORDS authenticity / ethnomethodology / performativity / symbolic interactionism / transgression / transsexualism We find the epistemologies of white male medical practice, the rage of radical feminist theories and the chaos of lived gendered experience meeting on the battlefield of the transsexual body. (Stone, 1998: 10) uch sociological theory has been occupied with the vicissitudes of identity, prompted recently by postmodern and new materialist interventions. 1 Whereas sociology has always emphasized the social construction of identity, after postmodernism, the limits of social constructionism have taken on a much sharper hue. Reflecting this theoretical turn, socialization theory have been largely displaced by deeper explorations of the ontological status of key concepts such as gender, race, ethnicity, age and M disability. Within gender and sexuality studies, sociologists seek to challenge the 'naturalness' of sex, gender and sexuality. For instance, Weeks (1996) provides an account of the construction of homosexuality, Esterberg (1996) the construction of lesbianism, and Ingraham (1996) and Jackson (1999) the construction of heterosexuality. The aim of this article is to explore the development of theories on transsexualism with a view to advancing the need for a distinctly sociological approach to this particular identity. The history of development exposes a general shift from concerns with 'authenticity' (the transsexual as a 'real' woman or man) to issues of 'performativity' (the transsexual as hyperbolic enactment of gender). I will argue that it is through a displacement of psychology with sociology as the major lens through which transsexualism is theorized that such a shift from authenticity to performativity is effected. My argument is, briefly, that psychological analyses of transsexualism focus on the issue of authenticity because the discipline remains wedded to sex and gender as coherent, stable and 'real' concepts. I argue that a particularly sociological imagination supplants the notion of authenticity with performativity because sociology explicitly questions the relationship between sex and gender. Given sociology's understanding of both sex and gender as the outcome of social interaction rather than human 'nature', its agenda is not to police the boundaries of the modern two-gender system, but rather to understand why such vociferous debates concerning these boundaries take place (Hird, 2000). I will argue, finally, that a recent return to symbolic interactionism (particularly Mead and Goffman) and ethnomethodology (particularly Garfinkel, and Kessler and McKenna) are reframing debates within transsexual studies around the notion of transgression (rendering the modern two-gender system obsolete). I will conclude by contemplating the possibilities for considering transsexualism as transgressive, from a sociological perspective. Although analyses of transsexualism usually appear within other disciplines such as sexuality studies, the questions which transsexualism raises regarding the materiality of the body, the construction of identity and the interaction between self and society are definitively sociological concerns (Featherstone and Turner, 1995; Turner, 1992). As such, current developments in transsexual studies will be of interest to sociologists generally. Given also that studies on transsexualism are increasing, it is both relevant and timely that sociology now reflect upon its approach to this social phenomenon.
