“Trans Enough”: Examining the Boundaries of Transgender-Identity Membership

Abstract

The term “transgender” (trans) has no singular or fixed meaning; instead, it represents a broad umbrella of non-traditional gender identities. Although the term is useful in the sense of inclusion, outsider recognition, and social activism, individuals and groups under the trans umbrella are not without internal ideological differences and contention about the boundaries of their collective identity. Taking a cyber-ethnographic approach with a transgender forum on the popular website Reddit, I offer insights into the complex membership debates that occur under this broad umbrella. In doing so, I present three distinct identity membership strategies, entitled “unbounded,” “socio-biological,” and “medically-based.” Each identity strategy showcases a mix of social and biological considerations that underlie trans-identity formations while highlighting differences in authenticity claims used within and between each group. My findings show a unique interplay between cultural definitions of trans-identities, lived experiences, and the explicit expulsion of some members in developing and maintaining internal symbolic boundaries of what constitutes a “trans enough” identity. More broadly, I generate new theoretical insights into the intracommunity “policing” strategies, shifting identity politics, and power dynamics that shape and inform interactions within the evolving category of transgender.