Cox, Matthew (2018) Doing Transgender in Online Forums. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine how transgender identities are constructed in online spaces. This study used online transgender forum threads as the data and utilised discursive psychology as the research approach. Twelve threads formed the data corpus and were all sourced from one online transgender forum. This study found that transgender individuals drew upon various discursive devices such as narrative style posts that conveyed their authentic transgender identity, extreme case formulations to help bolster claims of prolonged confusion about their gender identity, and questioning/rejecting one’s gender through oscillation between two different gender identities to construct their authentic transgender identity. Responders oriented to the first-posters as being authentically transgender by responding to requests for support and/or advice through sharing lived experiences. Given that a sense of identity is critical to transgender individuals, findings provide a beginning understanding of how transgender people construct and lay claim to being transgender, how peers endorse this construction and in doing so provide validation of the poster as being transgender. Knowing how transgender individuals come to see themselves as transgender and how peers affirm this may help moderators and administrators of online transgender forums to ensure such forums are safe spaces. Safe for transgender individuals to share their lived experiences with others and gain the support they need to successfully transition into being transgender.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Andrea Lamont-Mills |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Aug 2025 23:35 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Aug 2025 23:35 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | transgender, discursive psychology, online forum, gender identity |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52235 |
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